I'm looking at a '98 C5 that is equipped with the "Electronic Damping Suspension Control" ... is this different than the Z51 suspension? What exactly is "electronic damping suspension control" ??

Thanks

 

Yes, the F45 and Z51 suspension systems are different. Here's an article that may help understand the differences in suspension systems ....

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...s+the+50th+Car

Some argue that the F45 system was very good ... others argue it is worthless.

Drive the car ..... you will find that a Corvette suspension system is VERY sophisticated .... if it feels good to you .... buy it.

If you hate the feel .... go buy a Corvette with a different system ...... or a Lexus ....

 

You will want to make sure the shocks are functioning on a F45 system that is 10 years old. If the shocks need replacing they are $500 each and cannot be rebuilt.

My shocks died completely at just 100K miles but had been degrading in performance for some time before that. I was luck and was able to purchase some low milage take-off from this forum.

If I was going to keep the car. The next set of shocks would have been a nice set of Pfadt Coilovers and eliminating the F45.

 

My corvette had the F45 shocks and although it worked well I couldn't see spending2k for replacement shocks at 50k miles. I went with c6z06 shocks and the car handles much better. Waste of money in my opinion to seek out a car with F45 I recommend avoiding this system completely

 

I have the F45 RTDS on my 2002 convertible, and a friend who is an ER doc has the system on his 1999 coupe. The option is nice if you go in for heavily optioned cars. It also has some merit if, like me, you have a wife/significant other who likes a smoother ride.

The system has three settings. The first is fairly comparable to my wife's Grand Prix - good, competent road feel, but doesn't beat you up. The second is firmer, and gives you more feedback. Good on a decent surface where you're moving along sharply.

The third setting is what I refer to as "how good is your dental work?" On a road with many surface flaws at all, well, it tries to loosen your fillings. I like this setting ("PERF") on good mountain roads, where I want as much feedback and as flat a profile as possible. But on aging secondary roads, it can be a bit too much.

As said, try it. I wouldn't go looking for it, but don't hate it. My car is low mileage, but closing on seven years old, and working fine. The Good Doctor's car is nearly ten years old, and has a few more miles (in the 60k-70k range, I think), and is also working fine.

Some things just work, while others of their kind fail early. My daughter's elderly Saab still has the (22 year old) original struts, and rides like it did in 1988 when we bought the car, used, with 15k miles on it. The shocks on my SUV aren't old at all, and feel terrible.

But F45 adds a level of complexity, and I'm not sure it can be programmed out of the 1998 as it can the later cars, so you might be stuck with fixing it.

Still, changing the ride feel from the driver's seat is sort of cool