Even though today’s factory-produced trucks and sport-utility vehicles are tougher and more capable than ever before, there’s always room for improvement. Shocks and coilovers are both great options to bolster a vehicle’s off-road prowess with minimal hassle. And fortunately for enthusiasts, there are a wide range of options to choose from for most popular platforms. But while it’s great to have choices, it’s also important to take an informed approach to suspension modification. As Tyler Jameson of Arizona Desert Shocks points out, this is a situation where it’s easy to end up with too much of a good thing.

“One of the most common mistakes we see people make is overdoing the package for their use-case,” says Jameson. “It’s understandable that someone would want the top-level option for their vehicle, but they may not realize how specialized that damper or coilover is, and how that can affect everyday usage in a vehicle that’s mainly driven on the street. An external bypass shock, for example, is really designed to be used in a hardcore off-road application. With these, the engineering expectation is that the vehicle is going to spend 90% of its time off-road, and people often want to use these on the street. It’s cool in theory, but the story starts to change when you find yourself living with it every day.”

His goal is to instead point enthusiasts toward components that are ideally suited for their specific application, which requires taking a number of different factors into consideration. Here we’ll take a closer look at some of the key features that buyers should keep an eye out for and check out what options are available for both mainstream and high-end upgrades.

Getting Schooled

Jameson tells us that one of the biggest obstacles facing enthusiasts is that feature terminology is often misused or confused with other terms. With that in mind, let’s take a second to set the record straight on a few of the fundamentals.

“There are essentially three different types of common shock designs,” he says. “The first is an emulsion-style shock, where the nitrogen and the oil are emulsified together. This would be your most basic shock design. The problem is that the design promotes cavitation under heavy use, and as the oil foams up, it creates heat which leads to inconsistent damper performance. So this type of shock is going to have the least amount of fluid control, and it’s going to be the most susceptible to heat buildup. And, as a result, it’s also going to have the shortest lifespan between rebuild intervals.”

The second common type is an IFP, or internal floating piston-style shock. In this design, a reservoir is integrated into a portion of the shock body, which separates the nitrogen charge from the oil, and that allows better fluid control.

“Your fluid capacity is still pretty limited, though,” says Jameson. “You have a piston with a nitrogen chamber, and that’s going to take up some of the area that would ideally be used for oil volume. It’s an improvement over an emulsion design, but it’s really geared toward street-driven vehicles that won’t be used for extended amounts of time off-road. There’s still a compromise when it comes to heat dissipating capacity.”

When applications call for capability more than an IFP design can deliver, a shock with an external reservoir – whether it’s remotely tethered to the shock via fluid lines or mounted to the shock itself with a ‘piggyback’ design – offers a level of fluid control that allows the shock to deliver more consistent performance for a much longer amount of time.

“Here it’s all about fluid capacity and reservoir chamber volume,” Jameson explains. “Instead of taking up that volume in the shock body like an IFP design, an external reservoir allows for much more room within the shock body for additional functionality. That equates to more oil volume as well as more shock travel. Having an external reservoir allows the nitrogen chamber to be as large as you need it to be, and that prevents pressure gains that negatively affect the performance consistency of the shock. You get a nice linear feeling throughout the cycle, and it won’t firm up when you don’t want it to.”

Jameson is also quick to point out that bypass shocks aren’t the same thing as external reservoir shocks. “These two terms get mixed up all the time, but they’re different things. A bypass shock directs fluid around the shock piston. That allows the shock to bypass in certain positions, effectively making the shock position-sensitive, whereas a smooth body shock is speed-sensitive. With the latter, the frequency or speed that you push the shaft in and out acts upon the valving, and that changes the force curve of the shock.

“Position sensitivity, meanwhile, changes the valving based on the amount of suspension travel,” continues Jameson. “That allows you to have a milder force curve at ride height for better compliance, but when you hit something hard or use more of the suspension’s travel, it’s going to go from being soft to progressively firmer as it goes through its zones in that travel. You prevent the vehicle from bottoming out during big suspension events while still delivering a nice, smooth ride during normal driving.”

