I'm loving your results Icecyc1

IMO there's a few factors that affect shock consistency/fade. We'll assume the shock is properly maintained with good seals, polished shafts etc and not talk about proper maintenance. There's plenty of discussion on that topic and IMO it's the number one factor for consistency. Now for shock fade or change in rebound....

I agree that heat increase is the biggest factor of shock consistency: As the shocks work, friction on the piston rubbing the shock body and the shock shaft rubbing the oring seals slowly build heat. Friction from the oil as it passes through the and around the pistons all generate heat. Longer runs mean more heat build up. This is less of an issue for short electric races.

Temp increase affects two things.
1. Oil viscosity thinner- hotter the oil the lower the viscosity
2. Internal Air Pressure increases as the temp increases in the shock. This adds rebound and 8th scale guys notice this most if they run a long race with emulsion shocks, less so if they run bladder with air above the bladder. and the none if they run vented foam. During the long races the ride height can change quite a bit just from the increases air pressure inside the shock body. (vent bladders have consistency issue for other reasons)

To test how much temp increase affects shock consistency, try a couple shock dyno experiment as follows:

____________

Exp #1 test consistency of shock oil damping as shock body temp increases.

1. Run 3 shocks with 3 different shock weights light, med, heavy oil. Use vented shock cap no foam to eliminate air pressure/foam as a factor (0 rebound)

leg #1 measure shock body temps of all shocks and record dyno results after 1 min.
leg #2 measure shock body temps of all shocks and record dyno results after 45mins.

With the resulting data plot shock damping before and after of the 3 shock oil weights. Plot rebound vs time of the 3 shock oil wieghts.

______________

Exp #2 test consistency of shock rebound(internal air pressure) as shock body temp increases.

1. Run 3 shock configs. Oil and pistons should be constant. Run 3 different rebound setups. 1) emulsion 25% rebound 2) standard sealed bladder 25% rebound 3) vented bladder with foam 25%rebound

leg #1 measure shock body temps of all the shocks and record dyno results after 1 min. remove shock and measure rebound distance and time to rebound.
leg #2 measure shock body temps of all the shocks and record dyno results after 45 mins. remove shock and measure rebound distance and time to rebound.

With the resulting data plot damping vs time and plot rebound distance vs time.
______________________

Most guys here can already predict the results, but it would be interesting to show the data to so we can all align on something on RC tech. hehe.