Adrian wrote in news:Xns96ADA99C234FCadrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:
Thought it was a shock absorber. Is this not a combination of the two?
Except for me, who obviously has an inferior intellect :-(
Very good. Excuse my ignorance.
Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Not really.
The front on most modern cars with MacPherson Struts will use a coil-over strut - the damper is an insert inside the suspension leg, with a coil spring wrapped round the outside.
The spring is what "absorbs the shock" by providing the suspension travel and managing the rate at which the suspension deflects.
Most people, though, including the OP, refer to the telescopic damper as the "shock absorber" - what it does is to damp the suspension movement, to prevent the car bouncing merrily down the road.
The nearest you get to a combined unit is the sphere on Citroen hydraulics
- the gas pressure inside acts as the "springing", while there's a calibrated hole for the fluid to pass through which acts as the damper.
Adrian wrote in news:Xns96ADAED87C953adrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:
I see. I understand the principle perfectly, it's just the description I'm getting wrong. I I'm getting wrong. I've always thought of a sprung damping system as two major components: a spring and a damper. Only when the two are assembled together have I referred to the complete unit as a shock absorber. If my car became bouncy, I would have gone and asked for new dampers, honest :-)
I don't think it's anything to fuss over, anyway :-)
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