Getting That Damping Right — Shock Absorber Shims A Vital Addition
Limiting the movement of your suspension, precisely, this is what increases the stiffness of your suspension when it hits a bump on the track. Damping limits the number of times your suspension would rebound after the bump — this what restrains your vehicle from acting as a jumping castle when you are going through larger bumps present at longer intervals. Controlled movements of the suspension are something that dampers bring in as against the simple spring suspension. While this is something that unanimously productive for both cars and bikes, our focus today shall be universally over damping for both of them!
Where does damping help you on a bike?
Acceleration after one hits the bump or is making high seed maneuver on a turn! A less-rebound damper reduces the chances of your bike, making “jumping horse movements” after braking or crossing a bump. This is, however, something that decreases its ability to get a grip on the asphalt and reaccelerate.
Considering two bikes: one loosely set and the other one with stiffened dampers. When both make it on the track and accelerate after a turn, the prior gets a better grip as the damping presses the tires to the road. However, if we’d look at the latter with stiffened suspension — it would have a higher tire spin with only a fraction of the tires touching the road. What we know from here is that a loose damping lets tires have a lesser spin!
Adding Shock Absorber Valving Shims — Does it affect damping?
Your vehicle pistons and fluid gets quite a hard hit with temperatures when they move to contract and expand through multiple bumps. This is where you would need shock absorber shims to help you get excellent rebound control. The valve shims control the fluid movement at high temperatures, thus retaining it inside the chamber, which would otherwise leak at such high temperatures.
The shock absorber valving shims are applied at both ends: shaft nut and shaft nut. When it comes to the four-wheeler, the shims are used in pyramid formation where they progress to smaller sizes, and the longest ones are towards the center.
Damping difference makes all the difference!
As we move towards the end of our discussion and already k w that damping makes a vast difference to the vehicle handling, let’s get back to pour the first example. The bikes there raced over a flat track — minimal bumps and smooth drive — this could work within the limitation of straight road and at an average speed. Yet, if you’re to work your way over a rugged terrain where bumps would cause your suspension to move like mad, it’s probable that stiffer ones won’t just breakdown but will also handle issues such as vehicle skidding off-track.
That’s when you know how damping could make a massive difference to the drive quality you get over various surfaces. Remember to have your vehicle damping adjusted when you know you might have to switch terrains. This is often done with intelligent systems In modern vehicles where damping adjustment is made according to the surface.
