One of the most important components on a vehicle is its shock absorbers, as they prevent excessive and dangerous motion of the motor vehicle and its suspension. If motor vehicles do not have shocks fitted, they would be very difficult to control on the road. Due to the bouncing that would occur, the tires will not touch the road surface and braking and trying to turn a corner will become hazardous.

To give you a notion of how shocks work, think of yourself driving down a road with speed humps. Should your vehicle only have springs and no shocks, once you go over the speed hump, the springs carry on moving to and fro until such time as they rid themselves of the momentum of compression. This causes the vehicle to sway and jump around as soon as it has crossed the speed hump.

Now, another example of a car driving over the exact same speed hump, but this one has springs as well as shocks fitted. The springs would still absorb the bounce on the speed hump, however, the springs’ movement will be dampened by the shock absorbers. The shocks will attain this by changing the kinetic energy into heat and by doing so, steadying the vehicle’s movement.

A shock operates with two valves and that makes its effectiveness better. A valve is attached to a piston rod and that is attached to a piston. The piston is in a tube which is full of hydraulic fluid. As soon as the vehicle encounters a bump or any unevenness in the road, it causes the spring to open and close. This movement of the spring is sent to the shock absorber via the upper mount and down into the piston rod and then into the piston.

Fluids leak through small holes in the piston as it moves down and up in the tube. As these holes are quite small, a little bit of fluid which is under great pressure due to the movement of the piston, passes through. It then slows the piston and this slows the spring. This process allows the dampening of shock by the spring’s movement to enter the shock absorbers.

Modern cars are fitted with speed sensitive shocks, so the more rapidly the suspension moves, the greater the forbearance the shock absorber gives. This will allow the shocks to adapt to the road conditions and regulate all the dangerous movements which can happen with a moving car. For example, brake deterioration, oscillation and bounce.

When a vehicle starts becoming unsteady on bumpy roads or it has difficulty cornering, it is time to check the shocks. These are signs that the shock absorbers may need replacing.

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