RPI Equipped! | Suspension FAQ

Suspension FAQ

Understanding Basic Suspension Terminology
Minimizing & Controlling Bounce
A Look at Lowering

Understanding Basic Suspension Terminology

Coil Spring

Provides a cushion to absorb road imperfections and returns the vehicle to a predetermined ride height. A major contributor to a vehicle’s handling balance and ride quality. Higher spring rates and shorter overall lengths are commonly used to lower the vehicle’s ride height for enhanced appearance and improved handling.

Shock/Strut/Damper

Convert the suspension’s kinetic energy into heat by forcing fluid through a series of valves within the shock body. Provides control of unwanted suspension motions allowing the tires’ contact patches to better stay in contact with the road surface. Can have a major affect on the vehicle ride quality and handling balance anytime the vehicle suspension is moving through its range of motion.

Bump Stop

In its basic form, prevents the vehicle’s suspension or tire from contacting the vehicle’s body or frame during upward movement. Many modern designs also act as supplemental springs using a urethane material to smooth the transition to full compression.

Coil-Over

A term used to describe a spring, shock and bump stop incorporated into one assembly with the spring encompassing the shock and bump stop. Often uses an adjustable spring perch to allow different vehicle ride heights without changing the springs.

Anti-Roll Bar

Also called an anti-sway bar, this device connects the left and right suspensions together and anchors to the vehicle frame. Typically used at the front and rear of the vehicle, the anti-roll bar is commonly used to adjust the handling balance of the vehicle and limit the amount of sway or body roll during cornering.

Minimizing & Controlling Bounce

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When it comes to improving your vehicle’s performance, shock absorbers are probably one of the last things you consider. However, shock absorbers as an integral part of your vehicle’s suspension, work to maximize the ability of your tires to perform.

The springs in your suspension hold up the weight of your vehicle and help resist pitch to the front and rear, and (in conjunction with the vehicle’s sway bars) resist lean to the side. Your shock absorbers are the primary suspension components that actually help “absorb shock” preventing continued bounce every time you accelerate, stop, corner or hit a bump. Shock absorbers are designed to slow and reduce these movements to help control the weight of the vehicle during transitions and allow your tires to perform better as they accept your input.
When shock absorbers wear (often very slowly over tens of thousands of miles, making the deterioration less noticeable), their resistance to movement weakens, your vehicle’s handling suffers, and tires and suspension components wear abnormally. New shock absorbers can restore the performance that has been surrendered by weak shock absorbers on used cars. Even new cars can improve their performance by upgrading their shock absorbers.

Shock absorbers work by converting suspension movement (kinetic energy) into heat (thermal energy). Fluid in a telescopic shock absorber is forced to pass through restrictive valves as the shock’s piston is compressed (bump stroke) and extended (rebound stroke). Many shock absorbers are gas-filled to reduce foaming as their piston is forced through the fluid, and have a “floating” piston to separate the fluid from the gas. This helps eliminate performance fade to maintain good ride and handling characteristics, even in demanding driving conditions.

Most “heavy-duty” shock absorbers, by means of larger diameter rods and pistons, better seals and valves, more fluid, and stronger mounting points, are stronger and better suited to the demands of hard driving, than are Original Equipment shocks. Some performance shock absorbers are adjustable allowing the driver to tune the behavior of the vehicle to meet their preferences for ride comfort and handling balance. This feature also allows the driver to adjust the shock absorber’s dampening to compensate for the wear that occurs over tens of thousands of miles.