How do the ARC shocks work?

MTTod

Registered User
Anyone know how the ARC actually works on these cars? From what I've been able to dig up the actuator rotates the post in the shock but what does that do inside there?

I'm guessing there's a fixed position for firm or auto since I haven't seen anything about NOT rotating the post with the actuator off.
 
Shocks have valves in them. The valves have an orifice (opening) that allows the hydraulic fluid inside the shock to pass from one chamber to another. The size of this orifice determines the speed at which the fluid can move between the chambers. This is what goes to determine a shock's dampening and rebound charictaristics.

In our stock shocks, the valving inside the shock has two different sized holes. A pin in the top of the shock is used to rotate the assembly exposing one hole or the other to the chambers. This pin is rotated by an actuator mounted on top of the shock. The actuator is controled by a computer in the trunk of the car. The computer uses inputs from sensors mounted on the steering column, in the brake system, the throttle position sensor, vehicle speed sensor and a g-force sensor to determine when to place the shocks into firm or "normal" mode.

You might hear of Koni adjustable shocks. These are shocks that have a valve body that allows for nearly infinite adjustability within a specific range of adjustment. But the Koni shocks won't mount our Actuators.
 
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