shock vs strut

[alexelie]

hi, i was wondering what was the difference between shock and struts. I looked a little bit on the internet and saw that struts have a little advantage because of the springs?? so shocks do not have springs? What kond of car have shocks instead of struts?

its possible that im completly wrong (thumb)

 

[ZoomZoomH]

shock/strut/damper, they are one and the same.

they are the tubey thing that CONTROLS the up-and-down motion caused by the springs when your car goes over the bump.

 

[alexelie]

ok so all cars have springs. and shock damper strut all mean the same??

thank you!

 

[ZoomZoomH]

ok so all cars have springs. and shock damper strut all mean the same??

thank you!

technically yes, and yes.

you're welcome.

 

[gretchen333]

To expand upon this question - at what point do you think front and rear shocks would need to be replaced on a P5? I've got a 2003 with 73k miles on it. The guy who just put on the new tires says my "shocks are gone" and that I should replace front and back. The shop I usually take it to (whom I do not trust) said they doubt I would need to do either until it has 100 to 125k miles on it but to bring it in and they would take a look at it.

thanks so much!!!

 

[Tom03es]

A shock or strut provide the same spring damping, but the difference between a shock and a strut is that a strut is a structural member of the suspension while a shock is not. If you bolted up a suspension on a strut vehicle but left out the strut, the vehicle would not support itself. On a vehicle with shocks, you could leave the shock out and the vehicle would still support itself- it would just bounce more.

Cars that have shocks:
Corvettes
the late 90's Civic Si
I think Miatas
And most trucks have shocks.
My Saturn VUE has struts in the front and shocks in the rear

 

[Tom03es]

To expand upon this question - at what point do you think front and rear shocks would need to be replaced on a P5? I've got a 2003 with 73k miles on it. The guy who just put on the new tires says my "shocks are gone" and that I should replace front and back. The shop I usually take it to (whom I do not trust) said they doubt I would need to do either until it has 100 to 125k miles on it but to bring it in and they would take a look at it.

thanks so much!!!

And to answer your question: they need to be replaced when they need to be replaced. There is no magical mileage number. One way to see how they are doing is to push up and down on each corner of the vehicle and get a nice rythmic ossicallation going- then let go. A good shock/strut should stop the ossicallation in about 1-2 cycles. Another way to see if they are bad is to raise up each corner of the vehicle and see if there is any fluid on the strut body.

 

[alexelie]

thanks a lot, very helpful.