Role of shocks and struts
Shock absorbers and struts are an important part of your vehicle's suspension system and ensure that your vehicle's tires maintain contact with the road. Why is this so important? If your car doesn't maintain firm contact with the road, steering, handling and braking can be affected. Quality drive control products perform many vital functions:
- Control excessive body and ligament movements
- Reduce vehicle bounce, roll and sway, plus brake dive and acceleration squat
- Ensure consistent driving and braking behavior
- Help maintain wheel alignment
- Help reduce the risk of premature wear of tires and other suspension components
The difference between shocks and struts
Often you will hear people use shocks and struts interchangeably. However, shock absorbers and struts are two separate parts with different functions. While both can improve the ride and handling of your car, these parts work in different ways. Shocks are individual components of the suspension system, while struts are an important structural part of the chassis and suspension system.
What shocks do
Despite what many people think, conventional shock absorbers do not support the weight of the vehicle. Instead, the shock absorber's primary purpose is to control spring and suspension movement. This is achieved by converting the kinetic energy of the suspension movement into thermal energy or heat energy that is dissipated through the hydraulic fluid.
The amount of resistance a shock absorber develops depends on the speed of the suspension and the number and size of the small holes or openings in the piston. All modern shock absorbers are velocity-sensitive hydraulic damping devices - meaning the faster the suspension moves, the more resistance the shock provides. Thanks to this function, shock absorbers adapt to changing road conditions and reduce the speed of:
- Bounce
- Rolling and swaying from worn shocks loses the ability to control weight transfer rates
- Brake dive and acceleration squat
Shock absorbers operate on the principle of fluid displacement in both the compression and extension cycles. A typical car or light truck will have more drag during the extension cycle than during the compression cycle. The compression cycle controls the movement of a vehicle's unsprung weight, while extension controls the heavier sprung weight.
Chocolate components
Shock absorbers are essentially oil pumps. A piston is attached to the end of the piston rod that counteracts the hydraulic fluid in the pressure tube. As the suspension moves up and down, hydraulic fluid is forced through the openings in the piston. However, these openings only allow a small amount of fluid through the piston. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring and suspension movement.
What Struts does
The strut is a common type of damper used on many of today's independent suspension, front wheel drive and some rear wheel drive vehicles.
A strut is an important structural part of a suspension. It replaces the upper control arm and upper ball joint used in conventional suspensions. Due to its design, a strut is lighter and takes up less space than the shock absorbers in conventional suspension systems.
Struts perform two main tasks. Firstly, struts perform a damping function as shock absorbers. Inside is a strut that resembles a shock absorber. A piston is attached to the end of the piston rod and works against the hydraulic fluid to control the spring and suspension movements. Like shock absorbers, the valves generate resistance to forces caused by the upward and downward movement of the suspension. Like shock absorbers, a strut is velocity sensitive, meaning it is ventilated so the amount of resistance can increase or decrease depending on how fast the suspension moves.
Struts also perform another task. Unlike shock absorbers, struts provide structural support to the vehicle's suspension, supporting the spring and holding the tire in an aligned position. In addition, they transfer much of the lateral load from the vehicle's suspension. As a result, stiffeners affect ride comfort and handling, as well as vehicle control, braking, steering, wheel alignment and wear of other suspension components.
Stamp components
Typically, struts consist of a strut housing to provide rigid structural support for the connecting and damping unit within the strut housing to control spring and suspension movements. On most struts, the bottom of the body is attached to the control rod, which in turn is connected to a lower control arm via a lower ball joint.
A complete strut assembly includes all the necessary components for strut replacement in a single, fully assembled unit. It combines the strut housing, damping unit with a coil spring to support the weight of the vehicle.
Does my vehicle have shocks or struts?
Each wheel of your vehicle is equipped with shock absorbers or struts. However, your vehicle may have front shock absorbers and rear struts, or some other configuration. Most importantly, each wheel has some sort of ride control section.
Learn more abouthigh-quality shock absorbers, struts and strut assemblies, find the right onecar parts, or find a local oneworkplaceToday.
The content of this article is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions about any of the topics covered herein, you should consult a certified technician or mechanic. Tenneco will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on any content.
