gmerck

I see you can order Z51 suspension with Mag Ride on C7 corvettes. I am ordering a 2017 convertible (race yellow with red interior) Z51 3LT. With the Z51 suspension and the standard 5 ride selections (mainly tour and sport) what would I gain by adding Mag Ride with the Z51?

direct007

There are many threads on this subject but quite simply...mag ride smooths out the bumps and gives a smoother ride and for those that have it, most would agree it's a must have. A Z51 without magride is a considerably rougher ride especially on a bumpy road.

juanvaldez

The Z51 without magride comes with Bilstein shocks. The ride quality is not adjustable. The mode selection only affects the steering feel, shifting, display, etc.

gmerck

I like the sport feel of the Z51. If you get the Mag Ride I assume you loose the Z51 shocks and get the Mag Ride shocks. So how do you get the true sport Z51 tuned suspension ride without the Z51 shocks?

JerryU

Hmm! I have a 2014 Z51 without Mag Ride. It has 45 Bilstein shocks vs the base 36 mm. They are matched to the stiffer springs, larger front and added rear roll bar. On our smooth roads the ride is fine for me.

The Z51 with Mag Ride when set at Touring has a somewhat softer ride. As someone said on a bumpy road or particularly a washboard road it would be a noticeably better ride. However when set at Sport it will be even stiffer than mine and set at Track it will rattle your teeth!

The mag shocks are not only matched to the Z51 suspension they change in transients and as the road varies. Set at Track they will always give a stiffer ride.

If you track the car it will handle transients better. If I was tracking would have gotten them. I'll replace my 2014 soon with a GS and it comes with Mag Ride as standard so I'll "live" with the added complexity, which is the reason I elected not to get them.

Foosh

The wording in bold above is a bit misleading, but I think I know what you meant. MSRC (really dislike the term "mag ride") provides both a relatively smooth ride and very stiff ride depending upon the setting. In Tour mode, MSRC cars are roughly comparable to non-MSRC cars in terms of "softness." In the Track setting, they are much stiffer and can be bone-jarring on rough pavement.

However, MSRC does much more than just allowing one to dial up a soft vs. stiff ride. In laymen's terms, the system measures road surface conditions and changes the damping rate of the shock up to 1000 times per second to keep the tires loaded with as much weight as possible. It acts to keep each tire on the ground with less rebound than conventional shocks. It has a sensor mounted at each wheel and the computer reads what each wheel is encountering. The net effect is that it keeps the car more planted to the road.

The video below explains the above in more detail. It shows two Corvettes (one with MSRC and one without) going over the same dip in the pavement. The MSRC stays planted, while the tires on the non-MSRC car bounce off the pavement.

Emerald Eagle

The video really shows the subtle benefits of the mag ride system beyond the obvious change in stiffness.

We have a Mercedes sedan and I was commenting to my wife that I thought the ride in our Z51 w/ adjustable shocks on "Tour" was as good as or better than the MB.

She has a "Dynamic Stomach" and some cars bother her more than others. She noted that the Stingray doesn't bother her and the MB can on undulating roads. And you know that I'm pushing the C7 more than the sedan.

joemessman

Is the Mag ride tied to the driving mode you are in? Such as weather, track, economy, sport and tour. If you are in Sport for example, can you soften the ride?

pickleseimer

Performance Traction Management is also included with FE4 MSRC.

JDM111er

Having Mag ride and driving through turns is my favorite feature of my vette. Smooth.....

Nice Ride

The video that Foosh posted kinda says it all. Over time MRC is more $ to maintain and depending on how you drive it may not be "necessary". I like the Z51 package on Corvette and MRC adds another level of stability that is nice to have with 460HP.

joemosfet

I think this is important, and worthy of repeating.

Without mag ride, you will lose a big part of the Z51 benefit: The performance traction management pages (the extra 5 selectable modes once you're in Track mode).

Foosh

MSRC works all the time in all modes and provides the benefits shown in the video.

But, yes the latest gen of MSRC is also capable of softening or stiffening the ride. That's why they now call the system Magnetic SELECTIVE Ride Control (MSRC). There are basically 3 settings: 1) Weather/Eco/Tour (softest setting), 2) Sport (medium), and 3) Track (stiff).

Early generations were just MRC, such as shown in the video, ride softness/stiffness was not adjustable, but the system was still operational all the time and providing the benefits shown in the video.

DickieDoo

Mag Ride significantly improves body control over uneven surfaces. It's of great benefit on both Z51 and non-Z51 cars. It's not the just MRS shocks themselves that do it, it's the software that controls the shocks that is the key to improved handling etc...and that is what your changing with the mode selector.