Do dust boots on the shocks actually hélp?
None, well only some now vintage ones, of my motorcycle, not even the offroad ones had boots.
On the 4x4s the metal shroud keeps stones off the rod but allows all dust/water/mud to fall out.
Very much like the plastic sliders in front of modern offroad bike front fork stanchions.
Makes me wonder whether or how much the dust boots on our MR actualy dó.
Just pause to thínk about it a moment: The shock moving in/out changes the volume inside the boot = pumping air in/out, including dust/water droplets.
I even remóved a set from the front forks of a vintage offroad bike because it sucked in dirt anyway and subsequently trapped it. The only thing it did was hampering wiping the stanchions off.
So; I wonder....
Depends on what sort of abuse your undercarriage takes. When the roads are caked in salt and grit for almost half of the year I'd rather have boots to provide some level of protection for the rods and seals.
Ok, add ´salt´ to the mixture sucked in. Again a double edged issue.
Apart from that I live in 300 days of sun/year country and noooooo road salt whatsover.
Not convinced of how much is "sucked in", mine certainly don't seal well enough on the shock to create any sort of vacuum. Even if they were, it seems intuitive that the amount of dirt getting to the top of the shocks would be much higher without boots. Whether that would have a significant impact on wear is another question.
Possible silly question - having just swapped my shocks out for some newer ones, and therefore I now have boots rather than remnants, how high up should it all sit? At the minute, the dust boots are attached to the bump stop lips, and pushed up to the top of the piston (with half the bump stop visible). So when the car is loaded, I suppose it protects against any splashes or similar hitting the piston, but it's not as if the boots are attached to anything at the bottom of the shock piston.
Why vacuum?
The harmonica movig in/out = change of air volume inside = air going in out and with it anything suspended in it. Part of this will get trapped and there is no way to clean inside. Uncovered shocks can be cleaned with water pressure.
I remember the discussion about it during the 80s concerning offroad bikes that were becomen popular. There was no concensus but the harmonica boot did disappear.
Thanks Bossworld. That adds another question mark to the functional issue.
I lean to the thought that it is some protection against stones at the price of trapping some dust/moisture/salt.
Quote from: Petrus on May 28, 2019, 14:57
Why vacuum?
The harmonica movig in/out = change of air volume inside = air going in out and with it anything suspended in it. Part of this will get trapped and there is no way to clean inside. Uncovered shocks can be cleaned with water pressure.
I remember the discussion about it during the 80s concerning offroad bikes that were becomen popular. There was no concensus but the harmonica boot did disappear.
Thanks Bossworld. That adds another question mark to the functional issue.
I lean to the thought that it is some protection against stones at the price of trapping some dust/moisture/salt.
I suppose I'm thinking of 1990s MTB suspension but even they've ditched the boots. Scratched stanchions can cost you a pretty penny though
Quote from: Bossworld on May 28, 2019, 16:06
I suppose I'm thinking of 1990s MTB suspension but even they've ditched the boots.
See?!
I am going to take the struts out and was wondering about replacing the boots. They are cheap enough, but I am not one to do something because it is the thing to do and am not convinced they do any good out here.
And not to mention the added lightness :)
Quote from: Joesson on May 28, 2019, 17:24
And not to mention the added lightness :)
Yeahhhhh, so chucking the springs too; they are HEAVY! :D :D