Foam Cell Pro Torture Testing: Unveiling Performance

REAL WORLD TESTING

Thousands of kilometers were put on the Foam Cell Pros during the initial development phase, but a more extreme environment was required for extended testing – local tracks weren’t going to cut it.

To properly test the shocks, they needed to be taken over the tracks that would work them as hard as possible and across a variety of different terrains. The Oodnadatta track (from Coober Pedy), up to the Finke race track (via Mt Dare) and then through the Simpson Desert and the Birdsville development road were selected.

Throughout the period of this testing, the ambient temperatures in the Simpson were 111°F(44°C), with ground temperatures regularly sitting around 140°F (60°C) – trying conditions for both the vehicle and our staff.

The vehicles taken were:

• Nissan GU Patrol (Foam Cell)
• Toyota Landcruiser 79 Series Dual Cab (Foam Cell Pro)
• Toyota Prado 150 (Foam Cell Pro)
• Nissan Navara D40 (Foam Cell Pro)
• Toyota Hilux 2011+ (Foam Cell)

These vehicles were chosen to give a cross section of some of the most popular vehicles on the market and provided some direct comparisons between different suspension setups.

Coober Pedy to Oodnadatta

Leaving Coober Pedy we hit the first of the gravel roads and fine corrugations. There was lots of high speed driving (110km/h) along this gravel road and the outer bodies of the shocks took plenty of rock blasts – stripping paint from the body of the shock and the axles of the vehicles – however the performance characteristics of the shocks weren’t challenged by these roads.

Tracks around Mt Dare, past Hamilton Station, Eringa Station and Bloods Creek

The tracks around these areas were more demanding, they were still high speed, but with larger corrugations, deep floodways and large rocks both embedded and loose. There was enough undulation in these roads to get a vehicle airborne and force reduced speeds over rougher sections. We measured the elevated shock body temperatures at various stages through here – with the temperatures averaging 158-185°F (70-85°C) depending on the vehicle. We noted that the higher speed sections resulted in lower shock body temperatures – likely due to the increased airflow under the vehicle and around the shock bodies.

Finke Race Course

The race course sections involved slower speeds of 30-40km/h, but induced full stroke oscillations from the suspension. Thanks to the heavily undulating profile the race buggies chop into the earth, any speed beyond 45-50km/h would result in the vehicle leaving the surface in an uncontrollable rhythmic jounce. We’d expect that no vehicle in road trim would be capable of sustaining much higher speeds – only long travel competition style suspension would have the ability to isolate the body movements over this terrain.

Over our testing on this section, the standard Ironman 4×4 Foam Cell shocks in the front of the Nissan Patrol reached 237°F (114°C) at the foot valve, whilst the same shock absorber (Foam Cell Pro design) in the Toyota 79 Series Dual Cab was only  203 °F(95°C) by comparison – an almost 68°F (20°C) difference.

The track between Mt Dare and Purnie Bore was heavily corrugated, very rocky and rough, enough to snap 2 UHF aerials fitted to our vehicles. All vehicles again sustained heavy rock damage to the rear axle and shock bodies, the 3mm external wall thickness of the Foam Cell Pro shock absorbers withstood the larger impacts where the thinner walled bodies dented heavily.

Shock body temperatures were consistently between 176-212°F (80-100°C) across the range of vehicles and shocks.

The French Line (Simpson Desert)

Within the sandier sections on the French Line, we came across a new variety of terrain that only a remote location like this could provide. Crossing the Simpson Desert involves traversing 1100 sand dunes, however these aren’t the main challenge for the suspension – instead it’s the hundreds of smaller ruts, and tramping mounds formed in the sand between each dune that really tests the vehicles and their suspension.

These “tramping mounds” consist of largely spaced corrugations often 20-40cm from peak to trough generated by prior travellers in the soft sand.

The best approach to this terrain is to travel at a speed high enough to skim over the tops of the bumps but still slow enough to avoid larger ruts and holes.

More often than not, a slower speed is required, which is by far the most demanding on vehicles. The mix of slow undulations, tramping corrugations and full suspension stroke over these sections was the most variably taxing of all the terrains and is where we succeeded in generating our highest recorded temperatures of 219°F (104°C) in the Foam Cell Pro and 246°F (119°C) in the regular Foam Cells.

Here it was the Prado 150 with the Foam Cell Pros and the Hilux with the equivalent strut in a standard Foam Cell that hit these max temperatures.

REAL WORLD TESTING CONCLUSION

You`d be hard pressed to find road conditions tougher than those in the Simpson Desert not to mention the 104°F+ (40°C+) ambient temperatures.

Having worked the vehicles and their suspension to their limits in taxing conditions, at no point did the Foam Cells or Foam Cell Pros approach the 302°F (150°C) temperature found to be the turning point for shock fade. None of the vehicles had any noticeable decrease in performance or shock fade, a great testament to Foam Cell shock absorbers.