Sorry to ask, but, if you don't ask . . .

Why is the stock system not a coil over but a strut?

I mean, there is a coil over the shock absorber or damper system. When I search, "What is a coil over" the answer is pretty much the same thing as what we get from Ford called a strut.

So help me out, please, with a little education on this matter.

Coil overs offer ride height and/or spring preload adjustment, where struts are typically fixed.

I always thought that was funny too. "Coilovers" have the ride height adjustment, even though they both have coils over a strut.

Here's another one for ya: Isn't the stock exhaust system a, "catback" exhaust?
Bonus: I bought some aftermarket lowering springs that were taller than my stock springs. Why are they called, "lowering springs?"

@blacksheep-1 hates the term, "rear lower control arm"... and "rims" I've heard some people complain about the term, "throwout bearing".

Junkyard Dog said:

Sorry to ask, but, if you don't ask . . .

Why is the stock system not a coil over but a strut?

I mean, there is a coil over the shock absorber or damper system. When I search, "What is a coil over" the answer is pretty much the same thing as what we get from Ford called a strut.

So help me out, please, with a little education on this matter.

Click to expand...

It's a mass production thing, decent coil overs cost north of $5K, they also require a lot of maintenance, I doubt a set would last 15K miles on the street without overhauling, that's why you'll only see them in high dollar applications. The strut is cheap to produce, basically a fire n forget system that is as dependable as an anvil and requires virtually no maintenance.

Junkyard Dog said:

Why is the stock system not a coil over but a strut?

Click to expand...

Who says it's not a coilover? It's the difference between using the technical definition and the colloquial / common slang definition.

By the technical definition (a coil spring mounted coaxially to a damper), all McPherson Strut designs are a coilover design, as are Chapman Struts, and also the spring & shock packaging for some dual-wishbone (aka short and long arm, or SLA) designs, e.g. Miata and Triumph Spitfire.

However, the typical colloquial definition is more like "a coil spring coaxial to a damper, having an adjustable spring perch moving on an externally-threaded portion of the damper." And because that adds an additional requirement, it's a subset of those meeting the technical definition.

BackInBlack said:

@blacksheep-1 hates the term, "rear lower control arm"... and "rims" I've heard some people complain about the term, "throwout bearing".

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I heard BS1 is ok with using rear lower control arms as long as you mention which rims and watts link you are running!

TMSBOSS said:

I heard BS1 is ok with using rear lower control arms as long as you mention which rims and watts link you are running!

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Don't go there...

It's a 'strut' because of the geometry of the links. 'Coil-over' generally refers to a damper with a threaded body to allow for an adjustabile spring perch.

It's slang.

TeeLew said:

It's a 'strut' because of the geometry of the links. 'Coil-over' generally refers to a damper with a threaded body to allow for an adjustabile spring perch.

It's slang.

Click to expand...

It's kind of interesting back in the day at Phoenix we were running a gt3 Porsche along with the Boss 302 in the same race, different classes. The Porsche engineer was surprised we were as fast as we were , 7th overall, with the mustang. He was looking at the old spring pads, and misc brackets that were still on the car, the panhard bar, etc. He was asking all kinds of questions about springs vs coil over vs struts, their mounting positions and effects on spring rate. Guy was pretty cool, taught me a lot.