Ok, I'm looking into suspension (just starting to do me research, so bear with me) to aide my general understanding. This is what I got so far; tell me if I'm right.

Dampers are called shocks only when they are installed separately from the spring (read: they are not the same unit, aka the shock is not inside the spring. more on that later). This means that if your shock snapped/broke (like mine did. more on that later), the car would still be suspended, since the spring would not be affected. You'd have one hell of a bouncy ride though since nothing would stop the spring oscillating. My right rear damper snapped before - midcorner bumps would send the rear up and to the side... fwd dorifto like whoa. This means I have a spring/shock system, right?

Then you have struts (as opposed to shocks). The difference is that the strut is inside the spring. This means that if the shock snapped/broke, that corner would be on the ground. You're f*cked and can't drive anywhere.

Now coilovers. These use struts, as the spring is "coiled over" the damper. Now this is where I hit a gray area. What's the difference between a regular spring/strut shindig and a coilover setup? I can see three although not all of them might be true. a) Coilovers can be adjusted; b) With coilovers the spring and the strut can't be separated, as opposed to a regular spring/strut setup where the spring and the strut are separate elements thrown together; c) coilovers replace the upper A-arm.



So:
1) Is what I posted above correct?
2) So what's the deal with the coilover question that I posted near the end of my speil?
3) Please post any suspension-related information/articles that you know of. I'd like to know all I can before I start shelling out money. This includes info on control arms, bushings, even roll bars (ok, anti-roll, technically, I know).
4) Whether a strut or a shock, the damper itself is the same thing, right? If you don't take into consideration its location in relation to the spring, that is.
5) If a car has a spring/shock setup, can it be switched to a spring/strut one, and vise versa?

Thanks!

Oh, and yes, I did search and I am actively searching. I've been reading plenty about suspension over the last few days but just want to clarify some points.

 

Nope, you're way off, on several things.

Struts are shocks, in that they both damp suspension motion. The difference is only that a strut is also a structural suspension locating device, whereas a shock is not.

If you break a shock/strut, the car would not be suspended if the spring is over the damper. However, with a shock, the wheel would still be held in the correct location as all suspension arms would still be intact.

Either can have the spring around it or not.

And a "coilover" is a coil spring over the shock. Stock, most strut and shock based cars have a "coilover". The term is also frequently abused to only mean a threaded spring perch.

 

lol. not worth reading.

 

x2

 

It wasn't meant as an informative post, its to help me understand suspension. You should follow TunerN00bs's example and actually try to help. Unless all your ~15000 posts are stupid bullshit flaming people, you should actually know a little about this stuff and should be able to help.

 

every statement is wrong. its laughable. and really it just seems like youre talking technical semantics.

spring = that springy thing

shock = short for shock absorber

strut = part of a macpherson strut suspension.

macpherson strut suspension = the shock is integrated with the structural support of the suspension. the spring coils around the shock at the top. makes for a compact and robust suspension.

double wishbone = aka short-long arm SLA suspension. shock is not part of the structural support of the suspension. motion is controlled by the upper and lower control arms.

coilover = simply the spring "coils over the shock". misused to mean a fully threaded shock with integrated height adjustment.

divorced spring = not a coilover setup. commonly used in the rear where its more efficient to package the spring from the shock for more passenger room. see rear of VW's.

really man, where the **** did you come up with that crap? search wikipedia instead of just guessing.

 

Alright, a useful reply. Thanks for that.
I read through the howstuffworks articles and some random forums and whatnot but those were filled with contradicting information.