IronMan
Member Since: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Midrand
Posts: 99
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I was wondering today... Shocks on a normal 4x4 (or car for that matter) at some stage needs replacement. What happens with the D3? With the air suspension does this mean as long as the seals last and you don't need a compressor replacement that it should contiue working without any issues in prfomance?
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1st Dec 2007 9:22 pm |
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simonsi
Member Since: 14 Oct 2007
Location: Auckland
Posts: 1264
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Shocks (or dampers) and springs (air or coil) are different beasts. In technical terms the spring absorbs the shock of hitting the bump in the road, the damper prevents the vehicle oscillating down the road afterwards.
Coil springs lose rate over (long) time, air springs can develop slow leaks from any component in the system (my D2 rear air springs developed a slow leak at certain extensions after about 150k miles), the "bag" itself, pipes, valves, the compressor etc etc.
Shocks or dampers can also leak and they will lose resistance (or damping effect) over time even if they don´t leak.
D2´s had separate springs (coil or air) and shocks, so either could be replaced without affecting the other.
The D3 has an integral strut type unit where the damper goes through the centre of the air spring. Either part of the unit can fail as above and there is the added complication in that a repair/replace to either means the whole strut has to come out by the look of it.... Cheers
Simon
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1st Dec 2007 9:38 pm |
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