hi guys, im looking to convert a de dion suspension setup on my locost to an independant rear suspension setup on the rear, but not sure which one would give the best performance and cost, considering camber, stability, etc. Please see pic for more details
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caterham succesfully used a dedion set up for years, why do you want to go to all the trouble of changing yours. m.

I really wouldnt bother changing it. It is a lot of messing around for little benefit

Mines dedion and its next to no differance in handling from the irs. Ocassionally it gets upset by an uneven surface but it sorts its selfout.
Great for hard starts and very predictable when it steps out.
Rather finish the car and drive it than make sweeping changes putting you back years.
By the way we have three cars in the gang 1 indy and 2 dedions one of which is a caterham,other mk .

It's for a project im doing in university, personally i would keep it at de dion setup but have to change it, i was thinking double wishbone or just one lateral arm at each suspension corner

If it's for a Uni project, does the car actually have to be finished and put on the road?

If not then I would seriously consider leaving the actual car as it is and making a seperate IRS rear end to demonstrate how it would be made.

This means you have the existing car in tact, ready to complete and put on the road with minimal hassle/cost. It also means you could put the new seperate IRS rear end allongside the actual car to properly illustrate the differences in suspension set-up.

A single lateral arm is known as a swing axle --- don't even think about using that as a solution, it can be made to work under a given set of conditions but on the rear it is much more likely to result in a car that transitions from gentle understeer to extreme over steer in the blink of an eye.

De Dion is the best setup for a car of this layout ---- it gives much better camber control than an independent system.

[Edited on 13/10/09 by britishtrident]

Stick with the De dion, so much of the rear end would have to be changed to little or no advantage.

Joe T

[Edited on 7/11/09 by Joe T]