bjkadron
Well-Known Member
I found this today when doing a dive into the internet of what the shock options were for our cars. This test is for mustang shocks but if I had to guess the curves are not far off from what they would be for similar shocks for our cars. I'm going to leave some of my commentary and some snippets but HERE is the link to the whole test with video. Also, Disclaimer for anyone who wants to argue: a lot of the stuff I'm going to say is an over simplification but I'm trying to make this readable for all audiences. I'm also focusing on all around style damping not on drag specific damping which is very different.
Lets start off with some basics. Dampers serve a different function than springs, they don't actually hold your car up, they just control the speed at which the forces (bumps, roll, pitch etc) are counteracted by the springs. They add resistance to a system but they do so on a velocity dependent scale, so the faster they move, the more force. This is generally good from a controlling oscillation standpoint and because the big bumps usually make your suspension move farther and faster and cause more potential (built up) energy in your springs. Their is a lot of different forces acting on your suspension, all shock design is a compromise to do things better or worse. One important thing for us is the slower speed moments are usually caused by things like body roll or pitch (braking or acceleration), and the higher speed movements are caused by bumps. This is where high/low speed damping comes in (usually the split is between 2 and 3 in/s depending who you ask). The forces on the chart on the low speed side, (and also a lot of your rebound curve) is going to be what controls the speed of your transitions (on/off brakes & gas, turning back and forth). Most performance cars will use more low speed and rebound damping to make the handling feel tight and controlled. On the other hand, your high speed (and a lot of the compression) controls how fast your springs absorb large bumps and does other useful things like keeping you from bottoming out over large impacts.
On to the results of the comparison. As you can see, the expensive high end performance and the basic factory have pretty similar curves, the main difference is just how much damping force. The performance one has higher forces which gives better body control and allows control of stiffer performance springs. Another interesting thing Is the KYB shocks. I was a little surprised at this one. They have a fairly good performance curve but are definitely high on the compression damping. This actually would be a pretty good performer on a very smooth track with stiffer springs (think 1.12+ probably). Fun side not this was a pretty popular way to damp performance Japanese cars as they have really smooth roads and tracks. Unfortunately, most of us drive on streets not a glass smooth track so the high levels of high speed compression are what gives it the aggressive ride quality that you read about and could also lead to reduced traction over fast bumps.
Lets start off with some basics. Dampers serve a different function than springs, they don't actually hold your car up, they just control the speed at which the forces (bumps, roll, pitch etc) are counteracted by the springs. They add resistance to a system but they do so on a velocity dependent scale, so the faster they move, the more force. This is generally good from a controlling oscillation standpoint and because the big bumps usually make your suspension move farther and faster and cause more potential (built up) energy in your springs. Their is a lot of different forces acting on your suspension, all shock design is a compromise to do things better or worse. One important thing for us is the slower speed moments are usually caused by things like body roll or pitch (braking or acceleration), and the higher speed movements are caused by bumps. This is where high/low speed damping comes in (usually the split is between 2 and 3 in/s depending who you ask). The forces on the chart on the low speed side, (and also a lot of your rebound curve) is going to be what controls the speed of your transitions (on/off brakes & gas, turning back and forth). Most performance cars will use more low speed and rebound damping to make the handling feel tight and controlled. On the other hand, your high speed (and a lot of the compression) controls how fast your springs absorb large bumps and does other useful things like keeping you from bottoming out over large impacts.
On to the results of the comparison. As you can see, the expensive high end performance and the basic factory have pretty similar curves, the main difference is just how much damping force. The performance one has higher forces which gives better body control and allows control of stiffer performance springs. Another interesting thing Is the KYB shocks. I was a little surprised at this one. They have a fairly good performance curve but are definitely high on the compression damping. This actually would be a pretty good performer on a very smooth track with stiffer springs (think 1.12+ probably). Fun side not this was a pretty popular way to damp performance Japanese cars as they have really smooth roads and tracks. Unfortunately, most of us drive on streets not a glass smooth track so the high levels of high speed compression are what gives it the aggressive ride quality that you read about and could also lead to reduced traction over fast bumps.
Last edited:
