How do shocks do anything on a heavily sprung car with sway bars?

Title pretty much says it. How do shocks work on cars with minimal suspension movement?

Thanks

Scott in Chattanooga

They'll still prevent the wheel from oscillating and losing traction. I'm thinking the oscillation will be at a higher frequency and lower amplitude due to the higher spring rate, but I'm not 100% sure that's true. The shock will need fairly aggressive damping.

F1 cars still run shocks, and in the 13" wheel era they actually got more suspension movement out of the sidewalls than the suspension.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I talked with QA1 at PRI, they said they would like to see springs compressed 2-3 inches to make it easier for the shock to do its thing. This really confused me as most serious road race cars I don't believe have this much static compression. What brought this up is I believe my car is over sprung and I thought more movement would allow for smoother transitions/control.

Thanks

Scott in Chattanooga

You do want some shock movement to give yourself more control. A way to do that is a push/pullrod suspension to change the motion ratio. Sevens in general tend to have terrible motion ratios in the front.

What y'all are really talking about is ride frequency, not spring rate per se.

Even with a 1:1 motion ratio -- see also McStrut -- a heavy car with stiff springs can have the same ride frequency as a light car with softer springs.

So if you think you are oversprung, do some measurement and math.  There are some rules of thumb regarding all of this.

As for dampers -- and the reason QA1 told you what they did -- it gets increasingly more difficult to properly damp smaller and smaller motions.  Things like seal stiction begin to play a much larger role than the actual valving.  So Keith's suggestion about inboard dampers with push/pull rod actuators to increase damper travel is a solution.

Buried inside this story is how to do that measurement/math ==> https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/LS-Swapped-2003-Nissan-350z/how-prepare-car-test-day-project-ls-swapped-350z/

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Motion ratio........light just went on!

Thanks

Scott In Chattanooga

It's worth noting that, even if they "like to see 3 inches of travel", it doesn't mean the shock does nothing below that. "Less than ideal" and "very good" can be the same thing. The damper may be sub-optimal at tiny travel, but it may also be extremely useful. 

cyow5 said:

"Less than ideal" and "very good" can be the same thing.

That's a life lesson right there.  

Puddy46 said:

cyow5 said:

"Less than ideal" and "very good" can be the same thing.

That's a life lesson right there.  

It's my life motto, haha