By design, this means a shock is a dynamic component. One thing (of hundreds) I’ve learned from Doug Norrdin at Global West is that spring rate (front or rear) helps determine the rate at which the body rolls through a corner. Let’s use the right front as our example. The right front coil spring allows the body to roll (which compresses the spring) to a certain point in a hard left-hand turn. During this time when the spring is compressing, the shock absorber is also compressing. The shock valving in this compression movement is intended to affect the rate at which that spring gets to its maximum compressed point. If the shock is too stiff in compression, it may never allow the spring to achieve its proper compressed state, which means the camber curve may not be idealized. If the compression valving is too soft, the spring may arrive at its max compressed state too soon. Once the car has compressed the spring in the corner, then the car will then leave the corner entry portion of the corner and run through the apex of the corner. Finally, the car will exit the apex of the corner and then begin to accelerate through the exit portion of the corner. During corner exit, the spring will begin to push the right front corner up. The rate at which it pushes this corner up is determined by its extension or rebound valving. If the rebound valving is too stiff, it will not allow the spring to begin to transfer weight from the front of the car to the rear where that weight is needed to help traction for accelerating off the corner. Conversely, the rebound valving should not be too soft, which would allow too much weight to the rear too quickly and probably upset the car on corner exit. A good performance shock will allow you to adjust this valving to custom-tune the handling on the car.