Depends what best is defined as. I would say that a good set of coilovers would perform better, but you have to get out and manually set them. The mag ride, you turn a **** and it is soft or stiff.
Koni, Ridetech, and Viking make some good performance shocks for the C4. Notice I said performance if your going to auto-x it you want good shocks.
The FX3 was not bad at all for its time. Better bandwidth than the later F45 setup in the late C4 and C5. The magnetic ride shocks are far above the FX3.
Koni, Ridetech, and Viking make some good performance shocks for the C4. Notice I said performance if your going to auto-x it you want good shocks.
The FX3 was not bad at all for its time. Better bandwidth than the later F45 setup in the late C4 and C5. The magnetic ride shocks are far above the FX3.
yep. The 1996 ‘f45 real time’ dampening shock option was a bastardization of the fx3 system.
Had my front shock actuators rebuilt at Captain Z CNC and bought new gears for the shocks. Documented it to help the next guy.
Shock showing original damaged gear still on shock
Used a finish nail modified with a bench grinder to drive out/in the tiny roll pin that holds the gear to the shock.
You can see damage to the original gear and the small roll pin next to the new one
One of the rebuilt actuators before install. You can see the new gear in the center.
A few notes:
I reassembled the shock gear and roll pin with anti-seize. The pin is "trapped" by the actuator gear once installed so their is no reason for a real tight interference fit. Work was performed with shock installed and tire and wheel on, access is good.
I blunted the end of my nail tool to keep it from mushrooming the end of the roll pin,which would complicate installation. The pins were seized on the shock valve, it took some persuading with a small ballpeen hammer to move them.
The most screwing around I had to do on install was lining the hole in the gear and the hole in the shock valve up to get the roll pin started, but that wasn't much. Installing the actuator and clip is quite simple, you'll feel the gears mesh and the actuator will drop onto the shock. Don't forget the clips, if you can't put them in you haven't properly installed either the gear or the actuator.
Haven't really had a chance to put the car through a real test, but I can tell that the amount of body roll decreases between TOUR---->SPORT------>PERFORMANCE settings. And, of course, the stupid light on the dash went out.
Depends what best is defined as. I would say that a good set of coilovers would perform better, but you have to get out and manually set them. The mag ride, you turn a **** and it is soft or stiff.
Is it even an option for the C4? To retrofit it reasonably?
Is it even an option for the C4? To retrofit it reasonably?
Plenty of track c4s are on coilovers. They do require extra work compared to a car that had factory struts all around. But that's the price you pay for double wishbones like a sports car should have.
Plenty of track c4s are on coilovers. They do require extra work compared to a car that had factory struts all around. But that's the price you pay for double wishbones like a sports car should have.
I was wondering if you could do the mag shocks easily
Plenty of track c4s are on coilovers. They do require extra work compared to a car that had factory struts all around. But that's the price you pay for double wishbones like a sports car should have.
C4's don't have struts. Nor do they have "Double wish bones" (in the rear). And the spring type isn't going to change handling much or at all. Or affect the performance of the dampers.
I agree that Mag shocks are way better than the adjustable that came on C4's. "Space shuttle" logic is massively flawed.
C4's don't have struts. Nor do they have "Double wish bones" (in the rear). And the spring type isn't going to change handling much or at all. Or affect the performance of the dampers.
I agree that Mag shocks are way better than the adjustable that came on C4's. "Space shuttle" logic is massively flawed.
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Yeah... what I was saying on something like a mini with a strut, it's a lot easier to swap to coilovers. It's a simple bolt in swap on those. Not as easy on the c4, but still doable.
yep. The 1996 ‘f45 real time’ dampening shock option was a bastardization of the fx3 system.
the fx3 was the better system
No and no.
The F45 system was really used in 1996 as the test platform for the C5. saying the FX3 system is better is totally false, outside of actually being to currently maintain it. F45 parts for C4's are unobtanium where you can still get FX3 parts.
FX3 uses basic shock valving changes that are pre set based on speed. The system was, and still is, slow to change the valving and the only thing the system uses is speed and current setting to look up where the shocks should be based on the table for the setting. You could change the chips out to get different tables but there was no real time shock changes, it was fixed based on speed and speed alone.
F45 could change the settings every 10-15 milliseconds based on feedback the wheels and suspension were receiving. It was a much better, more advanced, system designed to keep the tires more firmly planted to the road based on current conditions. It was WAY ahead of FX3 which is why the cars rode so much better.
