Types of shock absorbers for cars

One of the most important parts of any car are the shock absorbers, whose main function is to lower the pressure that the vehicle itself exerts on itself and on the wheels of the car. The shock absorbers, therefore, reduce the damage that the impacts during driving have on the vehicle itself, in addition to allowing a better grip of the tires to the road.

However, the types of shock absorbers that can be found in cars are varied. Although most of them have common elements, you can also find specific dampers for private cars that go out of the ordinary. Keep reading and we tell you what are the main types of dampers for cars that you can find in the market.

Hydraulic shock absorbers for cars

The hydraulic dampers for cars are very simple and are mainly characterized by using fluids to allow damping to be carried out. The most common hydraulic shock absorbers are those that use a cylinder that contains a piston with different holes in it. This allows the fluid, which is usually a specific type of oil for this purpose, to circulate through the holes, which allows to adjust the pressure.

On the other hand, you can also find hydraulic shock absorbers with valves. They are more efficient than hydraulic shock absorbers with holes, because they have valves in the pistons, which allows the oil to flow through them when pressure is exerted. This results in a smoother and more pleasant driving.

Shock absorbers for the car

It is a typology of shock absorbers that, in addition to oil fluids, can also use gas in the damping. In the case of double tube shock absorbers, these are composed of two different size chambers (large and small), as well as corresponding pistons, cylinders and valves. Through its mechanism, located mainly in the large chamber, the oil passes from one chamber to another. There are several types of this shock absorber depending on whether they use only oil or oil and gas, being the pressurized ones that only have the oil fluid and the non-pressurized ones that have oil and gas. They are perhaps the most used shock absorbers today in most of the vehicles that circulate.

In addition to the double tube dampers, monotube dampers can also be found, which also have two cameras but whose sizes can vary much more. In this case, it would be a system that combines both gas and oil to perform the damping.

Adjustable shock absorbers

As the name suggests, these are shock absorbers that can be adjusted easily, which also allows the damping to be adapted to the type of driving and terrain through which it will be traveled. On the one hand are those known as dimmable dampers. These shock absorbers include a small washer that allows more or less the passage of the oil that is allowed through the holes of the shock absorber. In this way, more or less pressure can be available according to the needs of each case.

On the other hand, adjustable suspension dampers use a similar system, but are characterized by graduated more millimeter the distance you want to get between the road and the highest part of the vehicle, which would include both the body and the rest of elements of this part of the car.

Other types of shock absorbers

Although the above mentioned are the most common and most used shock absorbers in today's cars, it is important to take into account that you can also find shock absorbers with different types.

  • A good example are the so-called rheological dampers, whose main characteristic is the incorporation of small metal compounds with which a greater resistance in the damping is achieved, since they involve a more compact force.
  • On the other hand, it is also worth mentioning the selective frequency dampers . In this case, the shock absorbers have a valve that reacts by closing when it receives a certain pressure and that marks the difference between the two tubes of the piston.

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