scuzzer
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| posted on 3/2/04 at 06:46 AM |
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active shocks
Check out these coilovers:
http://www.prodrive-usa.com/product_detail.asp?yid=219&c
id=10&pid=76&s=1
They are stiff until they hit a bump, and then they go soft just long enough to absorb the bump, and then go right back to stiff again. Keep in mind
I am not a shock connoisseur. But this looks to be very high tech. Price is expected to be "less than $3,000" (US).
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dozracing
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| posted on 3/2/04 at 02:22 PM |
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This technology is not new, although its the first time i've seen it commercially available for race/rally shocks.
There are various ways of doing it, and there are a number of passive ways to achieve the same thing. They are either using magneto rheological fluid,
or just a simple needle valve adjusted by a servo motor. If its the latter method you probably don't get much damping changing with fast inputs.
The first method always used to be fraut with problems sealing the damper, as the fluid used to destroy seals very quickly.
With informed use of standard damper valving you can achieve the same result (as regards hitting bumps and dropping damping) a lot lighter and cheaper
than this system, although it wouldn't be able to adjust the damping from driver inputs.
$3000 will be for each damper bare in mind, so its pretty expensive.
Kind regards,
Darren
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dozracing
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| posted on 3/2/04 at 02:31 PM |
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Having reviewed the brochure on them now, i see that they are not using MR fluid, so they are most likely to be using a servo control of the needle
and jet bleed adjuster, so i doubt very much that the reaction time and effect is quite as glossy as the literature would have you believe.
Kind regards,
Darren
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kb58
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| posted on 3/2/04 at 03:44 PM |
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I guess I don't get it. Since the shock has no way of knowing how big a bump it's about to hit, how soft can it go? If it's a
large bump, or a deep enough pothole, to bottom the suspension, that's the worst time you'd want your shock going soft. So I guess they
go "half soft?" But then that means you'd have to have an idea of what the typical bump is that you'd expect to hit and set
it initially for that.
I don't know... $12,000, no thanks. I'll stick to KISS, which is all I can afford anyway...
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scuzzer
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| posted on 4/2/04 at 03:28 PM |
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I'm sure the best way to achieve what they claim to do would be:
stiff in roll, then if you hit a bump it would go soft to absorb the bump, but as the suspension nears its full bounce travel it would get
progressively stiffer to keep it from bottoming out. This way small and medium bumps would ride smoother, and large bumps would ride smooth until the
very end. Kind of like a progressive rate spring, only its the shocks job instead.
Seems like it would be much easier to get a progressive rate spring and match a more conventional shock to your type of driving and the road
expectations.
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