are shocks part of a strut assembly? i know there are multiple threads on the issue but no one can seem to agree on what's what?

 

What's the difference between a shock and a strut?

Answer

Shocks provide resistance by forcing hydraulic fluid (oil) through valves in the piston as it moves up and down. Because the oil cannot be compressed, only a certain amount of fluid can be forced through these valves, which creates resistance to vehicle movement.

Struts integrate numerous suspension parts into one compact assembly, including the coil spring, spring seats, shock absorber, strut bearing, and steering knuckle. Its spring can support the weight of the vehicle, while moving to adapt to road irregularities. The internal shock absorber dampens movement of the spring as it compresses and rebounds during vehicle travel. The strut housing serves as a structural part of the suspension system and connects the upper strut bearing to the lower ball joint so that the entire assembly can pivot when the steering wheel is turned.

Also check these sites out:
http://www.zfsachs.com/direkt.php?li...000000000.html

and:
http://www.answerbag.com/c_view.php/930

 

Ahhh....interesting.

 

finally a clear answer. solid, redcivic. thank you

 

No problemo. I still don't know which is better though.

 

So now that the springs have been on the right way for about a week now i still cant figure out why the driver side is lower than the passinger side, is there any way to adjust the hide hight so that they are all the same also, its seems that the back is lower than the front, some people have told me that is normal and I have noticed that quite a few cars in my city are that way. Is this right or could there be a problem with the springs or would new struts help. I was told that the springs are the only thing that determine ride height but is it possible that because my struts are so old that they will make they car sit uevenlly. I was thinking of replacing the struts with some tokico hp's whould this work well with my springs? Would it help solve the problem? Or am I just doomed to have an unlevel car for the rest of my life?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

Alright...the reason it is lower on the left and not on the right is cause your weight is always on the left. Thats that way it is on my car, and I just raise the left side up a little bit and its all good. Now...since you don't have coilovers, what you might have to do is go to autozone and get what I think they call "spring spacers" What they are supposed to do is restore a cars ride height after they compress over time. They come in like 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 1 inch, and so on. They are about 3 bucks and they come with a set of 4. Basically 1 goes on each side of the coil. I used those for my car in the rear because I have 17's, and my car is lowered, and they were scraping when I would go over bumps and stuff. So I figured if I put those spacers between the coils, it couldn't compress as much and scrape. Well I installed them yesterday and they are great. They stiffened up my ride a little bit as well and it doesn't scrape anymore. What you might want to do though is get the right height spacers...because after I installed those on my car it raised it about an inch (more or less for you depending on how much lower the left side is from the right) and all I had to do was lower my perch and them my ride was back down to being lowered. Just an option if you want to take it.

 

Well I did figure out today that my rear drivers side tire only had 15 psi in it, all of the others had 37. So i put them all at 35 and now my car does sit more level, just a little to the drivers side but you cant tell unless you star at it. I think the main problem may be the struts because we did blow some oil out of the rear ones cause we had the wrong springs on the oringinally so they are more than likely shot. The front looks level though and those struts didnt leak at all. So maybe that could be the problem as well what do you think. Aslo why does the back look lower than the front. Looking at the wheel wells the back seems to be pushed up into the well more than the front but if you just look at the bottom of the side it looks level is this bad?, Normal?