gas vs oil shocks/struts
 

Just wanted to see what everyones thoughts on the gas vs oil shocks and stuts. From what i've heard oil shocks are are good for drag racing since they dont rebound by themselves. Has anyone used oil shock or strut? I was thinkin of running Strange 10 way adjustable struts and then some othe kind of shocks in the front.Thoughts


PS: im running H&R supersports on a 96 GT

Re: gas vs oil shocks/struts
 

gas and fluids have different properties, here is how they can/are applied:

most shocks are oil which is a fliud obviously. They way the shocks work is the oil will travel from one chamber to another through a fairly small pathway. This is the key in designing the dampening rate whether they want it hard or soft.

Now for gas shocks, i really dont know much about the ones out in the market right now but here is how they can be applied to the function of a shock absorber. Unlike fluids, gas can be compressed. The shock chamber will hold X amount of pressure to determine its stiffness. One thing i have seen are ones with an air compressor. With those, you can change the stiffness just by changing the amount of pressure inside the shock. I think this is a great advantage in being able to make your car feel like a race car or like a normal street car. I dont know the details in how much the setup will cost you or ifthere is any maintenence involved.

Re: gas vs oil shocks/struts
 

i prefer oil, i have a set of oil konis that are adjustable. i have them set nearly full stiff the car feels planted in all turns but it rides very harsh. before the konis i had a set of tokico blues that were gas and they felt very floaty over bumps. i think most shocks are a combination of gas and oil which is what the tokicos were but my konis have no gas in them, the piston does not extend on its own and at full stiff i cant even pull it out all the way.

Re: gas vs oil shocks/struts
 

so it rides very harsh no matter what setting you have it on or only when you have them as stiff as possiable?

Re: gas vs oil shocks/struts
 

oh, no it is adjustable from softer than stock to stiff as all hell, i had them at half way stiff for a while and it felt firm but comfortable. like if you hit a bump it would go thru one up down oscillation and stop without being very harsh. now with it nearly full stiff it does not go thru a full oscillation, it just compresses with the bump then rebounds to the original ride height. but i wanted the performance for autocrossing so i set them that stiff. this may not be a perfect review because i went from a non ajustable gas shock to an adjustable oil shock but the konis feel a lot more settled and predictable than the tokico blues