Tms951

I am looking at the leda oil shocks, but should I go for gas shocks. what are the pros and cons of oil vs. gas?

Portly

ALL shocks/struts are oil struts, with the exception of those airbag setups which you probably don't want anywhere near your car. Most manufacturers use a pressurized gas to fill the remaining volume of the shock/strut, so the oil can compress the gas further when the shock shaft is compressed into the shock body and displaces oil.

Dunno if this is considered blasphemy on a Porsche forum, but the last couple issues of Sport Compact Car had a series of good articles highlighting the differences between different types of shock absorbers (or "dampers"). Not anything that would surprise a suspension expert, but good basic info.

_Jeff

Dal Heger

Actually that's not quite true. The high pressure gas just serves to help prevent the oil in the shocks from foaming and (more importantly) cavitating when working really hard.

All shocks are damped by oil these days.

Dal.

Portly

Can we settle on "we're both right"?

There must be a void space left in the shock body, or the shock will not be able to compress. By using high pressure inert gas to fill that space, it cuts down on the foaming/cavitating issues you've mentions, when compared to just using plain ol' air w/o any pressure.

_Jeff

chris951

the main thing about oil and gas shocks is that oil shocks do not rebound like gas shocks do, rebound is important when setting up a suspension. The oil shocks that I have worked with do not rebound, gas shocks should rebound by themselves, oil shocks rely on the springs to rebound. Of course most gas shocks are adjustable