5SpeedP5

well im pretty stupid when it comes to suspensions, i have been hearing about shocks and how our cars have struts instead (true?) whats the differences and advantages?, i have worked with shocks on a car before..... struts well nope. sorry if this is kinda a stupid question, but hey, its gonna be asked sometime.... so ill do it now

thanks

Sir Nuke

the BIG diffrence is the fact that a strut is an intragrual part of your suspension....if you took the strut OUT you would't be going anywhere....it ACTS like a shock absorber as well....plus it supports your springs and connects the hubs/discs all togeather with the rest of the front/rear end....

a shock absorber on the other hand is NOT an intragrual part of the suspension...its only a BUMP dampener....thus its name....you COULD take a shock off and still go....its part of a more TRADTIONAL suspension where you have A-arms and either a differencial (RWD) or a stright axel under the car.....the shock attaches to the bottom moving member of a tradaitonal A-arm setup and then the top connects to the frame.....same in the back...it attaches to the differencial and then to the frame...so it limits the SPEED at which these parts can move...and dampens any BOUNCE....so it settles faster....

you will find regular shock absorbers on MOST cars out there today....just so happens OURS don't.....due to the type of suspension we have.

Protege5

5SpeedP5
just wondering why you use my picture for your icon picture ?

haha

5SpeedP5

lol because it kicks ***! i love those wheels

5SpeedP5

hope you dont mind i use it?

Protege5

I dont mine

Don M

Actually, the difference between shocks and struts is whether or not the wheel spindle is directly connected to the shock body (which makes it a strut) or not. Most FWD cars use struts, (at least in the front) as it simplifies things.

The Miata uses shocks (with coilover springs) and not struts, yet when the shocks are removed, you have no suspension. Some shocks have the spring perch welded on them (as with the Miata) and ALL struts do as well, so just the presence (or lack of) spring perches isn't an indication of whether you're looking a shocks or struts either.

Struts are great, in that they usually give you less unsprung weight, and have fewer moving parts, but they are bad in that the wheels camber cannot be made to change as the suspension is compressed, (because the spindle is fixed to the strut at a given angle) which isn't too good for getting the car to stick to the road.

Don