With winter just around the corner, I decided to get the 94 six speed coupe out for one last trip to work, about a 60 mile round trip. The highway I travel has been under modification for quite a while now, and by my 118th birthday, it should be a full 4 lanes. The latest new stretch has traffic shifting from old road to new road and this is where I put the FX3 to the "test". I work second shift and traffic is very light to none at all and for the test it was in the none at all mode. The first shift to the new lanes is not too bad and I had the selector in "Performance" mode and zipped right through the interchange without a hitch. The second change is more radical and I decided to kick it up a notch. 75 MPH, both hands on steering wheel, here we go. A quick jog to the left and back to the right and, nothing. No fanfare, no tire squeal, no violent lurching, just through the curves like I was doing 30. I guess I really didn't know what to expect and after searching the forum the general agreement is all the same, no differences are noted from touring to performance. I guess that is the beauty of this adjustable suspension, it just works. My seat of the pants meter needs recalibrated as I really cannot tell the difference, either. I do know one thing, zipping through an interchange at 75 that the government has posted at 45 is child's play to this car. Now I am really curious as to how far it can be pushed. Maybe auto cross is in the future next year...

 

The system is always adjusting the shock stiffness regardless of the switch setting. The FX3 controller gets speed input from the VSS and makes changes based on that. Somewhere on the CF there is a table that shows shock setting based on MPH for each setting. One thing I remember about the graphs is that the Tour setting at 75 is actually stiffer than the Performance setting at slow speeds like 30 and under.

At one point Bilstein offered a custom valving for the FX3 shocks and that valving spec was created by a former CF member. The valving was called "Moracca" or something similar. I think that Bilstein may still offer custom valving for autocross and track days but I also read that they can't rebuild the rear shocks anymore due to parts being no longer available.

Doug Rippie Motorsports used to offer a custom shock processor that used replaceable proms. You replaced the OEM processor and than DRM would build a chip that further enhances the shock settings.

The Selective Ride Control technology is old now but back when it first came out, it was sort of "cutting edge". The Corvette system was based on a Ferrari system that Bilstein developed for their cars.

 

Yeah, I had kinda forgotten about the dynamic setting relative to speed. This might be why some have said they couldn't tell much difference in stiffness across the three settings; it would depend on the road surface AND the speed as to how stiff the ride would be. Some have gone so far as to say they there isn't enough difference between the settings to justify the expense, and recommend standard gas shock instead of fixing the FX3.

Recently, I drove along a stretch of old concrete highway; the kind made up of slabs about 50 feet long with expansion gaps and significant cracking too. Buh-bump-buh-bump-buh-bumpity-bump in "PERFORMANCE" mode, accompanied with pronounced jarring through the seat. But, without changing speed, switching to CRUISE made a very noticeable improvement. I'll keep the FX3 in working order, therefore - as long as parts are available.

If the FX3 system becomes NLA, what would be the collective recommendation for a workable substitute for the active FX3? Anybody??

 

Paul,

I think the only suitable substitute to the FX3 would be a manually adjustable shock or a shock that meets your overall ride preference. I don't think you can find a better system (when working properly) I love the ability to change ride on the fly to meet road conditions or ride preference at a given time.

 

I wonder if there would be a way to adapt the F45 suspension that was available on the '96?

F45 continued on as an option for the C5, but the shock design was much different (especially in terms of how they mount) and things like spring rates and swaybar stiffness were also different. There is probably a lot of electronic differences and getting everything to work together could be a nightmare.

Other than that, coilovers or adjustable shocks like QA1's, Koni's or Pensky would be the alternative. But adjusting from within the car would not be possible.