How to Make Your Car Handle: Pro Methods for Improved Handling, Safety and Performance

by Fred Puhn

To make your car handle, design a suspension system, or just learn about chassis, you'll find what you need here. Basic suspension theory is thoroughly covered: roll center, roll axis, camber change, bump steer, anti-dive, ride rate, ride balance and more. How to choose, install and modify suspensions and suspension hardware for best handling: springs, sway bars, shock absorbers, bushings, tired and wheels. Regardless of the basic layout of your car--front...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0912656468
• ISBN13: 9780912656465
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: HP Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.6" x 10.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Good explanations and information

The book begins by explaining why your car handles the way that it does in the first couple of chapters. The author gets into a lot of physics formulas building up on everything as it goes. It feels a little dry after a while, but the explanations make a lot of sense.Then he gets into explaining how to tweak your car and modify the chassis. It's best to read the "whys" in chapter two before attempting to read the "hows" in the later chapters. Otherwise, you won't have a good understanding of why he's recommending changes or if you *should* make the change.The book is a little old, but is still applicable to any modern car.

A very good book!

I was recommended this book from a friend at the i-club. I love to drive and am looking to modify my car for better handling. This book is an excellent source for that! A major part of the fun in driving is a good handling car. This book covers all the basics in detail. It is easy to read, yet, has a Physics/Engineer depth to it as well. It is not just a matter of buying better suspension parts and installing them, this book goes into depth about understanding the nature of a good handling car and exactly what that entails from good tires, alignment, lowering the ride height, springs, anti-roll bars, shocks, brakes, etc. It emphasizes balance and that there is no magical part for better handling, but all the parts must work together in harmony and how making one change effects others parts in the car. Once you gain an understanding for the reasons of poor and good handling, you will then be able to truly understand what will work and what will not to achieve your goals. Changing one part of the design often has far reaching effects and it is rare that one part will do you any good. Just as I thought adding a stiffer anti-roll bar to the rear of my car alone would work! Tires are the source of contact and are vital to good handling, so an entire chapter is dedicated to tires and exactly what they do. This information is relevant to the everyday driver with no mechanical knowledge (like me) who simply wants to increase the fun factor in the driving experience, and also to rear gear heads with chapters on chassis modifications and designing your own parts as well! An excellent source for anyone who values good handling characteristics in their car as I do.

Details how to do your own car alignment...plus much etc.

I believe this book would be worth the price if it was just a pamphlet on how to do your own alignment. And on this point it does an excellent job of explaining the process to a shadetree mechanic. It explains in detail, step by step, how to measure and set up a four wheel alignment, as well as how to check your chassis for square. You will be able to set camber and toe at all four wheels using simple tools. I bought a camber guage from Racer Wholesale to confirm the settings but you will only need masons string or fishing line, a jack, a carpenters tape measurer and the patience to follow directions and measure with extreme exactness. The rest of the book is excellent reading too, especially for 70's hot rodding and sports car modifications. A very handy reference that comes off my shelf quite often.

Great place to start

This book covers almost all the basics of suspension tuning, from chosing spring rates to sway bars to lowering to alignment settings. If you want a car that handles well, this should be the first part you buy.

This is the best car book I've read.

Puhn's book is the classic treatment of suspensions and car handling issues for the automotive enthusiast.The author neither over- nor under-estimates the reader's intelligence. Fred Puhn provides enough information (including some basic physics) that even the most science-challenged reader will understand how their car handles and how to adjust it.If you love cars, you must have this book!