Quote:
Originally Posted by composed
OK guys :
Let's hear the technical, intelligent answers to this! ie: Not my friend's car did this or I heard over on the M5/M6 forum that this happened. Let's talk physically and how it relates to the components involved about how lowering springs may or may not hurt or reduce the life of an EDC damper (ie: shock absorber).
My thought : The people saying damage may occur have some ignorance on the topic or if indeed dampers have had issues it's just a coincidence that it was on an EDC equipped car.
My reasoning : EDC is reading sensors in the car to automatically adjust the compression/rebound settings of the damper. The system has no effect/control upon the spring itself. In fact with lowering springs the travel of the damper is now less. Because the EDC is constantly making adjustments to the suspension of the car I assume it is reading the travel of the damper as one of its parameters in deciding what to do (the other sensors/parameters it's using are perhaps irrelevant in this discussion), and it should be able to account for whatever spring is in there within reason. I don't see how this could shorten the life of a damper within the realm of EDC - it is constantly changing and responding anyway. If a damper was designed for a specific spring rate, then the discussion seems to have merit (for example, typical aftermarket coilover setups).
Also I don't know the rates of the H&R or RD lowering springs vs. the OEM springs, can anyone comment specifically what those are? When H&R says that "the spring kit harmonises perfectly with the adjustable dampers" I assume it to mean the rates are similar.
What thoughts are out there?!  |
Higher rate springs exert more maximum force on the dampers. In other words, the damper is working harder to control the motion. Whether there is a cause/effect relationship to failures on EDC cars with aftermarket springs I don't know. How the system deals with shorter travel and the higher rates I don't know either. It would be good to get a technical statement from H&R or some such on this subject.