Anyone using silicone oil for dampening??

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine. Damping = removing energy from a system, Dampening = make wet

To use oil for damping, it would have to be in something like a shock absorber, with a paddle or valved piston in the oil. Just like a car, this shock would also need a spring as it will not hold things up on its own.

- Jeff

Bigkidz,
I think you misunderstood me. I never claimed that damping was ineffective. I was making the point that oil damping is only half of a suspension system. You need some type of spring, whether it is compressed air, a metal spring, or even magnets, you need something that is compliant and supports the load. Moving oil around is a very effective way of removing whatever energy gets into the system through vibrations. But just adding oil in where the air goes will not do much other than displace a volume of compressed air, thus increasing your spring rate, making the whole thing stiffer. The perfect set up is to have some seperate unit, such as a paddle hanging into an oil bath, that damps out the pogostick effect of the spring. But you need to be careful not to make it too stiff, or it will actually let more high freq vibration through.