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This study aims to determine the force acting on the rod ball end of an automotive suspension prototype from competition, participant in the Brazilian Tourism Championship 2016, used in training and to determine the fast lap time. The rod ball end is manufactured in SAE 4140 steel with heat treatment (body and ball) and the bush of polyacetal. To determine the force on the rod ball end the lower balance arm was converted into two load cells, through the setting of strain gage in each of the arms that compose it. It was recorded runway images with a camera in the cockpit and another camera placed inside the vehicle with the rear wheel housing, making possible to observe the suspension movement. When the prototype makes a chicane, the centripetal force is higher because the radius curve is small, when is accelerated it generates a force in line with the wheel, the front bar is compressed even more, and the rear is tensioned, that generates a load near to zero in this bar.

Currently in the automotive industry it is indispensable the evolution of technology applied in the design and manufacturing of components, either for a specific performance improvement or even as part of a cost reduction plan. For these main reasons, it has been constantly invested in methods that may help engineers to understand the dynamic efforts to which the components are submitted. In order to determine the loads suffered by the steering system of a vehicle in motion, the Group of Automotive Technology from the Lutheran University of Brazil (also known as “GTA”) conducted tests using a front-wheel drive road vehicle with a 1.4L transverse engine. The steering column (which joins the steering wheel to the steering gearbox ) and the tie rod (which connects the steering rack to the steering knuckle) were used as elastic elements to form load cells by the attachment of resistive strain gages in a full Wheatstone bridge.