someone explain to me what adjustable shocks do? I used the search but no help. PLease bear with me.

 

On adjustable shocks you can adjust how the ride will be.... for example I have Koni single adjustables and I lowered the car. When I put the shocks on they were set to firm and the ride was real ruff. The shocks weren't forgiving at all. By the time I got home my back was killing me. THen I set them to full soft and the ride was very smooth. The suspension would handle the bumps very well.

The advantage for me was being able to adjust the shocks to meet my needs and to meet my comfort requirements.

 

Before I got a car (or the money) to begin seriously consider modding, I had been playing and tuning in Gran Turismo, and of course reading forums there and reading theory, so.... my ideas are probably screwed up 6 ways from sunday.

Having said that - I thought that the purpose of the shock was to control the spring in that, it was supposed to prevent bouncing. That means if the ride is too soft, the springs need to be upgraded and shocks should only ever be "stiff" enough, in either direction to prevent the wheel from bouncing.

Then I come here and I see a lot of people treating adjustable shocks as adjustable springs and relying on them to determine effective spring rate.

Which should it be? (just so I know)

 

Your shocks need to match your springs. The adjustment comes in when you are trying to optimize your handling for a specific application.

For instance, I've got 550lb springs up front. If I wanted to have a real soft ride, I'd turn them down. This would have the effect of allowing the spring to compress and decompress relatively freely. The result is that the car would remain relatively stable as the wheel goes up and down. However, the wheel would bounce a bit more, thereby redicing grip.

On the other hand, let's say I want a real stiff ride for racing. I turn the shocks stiffer. This means that the ride is much harsher. This is because the wheel bounces less when hitting a bump - but making the car move more. But, it takes a MUCH bigger bump to move a car than a wheel. So, the car and wheel will stop bouncing MUCH quicker with stiff springs. This will allow the tire to ahve better grip.

Think about the extremes. Watch a Formula 1 car go over a raised apex on a corner. The entire side of the car (including tires) comes off the ground. But, when it lands it rides flat almost immediately.

Now, imagine a 1989 Cadillac ElDorado doing the same. The car itself won't move a bit, but the tire will go up. But, when the tire comes down, it does not settle immediately. The spring will push it back into the pavement. Then, because the tire itself has air pressure, the wheel will bounce back up a little. Then, the spring pushes it back down. And it repeats. This is VERY evident on a car with no/worn shocks. You can literally watch the tire bounce off the ground a few times, then continue to vibrate vertically for a few seconds.

Hope this helps!!

 

A shock has to control the spring rate, that's true. But it's not the only job. Compare a Cadillac to a BMW 7 series for instance. Both are actually sprung pretty soft, but the lack of damping is what makes the Caddy float and the BMW the "ultimate driving machine".

Shocks give a lot of feel in chassis. You can tune turn-in response with shocks, you can do a lot with dampers and what are widely regarded as cars that handle well.... they are technically "overdamped". That slows body roll and pitch and gives you a stable platform to use instead of one moving all over the place.

 

So in other words, I can make my car feel like a 2 ton boulder and if I get the feeling I can make it feel like a cloud?

I thought with adjustable shocks you could lower the car and then raise after or is that possible?

Thanx for the info fellas.