It’s the ride that counts – Monroe says

For most drivers, ride control is rarely a top-of-mind maintenance consideration. But without robust shock absorbers and suspension components, the customer’s sense of control and comfort would suffer, and wear on other critical (and expensive) parts, such as tyres and brakes, would accelerate.

These concerns aren’t new; in fact, they led Monroe  to develop the first shock nearly 100 years ago. A mono- or twin-tube device filled with oil, the shock absorber reacts to the impact of the road and allows the driver to travel in comfort. But shocks do more than just provide a smooth ride; they also control spring movement when the vehicle hits a bump, holding the tires to the road for safe steering, stopping and stability.
Each Monroe® shock is specially engineered to match the characteristics of the vehicle it will be used on. For instance, a luxury sedan may have shocks designed to provide a smoother ride with enhanced control, whereas a compact vehicle with front-wheel drive and lower profile tires and wheels may be tuned to provide precise, more aggressive control.

To begin to understand how shocks are made, we must first understand how they work. Shocks are installed between a vehicle’s chassis and the wheel. When a wheel goes up and down because of road bumps, the same motion occurs in the shock’s piston rod. This movement makes oil within the shock pass through valves that control its flow, lessening the movements of the chassis.

The most widely used vehicle shock is the hydraulic telescopic type, which is a carefully engineered oil pump. A piston is attached to the end of a piston rod and works against hydraulic fluid in the pressure tube. As the suspension moves up and down, the hydraulic fluid is forced through tiny holes inside the piston that only allow a small amount of fluid to pass through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring and suspension movement