“Shock Absorbers”

In a man’s mind, a woman can’t simply begin to talk about automobiles. For her, these wheeled vehicles look the same, feel the same and work all the same. Although we might differ in this word of thought, cars and women have been long been associated with each other.  Yet the greater part of these collations are about sexy women and  showcars, I will try to correlate these two in another way.

Just like a woman, cars have a built-in mechanism for absorbing shock.  Think of just how much a woman absorbs life’s blows to cushion everyone from the world’s painful surprises. Who stood at the foot of the door, absorbing the shock of her son’s terrible ordeal? Disturbing news is always initially conveyed to the wife or the mother or a sister, who absorbs it, then calculates how best to make it seem less shocking to everyone else.

Shock absorbers in cars are dampers attached to the suspension to stop the car from bouncing up and down uncontrollably. When the car wheel encounters a bump in the road, it causes the spring of the suspension to coil and uncoil.  This energy is then transferred to the shock absorber or dampers through the upper mount of the car, down through the internals of the absorbers. Inside the absorbers are piston and rods to hold and regulate pressure thus dissipating the bouncing energy. Orifices perforate the piston and allow fluid to leak through as the piston moves up and down in the pressure tube. Because the orifices are relatively tiny, only a small amount of fluid, under great pressure, passes through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring.

Shock absorbers work in two cycles, the compression cycle and the extension cycle. The compression cycle occurs as the piston moves downward, compressing the hydraulic fluid in the chamber below the piston. The extension cycle occurs as the piston moves toward the top of the pressure tube, compressing the fluid in the chamber above the piston. This is similar to the how a syringe works, pulling and releasing fluid with resistance.

A typical car, light truck or SUV will have more resistance during its extension cycle than its compression cycle. With that in mind, the compression cycle controls the motion of the vehicle’s unsprung weight, while extension controls the heavier, sprung weight.

Modern shock absorbers are now equipped with electronic sensors that can detect velocity. The sensors are hooked up to a computer which in turn drives the mechanical shock absorbers.  This is what you call “active suspension.” The principle behind it is simple,” the faster the suspension moves, the more resistance the shock absorber provides”.  This enables shocks to adjust to road conditions and  control all of the unwanted motions that can occur in a moving vehicle.

Good shock absorbers can stabilize the handling of the car (bounce and sway), shorten braking distances (brake dive), improve the riding comfort and enhance the overall safety of the car.

So if you encounter a bumpy road, literally and figuratively, rest assured good shocks absorbers will help you make the ride a whole lot smoother.