The Mag ride simply took F45 to the next level, they do the same thing but instead of simple valving they change the viscosity of the fluid on the fly... but they also take the feedback from the road, not just a basic table based system. There are a handful of tracks (rough ones like Sebring) where mag ride is faster than Z51 because it does so much better of a job keeping the tires on the road.
Aren't there aftermarket cabin controlled systems available? Bilstein B16
Sure, but they cost more than the car itself.
Sebring is a hellacious track. Wanna get beat up, run at sebring. We did a track day in July and between the track itself, the 98 degree heat... it was just brutal.
The F45 system was really used in 1996 as the test platform for the C5. saying the FX3 system is better is totally false, outside of actually being to currently maintain it. F45 parts for C4's are unobtanium where you can still get FX3 parts.
FX3 uses basic shock valving changes that are pre set based on speed. The system was, and still is, slow to change the valving and the only thing the system uses is speed and current setting to look up where the shocks should be based on the table for the setting. You could change the chips out to get different tables but there was no real time shock changes, it was fixed based on speed and speed alone.
F45 could change the settings every 10-15 milliseconds based on feedback the wheels and suspension were receiving. It was a much better, more advanced, system designed to keep the tires more firmly planted to the road based on current conditions. It was WAY ahead of FX3 which is why the cars rode so much better.
The Mag ride simply took F45 to the next level, they do the same thing but instead of simple valving they change the viscosity of the fluid on the fly... but they also take the feedback from the road, not just a basic table based system. There are a handful of tracks (rough ones like Sebring) where mag ride is faster than Z51 because it does so much better of a job keeping the tires on the road.
the 89-91 fx3 system was slower reacting.
the 92-96 fx3 system was improved. It had the bilstein **** so that only 82 degrees rotation was all it took from full soft to full firm.
a doug rippie motorsports lignenfelter fx3 controller (unsupported anymore by drm) , along with ‘moracca’ revalved bilstein fx3 dampners (now unsupported by bilstein) - I would have to believe is the better system (than f45)
the unsupported nature of these systems is why i will never be adding either . But if there was one i would consider it would be the modified 92-96 fx3 with aftermarket controller and morraca bilsteins
The F45 system was really used in 1996 as the test platform for the C5. saying the FX3 system is better is totally false, outside of actually being to currently maintain it. F45 parts for C4's are unobtanium where you can still get FX3 parts.
FX3 uses basic shock valving changes that are pre set based on speed. The system was, and still is, slow to change the valving and the only thing the system uses is speed and current setting to look up where the shocks should be based on the table for the setting. You could change the chips out to get different tables but there was no real time shock changes, it was fixed based on speed and speed alone.
F45 could change the settings every 10-15 milliseconds based on feedback the wheels and suspension were receiving. It was a much better, more advanced, system designed to keep the tires more firmly planted to the road based on current conditions. It was WAY ahead of FX3 which is why the cars rode so much better.
The Mag ride simply took F45 to the next level, they do the same thing but instead of simple valving they change the viscosity of the fluid on the fly... but they also take the feedback from the road, not just a basic table based system. There are a handful of tracks (rough ones like Sebring) where mag ride is faster than Z51 because it does so much better of a job keeping the tires on the road.
Did the f45 system have a **** of any sort ? (Like fx3)?
the holy grail would be a system where you could switch between drag race mode (max weight transfer), commute (max ride height), soft, road race and autoX modes (stiff)
Did the f45 system have a **** of any sort ? (Like fx3)?
the holy grail would be a system where you could switch between drag race mode (max weight transfer), commute (max ride height), soft, road race and autoX modes (stiff)
IDK how practical it is to add an active suspension system to a C4. It has been cost prohibitive to add ride control to c5-7 without a donor car. Contrary to the FX3 faithful the F45 Real Time Dampening (RTD) is better, even though it uses 2 verses 3 channels. It operates alot faster and went into the C5. A major downside new shocks cost were rediculously expensive over 1k each. The new magnetic systems are even better, but more expensive to repair. With latest suspension system shock aspects could easily be changed for different situations with reprogramming. Launch Control allowed front end lift and limited rear squat. F45 is designed to reduce front extension and increase rebound on rear on hard acceleration to reduce lift. The opposite on hard braking to reduce nose diving. Position sensors ( Potentiometers) provide inputs to module as to control arm height relative to chassis and adjusts dampening accordingly. If you have ride control that works it's worth keeping. If you need shocks your better to bypass and install conventional adjustable shocks. I have read conflicting information on if Bilstein will still rebuild them.
