siglite

I've had my z for three months, one tire change, and 12,000 miles, and tonight was the first night I've ever driven the car in track mode. Holy ____! Everything is better. The feel from the front, the way the suspension soaks up the bumps, I mean, it's a completely different car! I've been trying to learn to drive this thing for months in sport and touring, and now it's like I have a completely new car, with completely new (and awesome) handling characteristics.

Sooooo, the question.

The roads where I live, for the most part, aren't great. Will the stiffer suspension beat up the car more? Is there danger of just.. well.. beating the car up if I run around like that all the time?

If yes: Is there any harm to the car in terms of excessive wear to anything by switching between ride modes a lot? Like, keeping it in touring for the softer suspension on the bumpy one lane road to my house or in town (where the roads look a little like downtown Allepo), and then out on the highway and bigger, smoother 2 lanes, dialing into Track mode? This is an every day driver for me, so, I don't want to wear anything out early. It's going to get a lot of miles.

jaden61

I have heard track mode on a poorly maintained street is a rim killer. Switching modes is fine, even while in motion.

mdz06vetter

you are the IDEAL candidate for getting the DSC controller - please go to the following website and check out what I mean. Of course, I assume you have magnetic ride. Please check forum for any number of threads talking about the DSC controller and how it is an awesome upgrade for Z suspension

http://www.dscsport.com/

Low_end

I was told by my dealer that if you hit a big enough pothole in track mode you can damage suspension parts. Rough/uneven roads seem to be fine, if you are familiar with the roads and know where the really bad spots are I'd drive it in track and just switch to touring mode for the bad spots.

phantasms

I used track mode most of the time. My rims were fine but all four of my shocks were leaking last year. Dealer swapped under warranty and I'm more often in Sport now. I'll be getting the DSC before the Spring.

Best,
Gene

Bill Dearborn

I run in Eco or Tour on the street. Weather if the roads are wet. I never use Sport, not even sure what it really does. I only use the track sub modes when on the track. They seem to be plenty soft on the track at speed but on the street track modes are rougher than hell and I have no interest in banging my suspension on a rough road for nothing more than an impression the car is actually running better.

Bill

siglite

I *drive* my car. "Spirited" would be a good description. It's not an "impression." The steering response and feedback, as well as suspension feel and road-contact maintenance are drastically different between "tour" and "track." It's not some misguided impression. It's not that the car is faster. It's that it enables a driver to drive it faster. The difference is astonishing to me. It's a completely different car in track mode. And I guarantee you, that without having done it, the differences in achievable lap times with the same driver/car in the two modes would be stark.

Higgs Boson

you would be surprised to find that on the street, yes even "spirited" driving can actually be faster and safer with a softer suspension. Save Track mode for the Track.

if you just like the exhaust and steering feel you can change those to be Track mode all the time in your settings in the center nav screen.

overly-stiff-for-the-conditions suspension on the street is asking for trouble, earlier loss of traction, etc.

rbartick

I agree with Bill D. I will occasionally set the steering and exhaust to Track mode, but to be honest I usually prefer to drive a quiet car.

K1600GT

Curious, I have an HPtuners suit and would think you could configure the car to have tour suspension and Track shifting, fueling, ect..... What do you guys think?

fleming23

HPTuners does not interact with the suspension controller. You would need the DSC controller to modify any of those settings, other than fueling. HP Tuners is strictly motor and trans, if you have an automatic.

K1600GT

Wishfull thinking. Someone on here should be able to write something to get the best of both worlds.

siglite

No, I understand that. I have a background in racing supersport bikes, and if you think suspension chatter over bumps in a car is scary, on a bike it's terrifying. I got the answer I needed from this thread. And it's that there's no known excessive wear/damage to the vehicle by switching modes often. So that's my plan.

Where I live, we have some of the most awesome roads in the country. And when they're in good shape, you can safely run them at 75% of race pace in the turns. (I'm not one of those idiots running triple digits down the straights on little two lanes). Track mode provides SO much more on those, and even on our interstates here. Even some stretches of WV interstate can be non-boring running them fast, but not legally "reckless driving" fast. Track mode is night and day better there too. The WV turnpike is a much better experience in track mode, even if the G meter never exceeds .40.

jbsblownc5

Good to know, I've only been on the road course twice so far, and of course ran track mode. Most of the time I like running Sport on the canyons for spirited driving. I drop back to touring mode when just cruising...

I also have some GREAT smooth canyon roads that I guess I need to try out in track mode, thank for the tip!!

SBC_and_a_stick

25,000+ miles here, roughly half in track mode. I only use tour to run quiet while starting the car at home. Sport 50% Track 50%.

Track is what we pay for, it's the real deal, especially with Z07. The car is unbelieavable. That said, on some freeway portions it will get in a wave pattern and get get some passengers sick haha. Plus exhaust drones hard in some taller gears and it cover the audio when I want it.

In terms of stress. Track will stress your rims and your shocks. However it will save the car from max compression scenarios and scrape less.

My 0.02. You got warranty, drive it like you want to. I've never had a shock leak and I track it regularly and live in ****-street San Francisco.

Edwardz

I do believe you are more likely to bend a rim in track mode. I have bent 3 rear rims but not always in track. If in track you can shift to tour mode if you see bumps or railroad tracks. This will help but not prevent wheel bending. I believe the SS runflat stiff sidewall may contribute as well. I have not bent any rims using Sotto zero winter non run flats. I am thinking of switching to Continental DW for this reason come spring