Improve your Shocks

Have you been suffering from extensive bouncing? Never ignore this as you will never get the off-road performance that you need. Check if the shocks are still in good shape otherwise, you will continuously get annoyed by the road disturbances.

Shocks generally stand as piston inside a liquid, having an extra gas chamber that absorbs the unfavorable effects of road disturbances. This happens when gas compresses while the liquid does not compress under pressure. Because of such difficult task, your shocks are apparently made to have fairly complicated structure. Additionally, since these auto parts are exposed to extensive movements, early damage are always imminent. If this happens, your car would bounce all along. To make sure that problems with your shocks will not annoy you, make sure that you will always consider the condition of each suspension parts. These are some of the main components that you have to regularly inspect.

Bound and Rebound settings
This refers to the dampening force of the shock absorber. Bound is the rate at which shock allows compression. Rebound, on the other hand, is the rate at which the shock releases the compression. Once your suspension has a dampening control, then you can determine the optimum setting.

Camber
This is the angle of your wheel against the road. Putting all your weight on the outside of your feet will cause negative camber. On the other hand, rolling your feet inwards, so all your weight gets inside, positive camber is resulted. As the car rolls into the corner, the camber will bring changes to handling and tire life. The best camber settings for handling will lead to premature tire wear. The front wheels are set up for positive camber while the wheels deflect up. Camber setting refers to the angle of the wheel to the road and the angle of the wheel to the chassis. Maintaining the best angle of contact between the tire and the road should therefore be done properly.

Caster
The angle of the wheel hub in relation to the suspension arm is referred to as the angle of castor. Positive castor keeps the wheel straight. Stability is maintained, whereas a neutral camber leads to wheel wobbling around the axis.

Toe
Toes in or toes out? Your car has “toes out” when they seem to look like your feet, having the heels together and the toes apart. On the other hand, it has “toes in” when the heels are apart and the toes are together. Any of these conditions can affect the stability of your car. Toe can provide stability on the straight and resistance whenever turning. With toes out, there is quicker steering response.

You can provide your car with the toe that you want, just make sure that this is equally distributed to all your wheels.


Roll
Removing roll in corners will help attain cornering stability. Once you push hard, your car will lift a rear wheel and when cornering, you will surely need as much rubber in contact with the black stuff.

Roll bars are also called sway bars. These help keep the level in a car corner by taking a lift from one side and trying to move it to the other. This is impossible so the lift effectively pulls down and everything is kept in contact with the road.

Spring stiffness
If the springs become so stiff, the car will bounce over humps and potholes on the road. When this become too soft, the car will wallow along. Perfect shocks are made adjustable on the car to let you get the set up that will match your driving style.

Bushes
These suspension parts provide connection to the suspension components and chassis. The rubber ones deteriorate over time. New poluurethane bushes last longer and maintain handling much tighter. However, since these are harder, your ride has the possibility to become a little bumpy.