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<x-flowed> On Oct 27, 2005, at 8:25 PM, Jim Adney wrote:
On 27 Oct 2005 at 10:56, fess wrote:
from this list, I've gotten the impression that the stock shocks have often lasted and are still good. So, what makes some actually go bad and some not go bad?
You're right, most of the OE shocks are still good, but there's always a failure rate, even if it is small. I've never taken a failed one apart, but in general I see one failure mode. That is failure to damp when moving in one direction. Occasionally, I've seen ones that didn't damp in either direction.
Hmm I guess I was wondering things more like:
Do they wear out proportional to milage or age, some other factors that make an interesting contribution?
From what I've seen in the two non-VW shocks that I DID take apart, my guess is that there are some sort of leaf springs on the piston which serve as valves to let oil pass thru the piston. The strength of this spring determines how hard it is for the oil to get thru, so this sets the damping. There are different springs for up and down, so either one could fail.
This would seem to indicate just milage / usage. would this also indicate that shocks would slowly deteriorate, not just fail, as the spring fatigues?
--fess
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