Talk:Corvette leaf spring/Archives/2015/August

Structural template suggestions?

All, does anyone have a suggestion for a good template for this work? Here is what I think the important points would be:

• Leed
• Description of independent + leaf spring.
• Note some unique properties of the fiber reinforced plastic springs vs tradition steal coil and multi-leaf springs (this section might be a tangent but the information is worth while).
• Description of how the particular setup can create an anti-roll effect. Notes that this requires a leaf that is flexible in the center to achieve the S bend. This is typically not possible with traditional multi-leaf springs and hence why the fiber reinforced plastic springs are uniquely suited to this application (the Fiat 128 and Yugo being exceptions). This would probably include only one or two images. Most of the old ones could be removed.
• General comments about the design (much of the old pro-con section would migrate here).
• List of cars that have used this general type of suspension.

The catch with this new list is that the C2 and C3 Corvette would no longer be part of the topic (perhaps that's not a bad thing). The C4's rear end uses a centrally mounted spring and thus the notable anti-roll affect doesn't come into play. However, the front suspension does use this property. It was the first car to have the combination of transverse leaf + anti-roll affect + FRP spring. The Fiat 128 was actually the earliest car that I'm aware of which used the anti-roll effect but with a multi-leaf steal spring (the light weight of the Fiat made it possible to use steal.

I feel confident that I can source all of the above from at least media quality (car magazines and books) and some from peer reviewed quality sources. For me the biggest question is where to put this material? After all, it's not just the Corvette leaf spring but the "Volvo XC-90 leaf spring"![1] Springee (talk) 02:37, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

The Volvo leaf spring begins with the new 960 in the mid '90s. I doubt if they're the only one using one at that time, with the increase in independent rear suspension for the few (large and powerful) cars still using RWD (a look at Merc & BMW would be useful). I think Volvo was the first to go to composites though. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:14, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm not sure at that time. GM used it in the rear of the W-body cars for a while. I think that started in the 80s. You are right that Volvo used it in the RWD 960. I think the 960 was an update of the solid axle 940 platform. They might have picked it because it was a way to get things to fit into the box they had. Certainly with an all new platform they had more flexibility. Anyway, the title suggestion was just meant to be ironic ;) . However, if Volvo hits those production numbers then Volvo will certainly be the largest user of the tech since the W-platform changed to coils in the back. The Corvette is the car most known for this tech but certainly not the only one. I'm going to start working on changes to this article in my sandbox. We'll see how it turns out. Springee (talk) 13:45, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

The 960 was a whole new car, from bumper to bumper. There's also a 960 that's a rebadging exercise on the 940. (I have one of each. I bought the older one to replace the later one, as it's a total garage queen, a pain to work on and rather un-Volvo. It's going to the scrappie once I get the rear spring off to use for a crossbow, alongside my Ikea trebuchet. If you're going to build swords from ploughshares, start with neutral Swedish ones.) Andy Dingley (talk) 14:00, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

For those who are interested, I have been working on updates to this article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Springee/sandbox Springee (talk) 02:17, 1 August 2015 (UTC)

Rewrite has been posted

I have just replaced the article with a rewrite. Almost all of the original content has been retained. I think even Lukeno94 would admit the material is now fully supported including most of the pro-con claims and the racing consideration claims. Note that those sections no longer exist and the material has been folded into the article text.

I did reduce the number of illustrations. It would be nice to get a few more but I'm not sure how we can obtain permission from Volvo or GM to use their suspension subassembly promotional images. They would be great for the article.

A read through by other editors would be great. I'm not sure my text is always clear to others. Springee (talk) 03:05, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

Springee This article is much more clear now and illustrations are very helpful. Great work. Some suggestions:

(1) Rename it and all its paragraphs. For example: Transverse leaf spring suspension (article title); Utilization, Properties, Applications (first 3 paragraphs). I found this article about the same suspension but referred to it as composite leaf spring. It is not my expertise but it seems transverse lead spring suspension is only one of the applications of the transverse leaf spring. In that case we need to decide if this article is to be about suspension only or about transverse leaf spring and to name it accordingly.

(2) You could also add a link to Leaf spring as you have 39 opportunities through the article to do it or you can add See also paragraph.

Gpeja (talk) 21:41, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

Gpeja, thanks for the positive feedback! I like the idea of working on the names of the subsections. I would actually encourage you to make the changes you see fit. I don't really like that currently the article can be seen as "owned" by me. The name thing is a hard one. We have been discussing it as part of the RFC listed above Wikipedia talk:WikiProject_Automobiles#Corvette_leaf_spring_article_updated. My big hang up has been trying to think of the right name. As I said in the linked talk page, the issue has been finding a name that is identifiable yet limited in scope. We might do transverse leaf spring and just state that the article only talks about modern versions of the system. Anyway, I would appreciate your input either here or on the linked talk page.Springee (talk) 02:02, 19 August 2015 (UTC)