Like most of us, they're overlabored, and hear only from the other components when something goes wrong. Let's zoom in on springs for a moment. Let's look at coil springs first. As we mentioned in the first article, coil springs are by far the most commonly used spring arrangement in passenger vehicles. Coil springs not only absorb road shock, they perform other duties as well.
Coil springs can be cylindrical or barrel-shaped.
Their advantages include low weight, moderate cost, and limited space needs. Leaf springs are generally found in the rear of large cars and trucks. The most common leaf-spring setup consists of a series of flat steel leaves bolted together to form a single unit. This design is called a semi-elliptical leaf spring . A U-bolt attaches the springs to the rear axle, and the two ends of the leaves are bolted to the bottom of the frame using spring shackles.