Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

For some time lot's of guys have been asking me to explain the differences between a good shock and a bad one, what sophisticated valving really means, why a monotube shock is better than a twin tube etc etc. So this thread is an attempt to answer those questions and any others that might come up in the process.

To kick it off I thought I would start with why a monotube shock is better than a twin tube. Monotube shocks have a larger piston area than a twin tube for the same given outside diameter. This larger piston OD/monotube design means that;

1. There is room for more valves

2. The valves themselves can be bigger

3. More hydraulic fluid is moved for the same stroke, this means superior metering of the fluid transfer though the piston.

4. There is more fluid in the shock, which means higher temperature capacity. The movement of the fluid through the valves generates heat (Newtons law at work) by transforming the kinetic (up and down) energy.

5. The fluid is in direct contact with the shock body meaning rapid transfer of heat to the outside )ambient) atmosphere.

Following is a shock dyno graph (courtesy of Bilstein) showing the effect of heat on dampening of a typical Japanese twin tube shock. As you can see after 2 minutes, yes that's 2 minutes, of running at 550 mm/sec the damping force (the vertical axis) drops off dramatically. For those that haven't seen a shock dyno graph before the vertical axis is the damping force and the horizontal axis is the speed (frequency) of the up and down.

med_gallery_1903_124_18084.jpg

This means is the damping efficiency of shock drops away due to the rapid overheating of the fluid. Because of the twin tube design there is insufficient fluid to absorb the heat and the two tubes slow down the heat transfer to outside atmosphere. What you feel in real life is a gradual decrease in damping effect, the shock slowly ceases to control the spring and the chassis. You get move vertical/roll movement, the shock no longer helps to keep the tyre in contact with the road.

Hope that was in some way informative, the next subject (with pictures) will be a comparison of the design of the shock piston and the valve pack.

:) Cheers :(

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/114718-shockabsorber-101/

i see... thanks Cass... the thing is...there's THIS arguement also..

"Twin Tube

A Twin Tube internal design is utilized for increased piston stroke for improved handling and comfort during street use. Another major feature is more durable in the case of damage to the actual damper body."

I mean, that's all the use my car gets.. it's not for track in the slightest.....

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • But, do I have to? 😬
    • While doing my tailgate struts I found some rust. Also replaced my bonnet struts. Such a cool satisfaction with that job.
    • So I removed as much as I could from both sides. The shop vac did a great job of clearing 99% of it. I got it all as clean as I could and then absolutely drenched the whole lot in the rust converter. Tonight or tomorrow I'll hammer it again. The cavity must be close to 400mm in length and surprisingly I was able to get it right to the back.  I'll quickly reassemble and then pretend I never saw it. I'll post pics (for me to ignore later) soon.
    • Yea she is a hoot to drive 
    • I have always resisted the urge to go silly. 8" wide wheels and street friendly spring rates? Check. (Let's not talk about the steadily increasing spread of spherical joints across my suspension!!) Stock turbo, run at 12 psi? Check. Lasted for~?10 years before it died. Highflow put on rather than seizing the opportunity to go G45. You don't need 300 rwkW, let alone the more massive numbers that seem to be essential these days, to have a car that is already way too powerful and fast for a streeter. ~250rwkW is fine. I've never exceeded 200, although I will sneak up above it if and when I manage to get my finger out and do what needs to be done to use the highflow's capacity. You don't need $10k worth of CF bits glued onto the outside. You don't need razor sharp ankle cutting front splitters. You don't need the car to be 2" off the ground. You don't need flawless paint, mirror finished wheels, brand new indicator lenses, etc etc. All these things just make the car impractical and will cause you pain when they get damaged, which is inevitable for a street car. A few nice additions are good. Good seats are good. A nice stereo is good. A/C is good! (46° on the road yesterday and my A/C is degassed again. Was moderately traumatic driving home!) The main reason I stick with a mildly modified old Skyline is that I have had it for >25 years, the mods are the rolling result of 25 years of things dying and being upgraded opportunistically, coupled with a few "just 'coz" ones. And I hate almost all modern cars. If I was a young buck starting out now.... I wouldn't bother. Cars have a few years left where there is any possibility of interest or fun. Thereafter there will be no such thing allowed or possible. Any time, money and effort spent now on a project would just be a waste.
×
×
  • Create New...