Good article on shocks
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From: Pasadena Texas
Not a bad article... but not really applicable to a street car or even a track car, any more than drag shocks would be.
There are some issues with it with regard to real world cars.... not that he's wrong, just writing for circle track cars. In the real world we have to deal with a huge number more variables than a circle track car (varying loads, roads, bumps, potholes, RR tracks, spring rates, etc).
He talks about gas charged shocks to keep the oil aeration down... yet some shocks are not gas charged. Everything I use is, but some are not--and that's not good.
He says: "A New Trend Takes Shape Another development that has recently become popular involves using more rebound resistance than compression control. If we read the older automotive design books related to shock design for production automobiles, we see where the design criteria called for equal resistance in both directions, compression and rebound, in combination with the action of the springs. Because springs naturally resist compression and aid in rebound (unloading of load) we need less compression and more rebound control in our shocks to be truly equal in each direction of movement." Ahhhh, yeah--that's nothing new. That's how everyone else with even half a clue runs things, compression damping is an unsprung weight control--and you'd have to be doing something special to have unsprung weight anywhere near the sprung mass of the car.
Further points. They don't deal with transitional rates like we need (lane changes, or slaloms if you are autoxing or esses on a road course). They also pretty much know the track (which are only a couple corners and have known surfaces). I think most folks see more surfaces in 5 minutes of daily driving...
There are some issues with it with regard to real world cars.... not that he's wrong, just writing for circle track cars. In the real world we have to deal with a huge number more variables than a circle track car (varying loads, roads, bumps, potholes, RR tracks, spring rates, etc).
He talks about gas charged shocks to keep the oil aeration down... yet some shocks are not gas charged. Everything I use is, but some are not--and that's not good.
He says: "A New Trend Takes Shape Another development that has recently become popular involves using more rebound resistance than compression control. If we read the older automotive design books related to shock design for production automobiles, we see where the design criteria called for equal resistance in both directions, compression and rebound, in combination with the action of the springs. Because springs naturally resist compression and aid in rebound (unloading of load) we need less compression and more rebound control in our shocks to be truly equal in each direction of movement." Ahhhh, yeah--that's nothing new. That's how everyone else with even half a clue runs things, compression damping is an unsprung weight control--and you'd have to be doing something special to have unsprung weight anywhere near the sprung mass of the car.
Further points. They don't deal with transitional rates like we need (lane changes, or slaloms if you are autoxing or esses on a road course). They also pretty much know the track (which are only a couple corners and have known surfaces). I think most folks see more surfaces in 5 minutes of daily driving...
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www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
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www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
