I took my 2011 Grand Sport into the dealer today.
Questioned the F55 suspension.
I can not feel any difference switching from touring mode to sport.
Can anyone tell me if you have F55 option in your Vette if you can feel any difference?
When I say any difference ....in sport mode the car should feel very stiff.
I had noticed this in driving another 2011 Vette with the F55 option.
The dealer said they could not find anything wrong. Best they can tell me is that it is able to switch from touring to sport ok.

 

I have a 2005 with the F55 option.

Around town I do not notice much of a difference (if any) in normal everyday driving.

On the highway, I noticed a difference with the ride being firmer all the time.

I have also added the Z51 sway bars and I noticed a chance in the shocks being a little more firmer all the time now. I just leave it in Touring all the time, as the shocks will go quite firm when needed but otherwise give a nice ride.

 

spoke with gm engineers at carlilse about f55 at great lengths

it is more gimick than substance

just like the z51 crossdrills rotors

 

While it's very obvious to many, there are some owners who have had trouble initially feeling the difference between Sport and Tour mode.

In my experience, the most noticeable results occur when driving on a freeway that has regularly spaced expansion strips that are almost jarring. But almost any, consistently rough road will do.

Once you are familiar with the suspension's 'feel', you'll appreciate the extra control afforded by the system in spirited/track driving through tight corners and undulating pavement.

IMHO it's the best street suspension on any car.

 

To me the change is less in harshness than it is in body roll. It's a night and day difference in roll control and squat/lift under accel and braking, and should be quite obvious.

 

2011 with F55. Not that noticeable in regular driving. Swing the car back and forth like running a slalom and the difference is huge. The faster you go, the more difference there is.

 

Hello, I have a 2011 GS F55. The suspension change is less harshness on rough roads and a bit less body roll and squat when rapidly accelerating. I usually leave the setting in the touring mode on rough roads.

 

FRANKGTB can you give me anymore info on what the engineers at Carlilse said about the F55 suspension?
I know the drilled rotors are more cosmetic than functional. But the F55 has no cosmetic appeal.

 

2011 GS here, I can notice a difference between the two. Like in previous posts, I notice it when driving on not so smooth surfaces and quick turns.

 

The diffrence is there! If I launch at the strip in Sport the car does not transfer weight as well as it does on tour. On bumpy back roads the car will hold the road better in Sport.

 

alittle cosmetic appeal i.e. switch with the "sport" setting make people think they are going faster

alot of marketing appeal i.e. same technology/shock as ferrari etc etc

alot of financial appeal i e much more expensive than conventional shocks

 

That's an interesting comment. Most people switch to Tour when on a rough road, but one of our club members is like you- he switches to Sport on rough roads because the car is better controlled.

As far as feeling the difference, my seat time in F55 cars is brief, and I haven't been able to do any rough road comparisons. But I've driven, literally, thousands of miles behind and in front of other club members with F55. When we go over sharp bumps like frost heaves or tar strips, the F55 (in tour) looks like it absorbs the bumps better. But if we go over a rolling type bump, the F55's go bounding down the road like a 1955 Buick with worn out shocks. Comfort can mean different things to different people.

 

I can see your point that the switch for the two setting maybe more "cosmetic" or for marketing appeal, but I cannot agree that the magnetic shocks themselves are a gimmick.

I have noticed a real difference in how the car responses to bumps. On one highway I drive on regularly there is a bad big dip. I've watched other cars traverse it and chuckled as they go boiuncy bouncy as after it. In my car there is exactly one rebound.......the shocks stiffen that quickly and effectively.

In aonther instance I was going around a corner with very very rough broken pavement that I should have crawled around. But I was trying to catch some other vettes I was traveling with. So I took the corner "at speed" fully expecting the car to go nuts and skate sideways. What happened was absolutely nothing........the body stayed compsoed, the car tracked perfectly around the corner and I was able to apply power coming off the apex. The wheels however were going nuts moving up and down very quickly but not transferring that motion to the body. The wheels were moving so violently that it actually broke the shaft on one of the suspension position sensors. I was extermemyl impressed. BTW, those sensores are NOT cheap.

Bottom line, F55 is not really felt in everyday "sedate" driving but when you really really push the car, it's WOW..........huge difference!

 

I switch to sport when I am pulling into a parking lot and have to go over speed bumps or over a gutter, and when I go back on the highway its easy to tell if I forgot to change it to touring or not.
Biggest difference for me is when in sport move the car follows the ruts in the road a lot more while in touring you hardly notice they are there.

 

ZR1- Standard equipment F55, cross-drilled rotors That speaks volumes. GIMMICK, I do not think so.
C5-JIM

 

I think there's a certain level of stiffness that works best with the Corvette. Before putting on Z51 sways, I had more impact harshness but less dartiness running in sport mode in bumpy corners. After the Z51 sways, it's much better on tour mode in bumpy corners. Sport mode is now too stiff and the impact harshness upsets rear grip too much if power is being put down.

 

 

It'll launch even better if you remove the front sway. Tour reacts slower than sport, allowing the front to lift and the rear to squat before the shocks slow the rate of movement.

 

Thank you to all of your answers.
I am coming to some conclusion that the F55 works somewhat differently in each Vette.
I have only driven the dealers last year and the one I own.
To me the difference is night and day with the dealers car and mine.
The dealers car on a smooth asphalt road at a moderate speed of around only 30 mph I could feel every little bump.
I was actually very concerned about the comfort level for how the car would ride until the dealer said to take it out of sport mode.
After that I thought for cruising which is what I do most of that the suspension softened up enough for that.
So now why would my Vette act so differently?
I have driven mine on a auto road coarse in sport mode with some very aggressive driving. And moved it from sport to tour. I sure can not feel any difference with it.

 

Perhaps yours is not changing modes with the switch?