Difference between struts and shocks?

General Discussion
1

I am curious to learn more about the difference between shocks and struts? I know they are suspensión components but do they serve another purpose ?

2

I bet Wikipedia has good articles explaining them.

1 Like
3

Essentially a strut is a main suspension component which includes the shock and the spring in one unit and connected to the steering knuckle. A shock is just the shock part and not the spring and really could be missing without a great problem (yeah I know, safety, ride, etc.). With a missing strut though, the vehicle is going nowhere. The other big difference is a strut is around $100 but a shock is maybe $20. Engineers will have a better answer.

1 Like
4

I gave Texas a Like.

Just for fun I put ( The difference between shocks and struts ) in Google and found pages of really good articles and videos that explain this subject very well.

5

If you remove a shock, the car bounces uncontrolled. Some shocks carry springs but that doesn’t make them a strut.

If you remove a strut, the car falls over. A strut is a shock that also acts as a suspension control arm. Not all struts hold the spring.

2 Likes
6

I can’t speak for other parts of the country but in this neck of the woods back in the day some guys would remove the front shocks from their cars for laughs.

Watching headlights coming down the road at night with the driver blipping the throttle was kind of funny but somewhat dangerous. The headlights were going up and down like a ping-pong ball.
I rode (once…) with a guy who did this in broad daylight and it kind of made me nauseous. Felt like I was on a small ship on choppy water in the open sea.

Thankfully I was never with anyone who had to make a panic stop in a car sans the front shocks. The guy I rode with hit the brakes fairly hard a few times and it felt like going over a cliff.