I see a lot of posts on here where people ask for struts for their civics and they get yelled at saying civics have shocks. Half the people say one thing, half say the other. So which is it..

Do 88-00 civics have struts or shocks? (in 2001 they switched to a macpherson strut correct?)
Whats the difference?
Whats the benefits of each?
Pics would be great.

I searched google but for struts it gives you 8 million pictures of ostriches. WTF

I see this brought up a lot so maybe this could help clear things up.

Thanks

 

I asked this question on jdmcivic.com like 3 years ago and got a good answer but their site is down right now

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurboEM1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I searched google but for struts it gives you 8 million pictures of ostriches. WTF
</TD></TR></TABLE>
ROFL, it really does! I dunno what the deal is there. Maybe "strut" is the scientific term for a male/female ostrich?
Anydangway, struts and shocks perform a lot of the same functions which is why some people have taken to using the terms interchangeably. However struts play a bigger role in a car that uses macpherson strut suspension.
Shocks and struts both serve to control the oscillation of the springs. However struts also serve as support for the entire suspension, and to locate the wheel, and if the strut fails, the car is largely undriveable. If a shock fails, the car is still driveable as its not as integral a part of the suspension (although it is still important of course).
Also mac-strut suspensions generally have a lower (higher? closer to 1:1) wheel ratio, which is the proportion of the rate of the spring is acting directly on the wheel. The closer it is to 1:1, the lower the spring rate you need to run.
Mac-strut suspensions take up less room and the entire setup is usually lighter afaik.
Awesome picture #1 (courtesy of http://www.roversd1.nl/sd1web/mcpherson.html)


The double-wishbone a-arm suspension provides a better camber curve during suspension travel, and some argue that it is the superior setup for performance overall.
Awesome picture #2 (courtesy of http://www.carbibles.com/suspension_bible.html):

p.s.- the Carbibles suspension site is super informative, I highly suggest you take a look through it, and see if you can figure out which suspension setup you're using!

 

a strut is a shock. a strut is specific to a commonly used macpherson strut suspension where there is no upper control arm. hondas from 88-00 do no use macpherson strut, so its not a strut. its just a shock absorber, damper, dashpot, whatever... but since struts are so commonly used in passenger cars, its use is ubiquitous and pretty much interchangeable for anything regarding the shock.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a strut is a shock. a strut is specific to a commonly used macpherson strut suspension where there is no upper control arm. hondas from 88-00 do no use macpherson strut, so its not a strut. its just a shock absorber, damper, dashpot, whatever... but since struts are so commonly used in passenger cars, its use is ubiquitous and pretty much interchangeable for anything regarding the shock.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree with Tyson's statement, I look at it this way, and car that has an upper and lower control arm has shocks, if they do not have an upper contorl arm it is a strut. 88-00 Civics have Coil-Over Shocks. RSX's/EP#.. have Coil-Over Struts.