Check out ADS's line of bypass shocks and internal bypass shocks.

Gearing Up

ADS offers a wide range of competition-ready dampers and coilovers, but even their standard offerings are on an entirely different level when compared to their OE counterparts.

“Most factory stuff is going to be either an emulsion-style shock, or maybe an IFP,” Jameson tells us. “In those cases, we’re going to move them up to an external reservoir shock that’s also going to deliver additional travel.” And aside from the headline features they carry, the shocks themselves employ a far more robust design.

“The shaft diameters are larger, to prevent pull-out and bending, and the body uses high-grade materials with billet-style ends that are machined and welded. Our components are also zinc plated, and we put Cerakote over the top of that to seal up all of the pores and prevent corrosion. Other parts receive an anodizing treatment to prevent corrosion, too. That ensures that these parts look nice and stay nice for a very long time.”

Take a look at ADS's direct fit race shocks now.

ADS also uses a custom-formulated synthetic oil with anti-foaming agents in all of their shocks and coilover systems to deliver better performance and greater longevity. “The oil is designed to work well in a wide heat range, too,” he says. “So it will deliver consistent performance in extreme cold as well as extreme heat.”

For those looking to take things a step further, Jameson suggests checking out ADS’s coilover offerings. “That’s going to get you ride height adjustability along with the extended travel and external reservoir benefits of our shocks. It also gives you the option to choose which spring rate you want, in order to further tailor the upgrade to your specific vehicle.”

While one spring rate might be ideal for an otherwise factory-stock vehicle, those outfitted with aftermarket bumpers, rock sliders, and other gear may have a curb weight that differs substantially from stock, and that changes the spring rate required to deliver similar performance.

Having a choice of spring rate also allows buyers to fine-tune the setup to deliver more on-road comfort or a more performance-oriented ride quality, too.

Moving up the ladder, Jameson says that the coilovers at the higher end of ADS’s product lines utilize a largely similar design to their standard options, but with additional functionality. “That’s where you’re looking at things like external adjusters, so the end user can make tweaks to the ride quality whenever they want to.” Ride characteristics are easily dialed in by the end user via an adjuster on each shock’s reservoir that provides 20 different settings for the shock’s compression characteristics.

“That allows us to manipulate the displacement of oil; controlling that fluid flow lets us increase or reduce the damping force as needed without altering anything inside the shock. So an owner could adjust the damping force all the way down if they know they’re going to be commuting with the vehicle for the next few days, or ramp it all the way up if they want to go romp around in the desert and get pretty aggressive with it.”

Click here now to see ADS's complete line of coilovers.

Some high-end coilover systems also employ a dual-rate spring setup that further improves both ride quality and capability. “We currently offer this type of coilover for the Ford Bronco,” Jameson notes. “With most OEM stuff this can’t really be done, but the Bronco has a shock in the back that’s long enough to accommodate it.”

Dual-rate setups act much like a progressive rate spring, allowing for a softer spring rate at or near static ride height. As the suspension goes through its range of travel, at a certain point the job is handed off to a secondary spring with a higher rate to handle bigger impacts. But unlike a progressive rate spring, dual-rate setups are adjustable.

“So you can have compliance over washboards and small bumps, but as soon as you hit something large enough to create significant wheel travel, it engages that lower spring, and normally that doubles the spring rate. If the platform allows us to package it, it’s always going to perform better because it gives you the ability to make a mechanical adjustment on the shock body to fine-tune where that hand-off happens.”

Jameson also recommends bump stops as a relatively inexpensive way to get an additional measure of insurance against suspension component carnage. “It’s a good thing to have in the toolbox, so to speak. Bump stops allow you to keep that ride compliance, but if you screw up, the bump stop is going to help prevent the suspension from bottoming out by increasing the damping force at that last bit of travel. That way you don’t have to worry about slamming all of these high-dollar suspension components together. It’s not something you’re going to notice every day, but it’s nice to have when you need it.”

TO LEARN MORE, SEE THE COMPLETE ARIZONA DESERT SHOCK PRODUCT LINE AT ADSSHOCKS.COM