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Old 02-22-2009, 12:56 PM
manxman manxman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhyzx View Post
I'm not implying anything. As a physicist, stiff connotes nothing but denotes plenty. Your description of high frequency damping is too touchy-feely to help me understand the damping characteristics and/or spring rates, even qualitatively. Do you have damping curves or spring rates? Can you say whether the air shocks have higher or lower:

- high speed compression damping
- low speed compression damping
- high speed rebound damping
- low speed rebound damping
- spring rates, and are the rates of both progressive?
- bump travel
- droop travel
- length of bump stop

Without at least a bigger/smaller comparison in at least one or two of these attributes, I don't understand how you can say the air shocks are not stiffer. Although they may not be harsher, I'll bet they are stiffer overall in the physical sense, otherwise they would not be suitable for a larger load.
Okay, I give up. I am trying to keep your semantics from driving away other people who would benefit from these shocks- the only ones available as an alternative to overpriced, weak Honda stock shocks.

Buy the shocks or don't- the only way that you will see the difference is to try them yourself.

Other Fit owners who are using the MA-811's on GD's, and MA-973's on GE's know what I am talking about, but you can't know until you try them. Arguments based on semantics mean nothing.

For the other members who are looking for an improved ride, this is your inexpensive answer. The side benefit is the extra weight capacity they offer, expecially if you intend to pull a trailer, use a hitch-mounted cargo rack, or subject the car to occasional overload conditions.

Whatthe physicist ignores is the fact that the weight compensation of the air shocks has absolutely nothing to do with the valving of the shocks. He says "because the shocks can bear more weight than stock shocks, they must be "stiffer", and he has his own definition for that word. The weight compensation of the shocks comes only from the air bag portion of the shocks, which uses compressed air to elevate the back of the car upward from the axle depending upon how much air is put into the shocks. Whether unloaded, or overloaded, the car rides the same, and the ride is much smoother than stock.

Last edited by manxman; 02-22-2009 at 01:36 PM.
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