Body flex

Body flex

Body flex is a lack of rigidity in a motor vehicle's chassis. It is often something to be avoided by car manufacturers as higher levels of body flex is a sign of structural weakness, and means that the vehicle's suspension cannot work as efficiently - the body takes up some of the 'slack', rather than the parts of the car which were specifically designed for this purpose. A chassis that flexes may be prone to fatigue and further "softening" with use will eventually result in failure. Cars of a sporting nature are, therefore, often very 'stiff', while convertibles or cabriolets are not often considered to be good candidates for high-performance sports cars because of their lack of a rigid roof.

Although, for some time, body flex was a result of attempts to keep a car's weight down, makers such as Audi (the A8), and Jaguar (with the 2003 XJ8) have employed the use of aluminium in chassis production to get around this obstacle, ensuring the weight of these cars and their level of body flex can "both" be kept to a minimum.

Typically, the stiffness of the body is measured in torsion. The body is supported at the spring caps at the rear, and then a torque is applied to the front spring caps via a long beam and a fulcrum. Values achieved range from Auto ft.lbf|1000|-2 per degree for pre-War racing cars, up to Auto ft.lbf|25000|-2 per degree for some modern production vehicles.


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  • flex — {vb Flex, crook, bow, buckle mean to bend, but because of special implications and applications they are not freely interchangeable.}}} Flex is used chiefly of the bending of a bodily joint especially between bones of a limb by which the angle… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • flex´i|bly — flex|i|ble «FLEHK suh buhl», adjective. 1. that can be bent without breaking; not stiff; easily bent in all directions: »Leather, rubber, and wire are flexible. 2. Figurative. easily adapted to fit various conditions: »The actor s flexible voice… …   Useful english dictionary

  • flex´i|ble|ness — flex|i|ble «FLEHK suh buhl», adjective. 1. that can be bent without breaking; not stiff; easily bent in all directions: »Leather, rubber, and wire are flexible. 2. Figurative. easily adapted to fit various conditions: »The actor s flexible voice… …   Useful english dictionary

  • flex|i|ble — «FLEHK suh buhl», adjective. 1. that can be bent without breaking; not stiff; easily bent in all directions: »Leather, rubber, and wire are flexible. 2. Figurative. easily adapted to fit various conditions: »The actor s flexible voice… …   Useful english dictionary

  • flex|or — «FLEHK suhr, sr», noun. any muscle that when contracted bends a joint of the body. ╂[< New Latin flexor < Latin flexus; see etym. under flex (Cf. ↑flex)] …   Useful english dictionary

  • flex — [ fleks ] verb transitive to move or bend a muscle or body part, usually in order to stretch or exercise it flex your muscles to show how powerful or strong you are, especially as a warning or threat to another person or country …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • flex´ion|less — flex|ion «FLEHK shuhn», noun. 1. Physiology. a) the bending of a joint in the body by the action of the flexors. b) a being bent in this way. 2. Especially British. = flection (defs. 1,2). (Cf. ↑flection) ╂[earlier spelling of flection]… …   Useful english dictionary

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  • Flex (comics) — Superherobox| caption = comic color =background:#ff8080 character name =Flex real name =Adrian Corbo species=Human Mutant publisher =Marvel Comics debut = Alpha Flight vol. 2 #1 creators = Steven T. Seagle (writer), Anthony Winn (artist) alliance …   Wikipedia

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