If I were going to "compare" shocks, how would I do it?

[KaiserM715]

J, I think temp data would also be of interest as shock fade can be a factor for our trucks.

 

[BigJ]

Man oh man... I feel a little bit like I just kicked a hornet's nest. I'm getting LOTS of "information" privately about all this, both on and off the forum. Some legit, some questionable, some clearly wrong.

I need to take a step back and assimilate some of what I'm hearing, double check it and figure some way of retelling it. Much of it is really complicated, and some of it not.

But above all of that, again this is exactly why I think real world tests are so valuable. You can come to believe the marketing hype or trust the stated "facts" and make your decision on nothing more than what you hear or read. Or you can run the things and see what it all amounts to out in the dirt and on the trail. Experience in situations like this tell me that an obvious advantage on paper can often mean absolutely nothing in the real world.

Keep the thoughts and ideas coming guys. There's got to be a test "we" can design, that would literally show what all the options do. Who knows... design it well enough and sometimes parts have a mysterious way of showing up for test...

 

[MarkT]

You can't drive a dyno. If you want a real world comparison, IMHO dyno testing is not going to give it to you.

Back when I was racing off road, Most of my competition was spending time and money on more HP. I spent a lot of time dialing in my shocks. I mean a LOT of time. Think of it this way... if you can run just 1 mph faster through the rough stuff, you are going to be MILES ahead of the guy with more HP but worse suspension at the end of a 300 or 500 mile race.

Even in short course racing, I was able to blast through the rough sections and that's where I did most of my passing... but HP was more of a factor in the stadium events.

Off-road handling is a very subjective topic... what one experienced driver feels is a good setup might not be right for another.

The best thought I have would be to do driving comparisons over the multiple sections of terrain back-to-back with different (unbiased) drivers. Carefully record the speeds achieved through each section and ask the driver for their driving impressions from each run. This would require several trucks with different set ups... but it would probably result in the best "real world" evaluation.

(If possible, it would be best to not let the drivers know what shocks/setup they were testing)

 

[KaiserM715]

^^ Right on.

 

[King Shocks]

You can't drive a dyno. If you want a real world comparison, IMHO dyno testing is not going to give it to you.

Shock dynos have come a long way in testing shock performance. King uses a state of the art, Roehrig, electro-magnetic, shock dyno capable of inducing shaft speeds up to 120 inches per second with a drive position resolution of 1 micron. It uses a non-contacting Infrared style transducer to monitor temperature readings. We can capture actual on-board wheel position data in the dirt and then duplicate the same profile back at our lab. Of course there are always variables that need to be taken into account but we can accurately duplicate running through the whoops in Barstow at 90 mph. without leaving the shop. Of course, driver preference plays a huge part in the actual tuning of the shocks.

 

[KaiserM715]

J, I happen to have a borrowed copy of the Aussie mag 4WD Action and they happened to do a shock comparison test. They used the same vehicle and driver for each shock. The driver was not told which shock was installed. They also used a shock dyno to check for fade. I will try and scan it in for you. I looked and could not find an online version.

 

[Aaron]

Shock dynos have come a long way in testing shock performance. King uses a state of the art, Roehrig, electro-magnetic, shock dyno capable of inducing shaft speeds up to 120 inches per second with a drive position resolution of 1 micron. It uses a non-contacting Infrared style transducer to monitor temperature readings. We can capture actual on-board wheel position data in the dirt and then duplicate the same profile back at our lab. Of course there are always variables that need to be taken into account but we can accurately duplicate running through the whoops in Barstow at 90 mph. without leaving the shop. Of course, driver preference plays a huge part in the actual tuning of the shocks.

Ok that's flat out impressive right there. I had no idea such a thing even existed.