Axle suspension for a passenger motor vehicle

Claim 1

An axle arrangement for motor vehicles having independently suspended wheels, the arrangement comprising wheel guide means for each of the wheels, each wheel guide means including upper link means and lower link means for supporting a wheel carrier at a body portion of the vehicle, each said upper link means constructed as a split link including a first strut and a second strut, an ideal upper articulation point for each wheel determined by an intersection of projected lines coaxial with the first strut and the second strut, each said ideal articulation point offset outwardly relative to the body portion and with respect to a longitudinally extending center plane of a respective wheel, said lower link means of each wheel guide means including a spring strut and a compression strut and having an equivalent lever length shorter than an equivalent lever length of the upper link means, said spring strut being adapted to carry a spring and, in the plan view, being located behind the vertical transverse plane of the wheel center, said spring strut having a length greater than the length of an equivalent link formed for the lower link means which, in the rear view, is the distance between an ideal lower articulation point determined by the intersection of projected lines coaxial with the spring strut and compression strut and the point of intersection of a swivel axis of the lower link means with the vertical transverse plane of the center of the wheel, an instantaneous center determined by the upper and lower link means, the instantaneous center being located in a longitudinally extending center plane of the vehicle, wherein the axle arrangement causes the instantaneous center to shift towards an inside of a curve during a cornering of the motor vehicle.