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for the above graph, compression is the top part and rebound is the lower part.
so why is rebound so big and compression so small? there are a couple of reasons. first, as the car compresses, work is being done to compress the spring. this reduces the damping force required by the shock. when the car rebounds, the spring is pushing against the shock, increasing the requirement for damping. second, think about what happens when you hit a bump: the wheel, brake calipers, rotors, etc. are pressed up toward the car. compression controls the UNSPRUNG weight of the wheel, brakes, 1/2 the strut weight, 1/2 the control arm weights, etc. the rebound stroke controls the weight of the SPRUNG mass, which is everything that sits on the springs.
looking at the graph, it's clear that adjustments higher in the range make larger changes than adjustments at the lower end of the range. i.e. changing from position 1 to position 2 makes FAR less of a difference than changing from position 35 to position 36. this actually makes sense; the relationship is roughly log linear.
there are some funky things going on at the upper right on the graph; it's almost like the shock wasn't sliding properly during the dyno run. this could be indicative of a problem or of the fact that the shock hasn't really been broken in yet. odd, none the less.
these particular graphs are ok for comparing adjustment 'clicks' on a damper or for comparing two dampers, but not quite so good for telling us what is happening in the design. for that, we want a velocity plot:
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