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Originally Posted by confused
I understand the whole spring rate thing but am still kind of confused as to how shocks factor into the picture.
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ok think of it this way. if you take a big old spring and stretch it apart between your two hands, it gets long. when you let go it will shrink - then stretch again, oscillating as it were - basically 'bouncing' back and forth. in a car with no shocks, when you drive over a bump the springs will be compressed. after the bump they will bounce back, over extending. they will keep doing that... compress, extend, compress, extend... making for a very bouncy ride. thats where shocks come in. shocks 'dampen' the oscillation effect.
springs help to absorb the impact; the shocks keep the springs from oscillating excessively.
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