Chapman strut

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A front-left MacPherson strut, similar to a Chapman strut on the rear of a vehicle (no drive axle is illustrated here). While the lateral locating arm shown in light blue is used for steering on the MacPherson strut, it will be only adjustable on a Chapman strut to set the rear wheel toe.
A front-left MacPherson strut, similar to a Chapman strut on the rear of a vehicle (no drive axle is illustrated here). While the lateral locating arm shown in light blue is used for steering on the MacPherson strut, it will be only adjustable on a Chapman strut to set the rear wheel toe.

A Chapman strut is an automobile suspension device. Being a strut, it is designed to act as both a shock absorber (with an integrated coil spring) and a wheel location device. That is, it is designed to resist lateral forces. Chapman struts are the term for such a device when used on rear wheels, while the very similar MacPherson strut is used in front. (See MacPherson strut for more information.) The exception is the Lotus cars where the Chapman strut is used in the front wheels. The difference between the Chapman strut and the MacPherson strut is that the Chapman strut does not rotate when turning where as the MacPherson strut rotates when turning so that it turns along with the wheel.

The Chapman strut was named after Colin Chapman, the famed Lotus founder and engineer, and was first used on the Lotus 12.


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