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Are my shocks bad?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by DirkAshburn, Apr 6, 2020.

  1. 2012 Prius v wagon 3

    2012 Prius v wagon 3 Active Member

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    In case anyone else wants to know the truth ...
    The spring does not provide damping. It provides the spring force.
    From middle school physics class, a spring provides a force proportional to its displacement. A damper provides viscous friction that is proportional to its velocity (the rate of the shock / strut / damper up and down as it extends and compresses).

    And yes, "a lot of ppl" will probably disagree with this, but that's mainly because they get their knowledge of physics from "a lot of ppl" rather from actually understanding it.
     
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  2. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Factory struts dont last long. In my case my bought new G2 at 85,000 miles they were done. Would not extend after compressed.

    Having changed my tires multiple times i can tell you the Prius is all tire. The tire I liked best were cheapo Kumhos. They didn't last long but really helped the harsh G2 ride. Soft tire.
     
  3. Robert Holt

    Robert Holt Senior Member

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    Cupped wear pattern on tires on my previous vehicles has indicated an alignment problem. Has the OP’s Prius had a 4-wheel alignment, and if so, could they get the wheel alignments to be within factory specifications?
     
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  4. Vman455

    Vman455 Senior Member

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    This^^^. In reality the spring will damp the motion of the body given enough (long) time, since the energy of the spring is released as a small amount of heat from internal stress as the metal deforms repeatedly, but effectively the spring is an oscillator, not a damper.
     
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