They are employed to polish shock-absorbers (7)

I believe the answer is:

buffers

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'they are employed' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adverb but the answer is not.

'polish shock-absorbers' is the wordplay.
'polish' becomes 'buff' (buffing is a kind of polishing).
'shock-absorbers' becomes 'ers' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'buff'+'ers'='BUFFERS'

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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