Ride Control

Hey Guys...I just purchased a '05 Coupe. It is loaded with options including the select ride control. When switching from one position to the other, I notice no change. Is this supposed to be noticeable under normal driving conditions or am I expecting too soft of a ride while in the "touring" mode? What should I look for and expect? Thanks!

[TheRobSJ]

On the freeway, when you get that washboard bucking effect from expansion joints, switching between sport and tour should show the most dramatic difference.

Or in a parking lot with speed bumps, you should notice the body dosn't want to bounce as much in the sport mode.

[BruceF]

Try it on a bumpy turn. You should feel a noticable difference between the settings. On a normal, flat, smooth road, you won't feel much difference.

Also, just in case, take a look at the shocks and make sure they removed the yellow shipping stuffers.

[c4c5specialist]

Hi there,
Also remember, they engineered this to monitor and adjust speed of travel with the suspension.
So, it will compensate and you most likely will NOT even notice it unless you are in a very aggressive maneuver.
Allthebest, c4c5

[Crush1]

Depends on what you mean by normal driving. For decades we have been conditioned to associate stiff springs with better handling so when a person compares the seat of pants feel of Tour vs Sport suspension settings you expect to sense a stiffer ride. That is not the way F55 works. F55 is a new technology for achieving better handling and ride. The F55 is developed to help keep the rubber against the road under a wide range of road conditions without the harshness of stiff springs. On relatively flat road surfaces you will not notice much difference in settings. A good way of being able to tell the difference is to find a stretch of road where it is safe to do this, then move the steering wheel back and forth fairly rapidly as if moving through a slalum course. You will notice a flatter body mode in Sport. Another situation where you can tell the difference is to find an Interstate ramp that has a fairly tight radius and has a crappy surface that has a lot of surface variation so that each of the four tires are having to deal simultaneously with a different variation in road surface. Push it hard through this and you will tell a difference. Depending on the details of the particular road surface variations you may prefer Tour or you may prefer Sport. But you will tell the difference. BTW, this latter road surface situation is a great way to tell the difference between a standard suspension, a Z51 and a F55 car. Any road that has an undulating surface will show off the technology in the F55. Curves with washboard are another situation where the F55 technology shows through. The stiffer springs in the Z51 will cause it to start hopping over the washboards more so that the F55. My guess is that in the future we are going to see more emphasis on the F55's magnetorheological shock technology incorporated into optional performance handling packages. There is a long but very good article on the this technology over on another board: http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...003/msrc2.html