Shocks and Springs
The lowdown on suspension shocks and springs.
The Basics:
What are Shocks and Springs?
Shocks and springs are the most common suspension setup found on cars to date. The shock is the strut setup that has a fluid fed ram that adjusts under pressure. The spring sits within the strut on a specilay crafted housing, the spring controls the ride height and firmness by the amount of full coils and bounce-ability (quality).
What do Shocks and Springs do?
As described in “What are Shocks and Springs?” the shock and spring combination control the movement of uneven road surfaces etc to help prevent an uncomfortable ride. The metal coil spring flexes and as a result dampens the harshness of speed bumps and other uneven road surfaces.
So by modifying my Shocks and Springs what am I doing?
A common modification on cars is to modify the suspension, this is usually to improve the ride quality, height and handling.
The term “lowered” comes from modifying the suspension ride height and is a very common modification for cars. To lower a car you replace the exisiting springs with a set of specialy crafted lowering springs that have less coils and are more compressed to still allow for the ride handling and weight control. Lowering springs start at around 15mm and go up to around 80mm if not more.
This setting is the amount lower than the stock springs your ride will sit. For example a set of 30mm lowering springs will lower your ride 30mm lower than the standard stock springs.
Its good to note that a lowering spring kit that exceeds 35mm usually requires uprated dampers to be purchased aswell. This is simply to do with the fact that the stock dampers are not designed to work with such a short or highly compressed spring and really effects the performance of your suspension – meaning a bumpier more uncomfortable ride than need be.
By lowering your ride you are not only improving the stance of your vehicle you are alos improving the ride quality and handling performance. A lower car hugs the road better and in some cases helps that “go-kart” feeling when driving on the roads.
The Law on Suspension:
There is no law to state that Modifying your Shocks and Springs is illegal however a ride that is to low that it either A, allows the wheels to foul the bodywork or B, disallows an MOT tester to drive it onto a ramp will find itself with a failed MOT ticket, so be careful!