BigJ
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Just what the title says... if I were to have the opportunity to test one or more of these new shock options on my truck, in the real world dirt, how would I do it? What kinds of "tests" would you like to see ran? Something I can do as the driver, that measures A against B, or 2 against 3.
I don't have that opportunity, by the way. Those suckers are freaking beautiful! But they're also FAR beyond my budget. So this conversation is pretty much academic... but still, I'm just trying to wrap my head around what someone can do in the real world behind the wheel to somewhat objectively test and compare shock mods? Or, is this a seat of the pants thing that someone will have to just feel to know?
(To give you some context for the question, in a previous forum life I headed 8 separate 2 day dyno and track day events. It started as just a bunch of guys like you and me, who bought all these parts and wanted to know what they actually did, beyond the media and market hype. It turned into a cross forum event, with dozens of people showing up in person to watch or help, and with tens of thousands tuning in to the live video stream and chat. I handled literally thousands of donations and tens of thousands of dollars contributed by members just like you and me. Regular guys and gals who thought throwing $10 or $20 into the pool to help understand what that $$$$ mod would do for them before spending it was worthwhile. But no matter how big this thing got, we never lost sight of our tests, our objectivity and our brutal honesty.
So, for example, CAIs; we took one car, ran the same gas at the same ambient temperatures, in the same building by the same dyno operator on the same day and generally the same time and did nothing but make three hits, open the hood remove Intake A and Install Intake B, rinse and repeat over and over again. By the end of the day we have gobs of data that I sorted thru, generated a graph of averages maxes and mins, the picked the top "winners" and took them to the 1/4 track the next day. Again, same thing; the same driver would make three passes, we'd pop the hood Install Winner X, make three passes, Install Winner Y and so on. By the end of the event, we had a pretty good idea what any given intake would do on the dyno or at the track on a real car with real gas in the real world. We tested things from programmers, to headers, to heads, to exhausts, intakes, cams and more... but I can't for the life of me picture a way to objectively test and compare shocks in the "real world"; something that you could see in print or on the forum, or watch and learn with us over live video or in person... and come to understand objective differences. Heck these would be things you should be able to go try yourself even if you wanted to, and repeat what we found...what do ya think??)
---------- Post added at 02:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 PM ----------
Here's an example of what I mean. This is one of the results I posted from one of the tests at one of the events
Is there anything at all like that ^^^ we could come up with when it comes to testing shocks (or any other suspension mods, for that matter)? Something Joe Blow can click on, open up and see that A is better than B in one regard but maybe B is better than A in another, and therefore decide what's more important to them?
A couple thoughts that come to mind are to find a suitable bump in the road, decide on a preset speed (or maybe a few speeds?) and hit it a few times recording things like g-force or maybe pictures taken from the side at the correct instant? Would that make any sense? Helpful in any way?
See what I'm after? Feel free to tell me I'm crazy...
I don't have that opportunity, by the way. Those suckers are freaking beautiful! But they're also FAR beyond my budget. So this conversation is pretty much academic... but still, I'm just trying to wrap my head around what someone can do in the real world behind the wheel to somewhat objectively test and compare shock mods? Or, is this a seat of the pants thing that someone will have to just feel to know?
(To give you some context for the question, in a previous forum life I headed 8 separate 2 day dyno and track day events. It started as just a bunch of guys like you and me, who bought all these parts and wanted to know what they actually did, beyond the media and market hype. It turned into a cross forum event, with dozens of people showing up in person to watch or help, and with tens of thousands tuning in to the live video stream and chat. I handled literally thousands of donations and tens of thousands of dollars contributed by members just like you and me. Regular guys and gals who thought throwing $10 or $20 into the pool to help understand what that $$$$ mod would do for them before spending it was worthwhile. But no matter how big this thing got, we never lost sight of our tests, our objectivity and our brutal honesty.
So, for example, CAIs; we took one car, ran the same gas at the same ambient temperatures, in the same building by the same dyno operator on the same day and generally the same time and did nothing but make three hits, open the hood remove Intake A and Install Intake B, rinse and repeat over and over again. By the end of the day we have gobs of data that I sorted thru, generated a graph of averages maxes and mins, the picked the top "winners" and took them to the 1/4 track the next day. Again, same thing; the same driver would make three passes, we'd pop the hood Install Winner X, make three passes, Install Winner Y and so on. By the end of the event, we had a pretty good idea what any given intake would do on the dyno or at the track on a real car with real gas in the real world. We tested things from programmers, to headers, to heads, to exhausts, intakes, cams and more... but I can't for the life of me picture a way to objectively test and compare shocks in the "real world"; something that you could see in print or on the forum, or watch and learn with us over live video or in person... and come to understand objective differences. Heck these would be things you should be able to go try yourself even if you wanted to, and repeat what we found...what do ya think??)
---------- Post added at 02:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 PM ----------
Here's an example of what I mean. This is one of the results I posted from one of the tests at one of the events
Mods Face Off Result: AFE Stage II Intake
This test consisted of testing the AFE Stage II Intake on a completely stock 2005 300C and an extensively modified 2005 300C at the Mods Face Off 5 (MFO5).
Mod Tested: AFE Stage II Intake
Date: 10/12/06 - 10/13/06
Dyno Location: SVS R&D, Sacramento CA
Track Location: Sacramento Raceway, Sacramento CA
***Remember to always review and keep in mind the Mods Face Off Testing Methodology Q&A while reviewing these results.***
The Good:
The Bad:
- For the first time in the history of the MFO events, we have a group of intakes that deliver significant performance increases on a stock 5.7L; and the AFE was the second best performer behind the AirHammer. This guy averaged out a 6.7hp increase.
- The sound is a nice deep growl. Certainly louder than stock, but not something any of us found particularly loud. Probably just enough to have some fun with, but not enough to annoy the neighbors.
The Numbers:
- While we did show an increase in hp over stock, we showed essentially no improvement in terms of torque. On the heavily modified 5.7, however, the gains were just opposite; that is we showed nearly no increase of horsepower, however we did see a fairly nice increase in torque.
- Based on past experience, the filter size might be the limiting factor here. We did not test a larger filter, however, to see if it made any difference.
The Graphs:
These two pulls closely follow the averages for the entire set. This is average vs average, not worst vs best.
COMPARISONS:
Intake STP Horsepower Comparison - Stock 5.7L
Intake STP Torque Comparison - Stock 5.7L
Intake STP Horsepower Comparison - Modded 5.7
Intake STP Torque Comparison - Modded 5.7
Manometer readings:
Is there anything at all like that ^^^ we could come up with when it comes to testing shocks (or any other suspension mods, for that matter)? Something Joe Blow can click on, open up and see that A is better than B in one regard but maybe B is better than A in another, and therefore decide what's more important to them?
A couple thoughts that come to mind are to find a suitable bump in the road, decide on a preset speed (or maybe a few speeds?) and hit it a few times recording things like g-force or maybe pictures taken from the side at the correct instant? Would that make any sense? Helpful in any way?
See what I'm after? Feel free to tell me I'm crazy...
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