Renowned racing engineer Carroll Smith had trouble understanding shock absorbers, so don’t feel bad if you’re in the same boat. When it comes to a car’s handling, shock absorbers are probably the least understood components in the system.
While their inner workings are hidden from view, their impact on performance can be huge. Fortunately, the basics actually aren’t that hard …
As a car corners, weight is transferred from the inside wheels to the outside wheels. A shock absorber with soft rebound will allow this weight transfer to happen too quickly.
This is actually backwards. A soft shock will allow body roll to happen quickly, but in doing so it reduces the rate of weight transfer.
Weight transfer is not body roll, and anything that resists body roll will increase weight transfer. (Picture a shock so stiff that it lifts the wheel off the ground before it allows the suspension to droop... 100% weight transfer during the transition)
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