Speed vs Position
Sensitive Damping

Speed sensitive damping is related to the damping force increasing as the speed of the shock’s movement increases. One of the benefits of speed sensitive dampers is that they provide a soft comfortable ride at low speeds but still give the driver control and confidence at high speeds like driving over corrugated roads and over potholes without much movement transfer through the car. Our OME Nitrocharger and MT64 shocks have been specifically tuned to operate in this way, to give you a comfortable ride at higher speeds and low speeds. 

Position sensitive dampers are more commonly found in off road racing vehicles, due to the damper provides distinct levels of damping throughout the shock’s movement. This is broken down into three sections; ride zone, top out zone and bottom out zone.  

The ride zone is where the piston within the shock normally sits. It is a plush softer zone that eats up corrugation and small bumps. The End zone is when the shock is being compressed to is shortest state, whereas the top out zone is the shock extending out to the longest state (rebound). Position sensitive shock provide more damping in these zones to reduce body roll and prevent bottoming or topping out, it also gives the shock the flexibility to move more freely throughout the ride zone providing a more comfortable ride. 

OME BP-51s not only has position sensitive damping and speed sensitive damping in one shock, but also the ability to adjust compression and rebound independently. This enables the user to finely tune their ride for multiple terrains and situations. For instance, going from black top to sand and driving to work to towing a camper trailer, BP-51 shock absorbers really are the ultimate damper in 4×4 ride control. It really is quite amazing that the OME engineers have managed to construct a damper that has this level of technology and fits into a coil over strut commonly found in modern 4WDs.