If shock absorbers are meant to absorb shock, why do we drive slower through pot holes?
In: Engineering
Very few cars hit anything hard enough to bottom out the suspension. While some lowered sports cars might, it takes a bit more impulse to bottom out most cars. Usually anything that could do that would also damage the rim and/or tie rods as well. Most cars have a surprising amount of suspension travel, and most only take up about half of that sitting under their own weight unless there’s something wrong.
However, most suspension isn’t as good as you’ll find on a race-tuned stadium/Baja truck or high-end luxury car either. That means something like a pothole that those vehicles would not even feel would send an uncomfortable jolt through as they only absorb part of the impact. It can also jerk the wheel and make for an involuntary swerve. Both of those are lessened at lower speed. Good suspension may absorb nearly all of the impact, but you rarely find that on any vehicle with a reasonable price tag. You’re more likely to have a vehicle with dampers that are meh and spring rates that aren’t exactly optimal, geared more towards longevity and production costs than performance.
That said, there are some nasty potholes that could cause the suspension to bottom out, and some cars are in such bad shape that the suspension is notably softer than it should be. There’s reasons why one should replace worn shocks/struts/springs. But for the most part, anything that will bottom your car out will likely cause enough other problems that bottoming out is not a big issue by comparison. Damaged tie rods, bent rims, launching the car, or simply transmitting excessive force to parts of the vehicle that are not really meant to handle that impact are bigger issues.
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