At 05:45 PM 4/8/99 -0500, Jan Schmidt wrote:
>Eric
>My RX7 was raised about 1 half inch when I added my Tokico gas shocks .
Everyone told me that it was because of the gas pressure. If it were just
plain hydraulics , it would be at normal height!
I think there are a couple of things that folks miss here. The first is
that any peformance shock has more compression damping than a
non-performance unit. It's the same thing when all us push on a car and go
"wow, that's stiff". The weight of the car pushes down just like we do.
The gas pressure runs between 125-360 psi on gas shocks. Mono-tubes like
Bilstein's, some Koni's and KYB gas-a-justs are the higher end. Normal
Koni's, Tokico's, and GAB's are at the low end. Now, here's the thing. If
you go out to your car, and just gently lift on the fender lip, you can
raise it every bit as high, and likely higher than a gas shock will. It
doesn't take much at all. Conversely, it doesn't take much to push down
that much either. Seals in new shocks are also very tight, that adds
spring rate. My Camaro (bilsteins) sits no higher now than any one on
Koni's does. Eventually, the shock will settle when the seals break in.
Moral of the story, don't worry about the gas pressure.
Sam Strano Jr.
Strano Performance Parts
800-729-1831
814-849-3417 (tech.)
www.stranoparts.com
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