Contact Patch Lateral Migration – Suspension KPI

Contact patch lateral migration is a metric to measure the amount of lateral movement of the tyre contact patch for a vertical movement of the suspension.  It is measured in millimetres of lateral movement per metre of vertical suspension travel, mm/m.

Contact patch lateral migration is determined by the position and movement of the camber pole of a suspension relative to the contact patch.  The diagram below shows the projected contact patch trajectory in front view for a vertical motion of the suspension. 

In RACE software, contact patch lateral migration is measured as half track change per millimetre of suspension travel.  Half track is the distance from the vehicle centre line to the intersection of the wheel centre line and the ground.  The graph below from the RACE pdf report shows the contact patch lateral migration plot for a double wishbone suspension. 

This KPI page is only a brief overview. To learn more about this and other KPIs, including KPI values used in industry, real-world examples and best-practice guidance, please refer to our courses below.

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