What is the difference between shocks and struts?

 

a strut is limited to a shock absorber on a macpherson strut suspension. its common on a lot of street cars. but its not how civics and integras from 88-01 since we dont use macpherson struts. so then theyre just shocks, or shock absorbers.

but if you walked into the store, asked for a front "strut" for your 95 civic, nobody is going to not understand what you want.

 

I am still a little confused. Also, what is the difference between normal struts and coilover struts

 

Coil over struts are adjustable for ride height by turning a threaded collar and thus moving the height the spring sits at. At least, that is what I hear anyway.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4EN[sic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">]Coil over struts are adjustable for ride height by turning a threaded collar and thus moving the height the spring sits at. At least, that is what I hear anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Dood, your way off...

A strut & a shock are both "dampers". The difference is how they are implemented in a suspension system. MacPherson-Strut suspension specifically uses the damper as a steering component and directly replaces the upper control arm of a typical double-wishbone setup. This is the only situation where the damper is referred to as a strut:



A shock can be used in many ways, but is usually found in our Hondas on a double-wishbone suspension w/ coil-over springs like this:



Here is another example of the civic/integra "trailing-link" suspension with coil-over shock setup.

 

Ok now I am understanding the difference. Good explanation.

Anyway, why does my 328i have the shock seperate from the spring? (aka non coilover)

what are the advantages with coilover design?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RighteousRyano &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok now I am understanding the difference. Good explanation.

Anyway, why does my 328i have the shock seperate from the spring? (aka non coilover)

what are the advantages with coilover design?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You'll have to ask the BMW people...
Perhaps they were able to save space with this setup somehow (though I cannot imagine how)...

 

its to save space. allows more interior volume.

look at the rear of a VW.

look at the rear of the fit too.

suspension design on a production vehicle is dependent on packaging and cost. thats why there are differences.

look at the two pics of the macpherson and honda double wishbone. one is obviously more simple than the other. they dont perform the same either. but they do provide independent movement at the wheel.

 

MacPherson struts are nice on a car that you want to maximize wheel travel on (like say.....a rally car). Otherwise they suck, I know from experience ('05 STi that was a royal PITA to set up well). IMO the main reason manufacturers have been switching to them is cost and packaging, and I don't like it.

Jon