The clearance of cars, their patency and stability

The technical characteristics of cars consist of many parameters that somehow influence the choice of the brand and model by the future owner. For one, the engine's power and the size of its working volume are important, for others safety and comfort issues are paramount, for the third, economy is paramount. The ability to develop high speed is taken into account more often by those who often travel on routes from city to city.

One of the most important parameters for our fellow citizens is the clearance of cars or, as it is also called, the ground clearance (in the figure is indicated by the letter b). It is defined simply: the height is measured between the plane of the roadway and the bottom protruding part of the bottom (usually a crankcase pan). Sometimes you need to consider other points, for example, low-lying bumpers and exhaust pipes.

As you know, everything is fine in moderation. To consider that the more ground clearance, the better, it is impossible. The reason is simple: the higher the clearance of cars, the higher their center of gravity, and, consequently, the risk of overturning increases. This is especially pronounced at high speeds, when the machine, in addition to gravity and air resistance, is activated by a lifting force. Flat from below and convex from above, the car behaves like a wing, the air over it dilates, and it begins to lift above the road. Clutching of wheels with the ground at the same time deteriorates.

That's why the sports models of cars fly so low above the ground, and to ride them by ours, unfortunately, not always ideal roads are very inconvenient. Overcoming unevenness, pits and bumps, you can easily lose some of the necessary details and even damage the body.

What should be the clearance of cars so that the risk of contact of the bottom with the ground, and, consequently, the breakdown was minimized, while not giving up stability? In solving this problem, it is best to focus on the domestic brands of machines, with the design of which took into account the features of our topography. On the "Zhiguli", "Volga" and sunk in the fly, "Muscovites", "Izhs" and "Zaporozhye". They have a ground clearance of 12-17 cm, which makes it possible to drive quite well on roads (with the permitted speed of traffic), and to reach their homeland of six hundred on razuhabistym primers. It should also take into account the fact that the loaded car "squats" on the shock absorbers, which does not add patency in difficult areas.

There are also jeeps, in which the ground clearance by definition should be higher. True, not all of them correspond to the proud name "SUV", there are also so-called "parkets", by analogy with the generals, who never sniffed gunpowder in their lives. Their formidable appearance and imposing dimensions do not guarantee the ability to overcome obstacles arising in the way. The clearance of cars of this type is about the same as that of car drivers, and it is not worthwhile to embark on adventurous trips on unknown roads on these machines. Another thing is a real jeep, the ground clearance of which exceeds 20 cm.

Nowadays, the streets of almost every city are overcrowded with off-road cars of monstrous proportions, acquired more often because of prestige. It is much wiser to take into account the character of the upcoming trips when buying a car.