A look at what shock damping and what affects shock damping.

What roll shock damping plays in rc suspension tuning.

There is two components of shock damping, shock pistons and shock oil.

Like all other aspects of rc suspension tuning any changes to the shocks is going to have an affect on all other aspects of how your suspension works, it could have subtle or an extreme effect on handling and performance.

Do you have your rc vehicle handling good, but are you looking to get just a little more performance? Changing your shock damping, by either changing shock pistons or oil could give you that little edge.

To understand shock damping you first need to understand just how a shock works. The basic purpose of your shocks is to take the bounce out of your springs. This is accomplished by the size of holes in your shock pistons and the viscosity (weight) of your shock oil.

Let first take a look at the shock pistons and exactly what they do. The shock piston is attached to the end of your shock shaft inside your shock body. The shock piston is a flat round disk with holes in it.

The entire outer edge of the shock piston comes in contact with the inside edge of the shock body. The piston is a restrictor or dam that only lets the shock oil to past through it at a certain rate depending on the size of the holes or the viscosity of the oil.

The smaller the holes the more restriction and like wise the larger the holes the less restriction. This restriction happens on both compression and decompression of your rc suspension.

Compression being when your rc vehicle hits a dump or landing after a jump. Decompression is when your springs want to return your rc vehicle to ride height after the bump or jump.

Shock damping is the speed at which this happens, small piston holes will be slower and large piston holes will be faster.

If your track has a lot of jumps or a big jump with a small landing area try using smaller holed pistons. This will keep your rc vehicle from bottoming out after the jump. Also it will keep your suspension working will over the small stuff, but your shocks will pack up on the big stuff. Using smaller holed pistons is also helpful on low-bite tracks, it is going to be helpful through the rough stuff, helping to maintain maximum traction.

If you are running on a high-bite track you may want to use a bigger holed piston. This will allow your rc vehicle to bottom out after that big jump to scrub off some speed to get into that corner that is directly ahead.

A straight holed piston is going to allow for the same damping on both compression and decompression or rebound.

A piston with a tapered hole is going to compress and rebound differently. With the taper up your shock is going to have less damping on compression, with more damping on rebound. Just the opposite is going to take place with the taper pointing down, more damping on compression and less damping on rebound.

How a tapered shock piston performs or when and where to use them is up to your driving style. This is one area of rc suspension tuning that depends on your driving style and the performance you want out of your rc vehicle.

For an example, if you want your shocks to pack up quickly, so you will not bottom out after that big jump, but return to ride height a fast as possible. You may want a tapered piston, with the large part of the taper pointing down. This will make your shock act like it has heavier oil on compression and lighter oil on rebound.

Using shock pistons to control when your shock packs up. You can use shock oil to control just how fast your shock is going to move.

A lighter viscosity oil is going to let your shock move faster, while a heavier viscosity oil is going to slow down your shock movement.

If your track is smooth, with lots of traction, big sweeping corners, with no or one big jump you may want to consider shocks with big holed pistons and heavy oil. This will allow you to blast into the corners letting your rc vehicle just take a set. Your shocks will react slowly transferring weight slowly through the corner.

On the other hand if your track is bumpy, with little or no traction, tight corners and a load of jumps and dumps. You may consider a smaller holed piston with lighter oil. This allows your shocks to react quickly, to transfer weight when needed and maximize traction.

Finding the right combination of shock damping can be tricky and it depends a lot on your driving style. So, finding the combination of shock piston and oil weight to achieve the shock damping you want takes patience and practice.

Keep notes and or setup sheets so you will know how each combination works for you.





The net effect of shock piston hole size and oil viscosity on shock damping:

Shock oil:
1. Lighter is the same as larger piston holes.
2. Heavier is the same as smaller piston holes.


Shock piston hole size:

Smaller:
1. Stiffer damping.
2. Slower weight transfer.
3. Vehicle reacts slower to input.
4. Reduced chance of bottoming out, when combined with heavier weight oil.
5. Less chassis roll, when used with heavier oil.
6. Use with lighter weight oil on a rough track.


Bigger:
1. Softer damping.
2. Increased traction.
3. Faster weight transfer.
4. Vehicle reacts faster to input.
5. An increased chance of bottoming out, when used with lighter weight oil.
6. More chassis roll, when used with lighter oil.
7. Use with heavier oil on smooth tracks.

So both sides of your rc suspension react the same you are going to want your front and rear shocks to be the same length, compress and decompress at the same rate. Team Losi™ makes a great shock matching tool.

With matching your shocks your rc vehicle is going to react the same in both left and right corners. With having your fronts matched and rears matched your reaction to bumps, ruts and jumps is going to be the same.

With your shock matched you could easily add that little advantage you are looking for.


One last thought about shock damping, as you are expermenting do not make wholesale changes.

Just change one thing at a time, piston hole size or oil viscosity and see how that changes your performance. Then if you feel that your shock damping is still not right and you are still looking for better performance then try the other.

Learning rc suspension tuning and how shock damping affects performance is not an easy task. It takes a lot of patience and practice. It can be one of the most enjoyable or hated parts of this hobby, depending on how you go at it.

Some of the changes you make are not going to be that "miracle cure", they could lead to your rc vehicle handling like so much "junk". If that happens at least you know what doesn't work.

Now you know what not to do and are closer to finding what does.

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