Ohlins TTX

Quite simply, the TTX is the best overall damper design on the planet.  More National and World championships are won on Ohlins TTX technology than any other shock.  From Lemans to MotoGP to Pikes Peak, the TTX simple provides the dampening and tuning to balance and dial in your car.

Ohlins TTX design

The TT in TTX stands for Twin Tube damper.  Ohlins innovative TTX design creates an oil circuit between each tube and an oil reservoir via a series of compression and rebound channels.  Using a solid main piston, oil is forced through each channel based up on compression and rebound strokes.  Each channel has its own bleed valve for slow speed control and shim valve for high speed control.  Since each stroke has its own oil path, compression and rebound adjustments are completely isolated from each other making it simpler to achieve a desired set up. Other damper’s compression and rebound adjustments affect one other, which does not allow compression and rebound to be set individually.

On the other side of the TTX oil reservoir is a gas chamber.  Since each twin tube is individually bridged to the oil reservoir, each tube distributes pressure to both sides of the piston.  This creates a positive pressure build up on both compression and rebound strokes while providing a relieving pressure to the other side of the piston reducing cavitation.  This provides more consistent and direct damping, reducing hysteresis, improving short movement sensitivity and high-speed dampening.

The balanced twin tube pressure can be demonstrated on a TTX damper without a spring mounted.  You can move the rod in both directions and feel damping force based upon the force applied.  When there is no force applied to the rod, it remains in place at any position within the stroke.  On a monotube damper, the internal gas pressure on the compression side of the piston is going to keep the damper at full extension.

High Gas Pressure Myth

Gas pressure in monotube dampers is only applied to the compression side of the piston.  This gas pressure has to be high enough so that during compression the low-pressure side of the system remains under enough pressure to limit cavitation.  Correspondingly, there is a spiking gas pressure on the compression side of the piston restricting piston movement and thus compression damping.  The spiking gas pressure creates an abrupt force back through the piston rod that gets absorbed via tire deformation reducing grip.  During the rebound stroke the potential energy of this gas spring is unloading, forcing the piston back through the oil and causing the damper to have to dampen itself, taking away from its primary function of damping the car.  Monotube manufacturers present the high gas pressure as a positive as it reduces the spring rate that is needed for the coil spring.  That may be true, but the gas spring is non-linear, creating inconsistent dynamics within the suspension system.  High gas pressure is simply a solution to a symptom and not the problem, which simply creates another symptom.

Due to the Ohlins patented oil circuit, the TTXs uses a lower gas pressure of around 40 PSI vs 120-200 PSI, which significantly reduces wear within the shock due to less seal drag, improving reliability and longevity.

Lightweight

Ohlins TTX are made from aluminum alloy that typically save 2-5 lbs over OEM and popular European shocks.  Saving suspension weight has a compounding effect vs chassis weight in that it is unsprung and limits how fast the entire wheel system can move.  Every extra lb of unspring weight reduce the suspension system reaction time and thus contact patch.  Additionally, aluminum conducts heat significantly better than steel which allows helps transfer heat out of dampening oil better, proving more consistent dampening.