Twist Beam

The twist-beam, or trailing twist axle rear suspension consists of two longitudinal (trailing arms), forward mounted to body brackets via rubber bushes; an interconnecting crossbeam rigidly gusseted to the arms; two shock absorbers with integral parallel springs, rubber bushed at top and bottom. The wheel spindle, hub and bearing assemblies are attached to the arms via welded brackets.


GTO was asked to verify and propose design changes that would be necessary to meet the internal requirements of a major Automotive OEM.

The acceptance criteria were:

Component Durability/RLD Fatigue: The twist-beam must show a life greater than 10 cycles of the OEM's proving ground events.

Compliance check: The twist-beam must meet roll stiffness, camber stiffness and toe stiffness requirements at component and system level.

GTO successfully verified and developed the design of the twist-beam that is now in production and used in a number of the OEM's vehicles.