Release the same virtual spring with different damping. See the motion change while the spring and mass stay fixed.
Ready: underdamped. Use Play or the time slider to explore.
Below 1: the ideal mass overshoots its rest position and oscillates while its motion decays.
Animation starts only when you press Play. The time slider works without animation.
With no damping, the ideal spring keeps exchanging stored and kinetic energy. Underdamping allows repeated crossings of the rest position. At critical damping this ideal release returns without oscillation; overdamping returns more slowly. OpenStax: damped oscillations ↗
This is a single linear mass–spring–damper released from rest with a fixed displacement. Natural frequency is fixed at 6 rad/s; displacement is normalized. There is no tire, unsprung mass, linkage, friction, bump stop, weight transfer or terrain input.
The damping ratio is not an oil weight and “critical” is not a universal best RC setup. Real suspension needs the actual chassis, spring, piston, oil and terrain to be considered together.
The model solves x″ + 2ζωₙx′ + ωₙ²x = 0, with x(0) = 1, x′(0) = 0 and ωₙ = 6 rad/s. The illustration uses 45 pixels per normalized displacement unit. The displayed time is model time, not a measured vehicle response.
Two different suspension observations, made without turning setup numbers into universal targets.
Open the guide ↗A measured, manual-led first pass that separates alignment from every other setup change.
Open the guide ↗A paired-shock workflow that makes air, fill and front/rear identity visible.
Open the guide ↗
