RE: Coilovers vs. Shocks/Springs/Struts

["Ng, Kevin (Bank of America Commercial Finance)" <kevin.ng@bankofamericacf.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Khan Klatt [SMTP:khan@mediaaccess.com]
> Sent:	Wednesday, April 05, 2000 12:21 PM
> 
> Can someone enlighten me to the difference between coilovers and 
> shocks/struts, etc.?
> 
The biggest advantage of coilover suspension systems is adjustability. All
are height adjustable, and many also provide damping adjustability. Height
adjustment will not only allow the car to be corner weighted, but it also
makes the car look damn cool :)

I think (getting very technical here) that with a coilover setup the spring
is mounted on a threaded body damper (shock/strut/whatever you want to call
it). There is a dial and a locking ring on these threads, which provide the
height adjustment. Think of the coilover as a single unit. When the
coilovers were delivered to my door, there were four pieces in the box--two
fronts and two rears.

I gotta admit that when I bought the H&R coilovers for my car, I was not
interested in corner weighting, etc. Performance was very important, yes,
but I don't believe that two clicks on a dial is going to make much
difference in the real world. But I still wanted the ability to adjust
height, for looks of course. When I was doing research on various
aftermarket suspension systems, I was getting many different responses from
many different people about how much lowering so-and-so suspension made. I
could never get a definitive answer, so I said why not just get adjustable
ones. Ride quality was a very important issue in choosing a suspension
system. I was getting conflicting opinions about harshness and stiffness of
each setup, but even with the 390lb springs on the coilovers, EVERY person I
talked to who had them said the ride was actually very good. You know what?
They were right. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the
dampers and the springs are perfectly matched right from the factory. When
you go out and buy an aftermaket "system", more often than not you need to
choose which springs to get which dampers. With coilovers the decision is
easy. You either buy them or you don't.

Ok, they are more expensive. But not as bad as you might think. To get a
decent suspension setup (Bilstein/Koni and H&R/Neuspeed/Eibach springs),
you're looking at around $650. I paid $975 for my H&R coilovers, and saved a
few bucks by installing them myself (it's a snap, really!). And I have no
doubt that they'll outlast any of the cheaper setups out there.

> also, I'm not sure what struts are. Are 
> they simply a different term for shocks?
> 
Yup. "Shocks" is not really the proper terminology, since they're not really
doing any of the shock absorbing (that's what the springs are for). Call 'em
dampers or struts.

Kevin Ng
97 Jetta GLX Windsor Blue