The relation between the expansion and compression stage is different depending on the manufacturer and the targeted application of the vehicle. The figure shows the influence of the damper layout on the wheel load fluctuations.
A relation of 1 between rebound and compression stages ensures the quick fading away of axle oscillations. The wheel load fluctuations achieve a minimum at this setting, which means a better road grip of the wheels. This layout is however not favourable from the point of view of suspension comfort.
Both the relation between rebound and compression stage as well as the absolute magnitude of the damping constant "k" are usually investigated based on tests. This way, an optimum damper design is determined for the spectrum of the possible load conditions of a vehicle over all possible road surfaces .
In order to reduce the conflicting aims between a high driving safety and max. attainable comfort as far as possible, some vehicles are provided with an adjustable chassis damping.