S550 Rear Rear Shock Dyno Graphs - Base VS Performance Pack

Looks like that Performance Pack Monotube rear shock is no joke compared to the base model.

For those of you who are looking for a little more performance from your NON-PP car, I think a swap to some "takeoff" PP Rear Shocks is a good idea. :cheers:

Great info, as usual.

Cool graph. What about adding the Viking shocks in there!

Awesome.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this showing?

The left shows the amount of force applied to move the shock.

The bottom shows the shaft speed, essentially. In "most" conditions, you will typically use the data in the 0-5 range at the bottom. There is what is called "low speed control" - which would be the lower portion of that shaft speed.

(a good way to think of this is, if you have a shock in your hand and push the shaft in - the slower you push the shaft, the easier it goes in. If you try to push it hard and quickly, the shaft firms up) - Just an example, as the force requirement to move the shaft increases as the speed of the shaft increases.

By looking at a graph, you can get a good idea on the way a shock handles various shock shaft speeds. For example, if you hit a pothole....let's say the shaft velocity is at 9in/sec....you can look at the plot and see how the shock handles that harsh impact.

So basically, the higher the # on the left...the more force to move the shock at a specific shaft speed. In these examples, the monotube PP shock shows a higher force under lower shaft speed movement conditions - thus provides a slower movement during elevation, pavement, surface changes etc when cruising.

The higher the left # means, the harder/slower it is to compress, or extend the shock - which can lead to a smoother and better handling ride with a stiffer spring.

I am trying to explain this so the masses reading can understand.

The shocks job is basically to control the movement of the coil spring.

Again, based off of this example of the Base VS PP shocks - the PP monotube shock will provide a smoother ride with a stiffer set of springs, because the oscillation with a stiffer spring is higher, causing faster suspension movement - and as the graph shows, the force to move it is much more. Think of it as seeing a very low vehicle driving down the road bouncing all over the place. That usually occurs as a result of a shorter stiffer spring, and a stock or even blown damper - so the lack of "force" int he shock, is letting the spring oscillate like crazy.

Was the comparison for PP Eco or PP GT? I have a base ECO and would like to upgrade the shocks for cheap. Currently running Eibach sportlines. So at this point if the part #'s are different from the GT PP to the ECO PP, would it be better just to go with the ECO PP shocks? Sorry for the thread hijack.

This is GT Base vs GT PP

If I owned an Eco, and put springs on it, I would likely go with GT PP shocks to be honest.

Are the PP struts as much of an improvement over the base GT strut as the rear shocks are?

Nazgul said:

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this showing?

Click to expand...

This might be easier for some to understand. Usually Shock Dynos (as in the original post) are showing negative and positive forces in one graph picture because, well, we can read them and they are configured into one picture for ease of use... we look at them this way because they are referencing Zero as a baseline.



this is the same graph just expanded to show positive forces (left of zero) and negative forces (right of zero) where as positive forces are compression (initial bump) and negative forces are rebound (returning to normal).

To Kelly: thanks for sharing this stuff about OEM shocks... we love it!

Yes for cheap upgrade

So, if I'm reading this right, the PP shock is roughly equivalent to the Viking Warrior set to about 13 Compression and 7 Rebound measured at 3in/sec. If correct, this would explain why I like the ride better on the Vikings. I'm at 4 Compression and 5 Rebound.

So then what causes the "bounce" that I keep reading about on the stock PP cars? I haven't noticed any bounce on my car that I can tell. Being from Long Island NY we have some shitty roads with lots of pot holes.

You mean, what causes the owners to think it's bouncing?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's simply because many people have not owned a budget built IRS platform that was designed to perform. They don't really bounce. Well, they do....but it is extremely exaggerated online. ;)