How does a shocks condition affect ride height?

[Logan]

I was talking to a guy on another forum who swears that the shocks condition does not determine ride height.

Here are his quotes

"Shocks don't determine ride height, springs do. Shocks absorb the energy of the wheel being thrust upward and downward (compression and rebound) which is why they're called shock absorbers."

"Because even though the springs are shorter, they have a stiffer metal. The longer spring sags to the same compressed height vs the shorter, stiffer spring."



Is there any truth to this? I have installed konis on a car which replaced the blown out stock shocks, and it made the ride height increase considerably.

[Stormhammer]

blow out shocks will cause your car to ride lower simply because there is no compression in the cylinders holding your car up to normal ride height. But he is correct. Think about it - you don't buy shocks to lower your car ;) You buy them for a stiffer ride/less body roll/better handling ( generally )

[Logan]

I meant to post this in general tech.

[yoshidoshi12]

ya he's correct. shocks absorb the rebound.

[87 Turbo II]

yeah, shocks just make it easier or harder(hopefully this one) to move up and down (in most cases, slow things down a bit) the support actually comes from the spring.

[Bruce Leroy]

With blown shocks on stock springs, my ride height was the same. With blown shocks on eibach sportlines, the ride height was about a finger lower than normal.

[Dietcoke]

It depends on the suspension setup. For example, Koni DAs lower my car ~1.5" compared to the factory bilsteins because they're a low pressure shock vs the high pressure shock that's on the car right now, totally independant of damping rates.

[yudalicious]

It depends on the suspension setup. For example, Koni DAs lower my car ~1.5" compared to the factory bilsteins because they're a low pressure shock vs the high pressure shock that's on the car right now, totally independant of damping rates.

An 1.5" difference seems really unbelievable. I don't believe that shocks affect ride height. My theory is that sometimes when people install new suspension parts rubber bushings or insulators take awhile to "settle" to it's original state. So it may give off the wrong impression that a new shock affects ride height or that new springs need time to settle.

I've heard of high pressure monotube shocks acting as transient springs, but that's mostly in very specific situations where the shaft velocity is higher than a car sitting still, in which the shaft velocity would be 0.

[Dietcoke]

Believe it. I dont have struts though, I have coilovers on an SLA suspension. I suppose different designs would be effected more then others.

http://www.skyroadster.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21773&highlight=shocks

Pay attention to post #10

[yudalicious]

Believe it. I dont have struts though, I have coilovers on an SLA suspension. I suppose different designs would be effected more then others.

http://www.skyroadster.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21773&highlight=shocks

Pay attention to post #10

Weird... 1.5 is a big #.

[speedminded]

I was talking to a guy on another forum who swears that the shocks condition does not determine ride height.

Here are his quotes

"Shocks don't determine ride height, springs do. Shocks absorb the energy of the wheel being thrust upward and downward (compression and rebound) which is why they're called shock absorbers."

"Because even though the springs are shorter, they have a stiffer metal. The longer spring sags to the same compressed height vs the shorter, stiffer spring."



Is there any truth to this? I have installed konis on a car which replaced the blown out stock shocks, and it made the ride height increase considerably.The springs support the weight of the car and the shocks control the motion of the spring...aka dampening aka compression & rebound.


If a shock is supporting the weight of the car then it's most likely going to blow at any time. That's one of the reasons stock shocks on lowering springs will not last long...

1) The stock shock is designed to compress to the minimum length of the stock spring, if you shorten that length (or the spring is too soft) then the car will be supported by and directly impacting the shock on larger bumpers...not good. A blown shock will cause a car to be extremely lofty and continue to bounce several times after every bump...

2) The compression and rebound of the shock is designed to match the spring rate. You lower the spring rate more than 100lbs or so putting too much weight on the shock and it may blow (See note 1). If you raise the spring rate more than 100lbs or so then the shock may not work at all because it can't keep up with the spring. Not saying it will damage the shock but it simply may not work giving the vehicle a rigid/bouncy ride...which leads to bad wheel hop on the drag strip or unpredictable handling in a turn.