Audi To Introduce Glass-Polymer Lightweight Suspension This Year

Audi has revealed that it will introduce a new suspension spring, made from a glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP), with a new production model this year.

The new technology promises improvements on multiple levels, being lighter, more precise, more resistant to corrosion and less expensive to produce than regular steel springs.

The new springs are made by twisting together long strands of glass fibre, each impregnated with a special epoxy resin.

More fibres are then wrapped by machine at plus-and-minus 45-degree angles around the core to counteract the stresses acting on the spring.