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Reading one of the
Autocross to Win articles the writer mentions the importance of coaxial spring mounts, where the spring is mounted on the shock shaft and not on the top hat.
http://farnorthracing.com said:
Any coilover absolutely must keep the spring coaxial to the shock. Any bending moment on the shock rod and spring that occurs when the spring seat doesn't pivot coaxial to the shock rod wears out seals in a hurry, can bend the shock rod, and worst of all, does all kinds of funky things to the spring rates, as the spring is no longer compressed evenly throughout the shock stroke. It is really, really worth the effort to ensure the spring is always compressed squarely.
For our cars what I noticed is, the struts get coaxial spring mounts, but shocks get the shaft and are mounted on the top hat itself.
Here are BC struts for the B15
'
Exploded view
Rear's are shocks and are mounted on the top hat.
Here are front BC shocks for the P11, once again mounted on the top hat.
I'm using BC's as an example because I have pics more readily available, even other brands I'm seeing the same trends. If car has struts in the rear, then the spring is mounted on the shaft (P10/B13), if car has shocks then spring seems to be mounted on the top hat.
Do our cars with shocks not experience the items that the article talks about, thus it's not needed?
The author writes around DSM chassis, which afaik has some sort of unequal a arm suspension (not McStrut), but he does mention that in their design shock still moves.
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