• Air shocks provide a very smooth ridewhite old car image by terex from Fotolia.com
  
  Air shocks are an alternative to metal suspension springs on cars. Suspension systems perform two functions: damping wheel compression and returning the wheel to the road. In traditional systems, a shock absorber handles the damping and a spring handles the return action or "rebound" after the wheel absorbs a bump.
  
  

Pressurized Systems

• Rather than using a metal coil spring, some vehicles use air springs or "air shocks." The air shocks are a reservoir of air, pressurized by an air compressor. The air compressors are usually run from the car's alternator.
  
  

Simple Bag Systems

• Often larger vehicles like buses and even limousines use air shocks because they offer a particularly smooth ride. The simplest kind are made of a heavy-duty, flexible bag or air bladder. It's similar to a balloon with adjustable air volume and pressure.
  
  

Advanced Air Shocks

• Air shocks have been used traditionally to provide a smooth ride, but in commercial applications, the trend is to use them to improve performance. With on-board computers and sensors, the car can collect data about driving conditions and adjust individual air shocks on the fly. Or, the driver, can select computer controlled presets that shape the characteristics of the ride from sporty to luxurious.
  
  

Air-Assist

• Another application is the air-assist shock frequently used in motorcycles or high performance coil-over cartridges. In addition to a sealed cylinder containing oil, the air is pressurized, giving an assist to both damping and rebound. Most of these systems are pressurized by a separate air compressor with pressure blanching cables connecting the sealed cartridges.