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I'm wondering if it is better for your suspension to drive across a speed bump at a right angle (so that the two front tires and the two rear tires hit the bump at the same time, respectively), or at a skewed angle so that only one tire at a time hits the bump?

I've seen folks do both things and I'm wondering if there is a real significance to it or if it's just superstition.

7 Answers 7

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Driving at a right angle will make the front and then the rear move further up and down than travelling over one wheel at a time, but that movement will be in one plane.

Driving diagonally puts more stress on the chassis as it tries to twist first one corner then then next. The car will not move up and down so much, but will move sideways a lot more.

So of the two options, the least stress on the car comes from driving straight.

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  • If you drive over it fast enough diagonally, the chassis doesn't twist at all; the bump just gets absorbed by one spring at a time. :-) Oct 15, 2012 at 23:45
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    The point being: the real reason to go diagonal is so you can go over the bump fast without slamming your bumper into the pavement due to the rocking. Not whether it's better or worse for the car. Oct 15, 2012 at 23:47
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There are several reasons why you should be approaching the bump at an angle.

Mechanical stress on the chassis

Let's take two approaches and study how they affect the chassis:

  1. Let's drive at the right angle (frontal). The chassis will always be stressed in one direction: front to back. The chassis is never stressed from side to side.
  2. Now let's try approaching the bump at an angle. The car is stressed in both directions, front to rear and side to side. The stress is evenly distributed to both axes but only if you hit the exact angle. This angle should be the one when your front left and rear right wheel align so that they form a line which is perpendicular to the bump axis (this is assuming that you are approaching with your left wheel).

It's very important to remember that you should switch the wheel you're first approaching the bump. Bumps usually come in pairs (at least here in Bosnia) so this should not be a problem. If the bumps do not come in pairs, you should randomize and try not to remember your last approach. This, on the long term, will ensure even distribution of approaches on both sides. A bit of mathematics can't hurt.

Mechanical stress on rims

Similar to the sidewalks, the bumps are better approached at an angle as this kind of approach eases the stress on tires and wheel rims. You'll never hear anyone suggest you take the frontal approach to these. Sidewalks are a bit different from bumps, but the same laws apply.

Your car bumpers are very low

If your front or rear bumpers are lower than usual, you should approach the bumps at an angle. This will allow you to pass over bumps more smoothly and lower the chances of hitting the bump with your bumpers.

I suggest you try riding over the bumps at an angle and see if you're more comfortable sitting in the car that way. If you are - your car most certainly is as well. It's the common sense.

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  • Interesting - I agree with your last paragraph, but that it is much more comfortable to drive over straight than diagonally. Which is why it is better for the car to drive over straight.
    – Rory Alsop
    Oct 15, 2012 at 22:18
  • I couldn't disagree more but then this raises another question - does the design of the bumps has to do with it? Almost everybody I know feels less comfortable bumping straight into the bump, same as stepping onto the sidewalk. Jul 21, 2015 at 11:56
  • Weird - it must be the design of the bump then. Going diagonally across the ones here is akin to being in a small boat on a rough sea - you get thrown about everywhere. Going straight you just go up and down.
    – Rory Alsop
    Jul 21, 2015 at 12:49
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Your car will be just fine with either approach as long as you slow down to a reasonable speed before hitting the speed bump, and so long as your car doesn't bottom out (bottoming out meaning some part of the car other than the tires touches the ground).

The kinds of stresses put on a car by driving slowly over a speed bump are no more severe than the kinds of stresses that the car experiences while driving around town (around corners, over small bumps, etc).

The most common damage caused by speed bumps is damage from bottoming out. The parts of cars that typically get the worst of this damage are the plastic bits down low on the front of the car (front spoiler, belly pan), or low-hanging parts of the engine (oil pan) or exhaust. Bottoming out happens when you drive too fast, and the springs of the car can't lift the mass of the vehicle out of the way of the road quickly enough.

Approaching the bump at an angle (one wheel at a time) would make it more likely that you would bottom out, as you're then asking only one spring to do the job of lifting the car clear of the bump, instead of having two springs work together by approaching the bump straight-on.

In short, just slow down. If it doesn't sound or feel abrupt/violent, the car will be just fine.

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    I don't agree "Approaching the bump at an angle (one wheel at a time) would make it more likely that you would bottom out". From my own experience, it's the opposite. There is a nasty dump at Costco and if I go over with 2 front wheels, I'll get bottom out sure. But if I go one front wheel at a time, I usually don't get bottom out. I have sport suspension if that makes a difference.
    – WRayX
    Oct 19, 2012 at 4:09
  • @RayCheng, good comment. I don't doubt your experience at all. My answer was more targeted at the dynamic effects of going over a bump at speed, where the behavior of the suspension comes into play. If you go over very slowly, these dynamic effects don't come into play--it's pure geometry. If you have a very low car, or a car with a long overhang in the front, the geometry of the car may dictate that the only way you can clear the bump--no matter how slowly you drive--is to drive at an angle, which can effectively decrease the length of the front overhang.
    – mac
    Oct 19, 2012 at 16:10
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Interesting answers! A bit off topic but the newer type of speed bump which is a square cusion has another option! Assuming your vehicle is not wide enough to clear the cusion you can approach with one wheel centered to the cusion but at the last second swerve towards the centered wheel slightly so as to unweight that wheel which then just rides over the cusion without the full weight of the vehicle. It works well with practice and can be improved even more by a slight counter swerve just before the main swerve to rock the weight from side to side more. This work well at high speed. On straight speed bumps depending on the level of rebound damping on your suspension a slight brake dab to compress the front suspension and then release the brakes just before the bump allows the front end to start rising just prior to the bump.

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Most of the time I see people go diagonally over the sharp/short ended speed bumps to avoid scrapping the underside of the car. First of all, it's a myth. If your car's underside touches the peak of the bump while going straight, there is no way it would avoid it by going sideways.

In reality, going diagonally will make it more vulnerable to hit the ground. How? Well when you go sideways, one of the front wheels goes up first and crosses the bump making one side of your car already above the bump at its clearance level. Now when the other front wheel tries to go up the bump, the other side will eventually lower further down a bit making it vulnerable to scrap that underside of the car.

Going diagonally or sideways, has only one benefit which is that you don't feel a crash of the wheels into the bump. Going side ways turns the sharp/short ended speed bumps into a soft/long ended bumps. It's reduces the elevation angle for the wheels to go up softly. For example if the base-to-peak angle of the bump is 45-degress, going sideways will reduce it to the angle depending on the diagonal angle of the wheels.

The best way is to go slow over the bumps. If they are sharp bumps, cross them diagonally but slowly to reduce stress on the car. But never expect it void any kind of scrapping which is due to its grown clearance level.

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  • Scrapping the car seems somewhat extreme. Or do you mean scraping?
    – Chenmunka
    Oct 7, 2023 at 13:05
  • @Chenmunka not that extreme as you thought.
    – KAR
    Oct 27, 2023 at 13:47
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its easy to test that taking speed bump or curb at angle is better. can do this just in front of your house or neighborhood. need a rolled curb not a flat curb. if you have a low car like my vw golf back out or drive straight no turning the wheel at all. on my car backing out or taking straight line forward on a curved curb the bumpers both bottomed out and even scrape the oil pan, and has even cracked the oil pan. however putting one wheel at slight angle puts tire out from the bumper. best option the drivers wheel first puts the bumpers and pans at angle. this method is used in off roading or pulling trailers, you never drive straight at raised obstacle this decreases your approach height clearance. again its easy to verify. drive straight at curb stop before going over see less clearance, then do at angle one tire up , tire will be out from bumper and clearance increased. Can also check out youtube vids of stuck trailers taking curbs straight on and the back end bottoms out, or off road diagonal tests of how an angle approach allows the bumper and pans not to bottom out. in cars with low clearance like vw golfs the oil pans or trans will bottom out causing cracks if you take straight on approach angle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzzBvWKR5Lg

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All who say you need to turn are absolutely wrong for normal cars and trucks. This puts undo force on the kingpins (or related front suspension parts such as MacPherson struts, shocks, etc.), in a manner they were not engineered for. It also causes accidents from idiots turning across the yellow line into oncoming traffic. If you continue to do this, I'll be the one PASSING you when you turn into the parking area by the curb.

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