Mag Ride vs. No Mag Ride

[Sid]

I know this topic has probably been mentioned in the past, but for those with Mag Ride option, would you recommend to someone who is not looking for the smoothest of rides? I honestly like to feel the "raw" feeling of a car in corners, just concerned the Mag Ride may provide a loss of connectivity to the road. Maybe I'm wrong... Wanted to get some real feedback from owner's if anyone is willing to share.
Thanks,
Sid

 

[DenisC8]

Mag ride is the best ride for every situation

 

[Sid]

It sounds like Heaven!? lol. If you push it hard into corners, is the feeling still natural? Do you have the option to turn it down or off, if you chose a particular setting?

 

[DenisC8]

It sounds like Heaven!? lol. If you push it hard into corners, is the feeling still natural? Do you have the option to turn it down or off, if you chose a particular setting?

Yes it’s adjustable in my mode and Z mode and it has presets on tour, sport and track modes

 

[scraze66]

I thought Z51 came with mag ride but it didn’t. The ride was still fantastic with the factory wheel and tire setup.

 

[KTJF]

Like Denis said; it’s fantastic. Definitely transmits a lot of feedback and it’s adjustable so if you like it firm you can set it to be firm the whole time.

What I like best is the versatility.

 

[Murray20c8]

... or, like I've said in the past, "You don't miss what you never had".
I love the non Z51. Would I have gotten mag ride if I could? maybe. My budget was tight and 2020's were forced to a Z51 if they wanted it.

 

[Roughrider]

I really like mine, it's a different ride compared to my C7 that seemed like a very harsh ride in comparison that also had it!

 

[harshadt]

I know this topic has probably been mentioned in the past, but for those with Mag Ride option, would you recommend to someone who is not looking for the smoothest of rides? I honestly like to feel the "raw" feeling of a car in corners, just concerned the Mag Ride may provide a loss of connectivity to the road. Maybe I'm wrong... Wanted to get some real feedback from owner's if anyone is willing to share.
Thanks,
Sid

All depends what you mean by “raw feeling “. If it’s road rash then you need a bike lol. But in all seriousness, I enjoy the mag ride- I drive long distances (over 1000km at a time) and the comfort is amazing, better than my Benz. But in more spirt settings it is very planted let’s you feel the road without the rash. I haven’t driven nonmag so can’t give you a comparison.

 

[HZOR]

I have a Z51 magride. It is very comfortable on street and very compliant in corners. I drove a Z51 at Spring Mountain on a race track and AFAIK they are also with magride. I drove close to max of my capabilities and the feeling of the car was simply phenomenal. Very precise steering. You can easily feel if you made a mistake and did not put enough weight on the font tires and understeer on corner entry. When you get it right you are rewarded with nice >1g lateral forces and gratification from hitting the apexes exactly where you wanted them and then confident acceleration on the exit. Never felt so at one with a car previously.

To give you some sense of where my baseline comes from: I owned bmw 3 series, an x5, a kia stinger (little known very nice gt car). Nothing comes close to the balance of comfort and handling my C8 has.
The only thing that gives me a better cornering feeling is a race kart, but that’s not really a car you can drive on street.

 

[meyerweb]

It actually can greatly improve contact with the road and feedback. In addition to letting you adjust for a firmer or softer ride, MSRC in any mode can adjust rebound and compressions damping up to 10 times per second, and individually for each corner. On less than smooth surfaces, it does a much better job of keeping the tires in contact with the asphalt, which improves cornering, braking and steering feedback.

You can't turn it off, and you won't want to.

I wouldn't buy another Corvette without it.

 

[Mr.Corvette]

Compared to previous magnetic ride control systems developed initially in 1995, Magnetic Ride 4.0 is a revolution and completely changes how the Corvette utilizes the adaptive suspension technology.
Two changes that happened with 4.0 is they went away from position sensors at each corner that calculate roll and pitch, to an accelerometer on the knuckle at each corner. You get immediate feedback as soon as the knuckle starts to move. An accelerometer measures changes in velocity along one axis. This gives more accuracy and more exact control for the suspension calibration with a lot more precision.
Another upgrade to the precision with the MR 4.0 is the addition of an IMU or Inertial Motion Unit that measures the exact heave, roll and pitch signals versus calculated ones. These better signals allow for better tuning of the suspension. All this happens within the MR controller.
Magnetic Ride Control unlike other fixed solutions deliver incredible control at high speeds and cornering forces. All of the rebound and compression ratios through all of the velocity ranges are all tunable and that is where you get the rolling plushness that really stands out in the FE2 and FE4 suspensions regardless if you have the Z51 or not.
Benefits:

• No mechanical wear and tear
• Accurate and precise in assessing road conditions and using the magnetic power to vary the viscosity of fluid
• Low-velocity damping control on small bumps, dips or rollers
• Similarly, high-velocity damping control can assist on tough terrains
• Determines the force required at a certain velocity to adjust the fluid viscosity and draw the force-velocity graph

Apart from these benefits, the Magnetic Ride Control system detects the driving and road conditions 1000 times each second. That said, this suspension system can adjust in milliseconds and provide a better ride quality than the normal suspension system.
Sid, these are some of my notes from the launch of the C8 and the vehicle dynamic engineers comments. Still priced the same as it was when launched in 2020, in 2023 40.7% of C8 owners selected Magnetic Ride Control and it is included in every Z06 built for a reason.

 

[Murray20c8]

Compared to previous magnetic ride control systems developed initially in 1995, Magnetic Ride 4.0 is a revolution and completely changes how the Corvette utilizes the adaptive suspension technology.
Two changes that happened with 4.0 is they went away from position sensors at each corner that calculate roll and pitch, to an accelerometer on the knuckle at each corner. You get immediate feedback as soon as the knuckle starts to move. An accelerometer measures changes in velocity along one axis. This gives more accuracy and more exact control for the suspension calibration with a lot more precision.
Another upgrade to the precision with the MR 4.0 is the addition of an IMU or Inertial Motion Unit that measures the exact heave, roll and pitch signals versus calculated ones. These better signals allow for better tuning of the suspension. All this happens within the MR controller.
Magnetic Ride Control unlike other fixed solutions deliver incredible control at high speeds and cornering forces. All of the rebound and compression ratios through all of the velocity ranges are all tunable and that is where you get the rolling plushness that really stands out in the FE2 and FE4 suspensions regardless if you have the Z51 or not.
Benefits:

• No mechanical wear and tear
• Accurate and precise in assessing road conditions and using the magnetic power to vary the viscosity of fluid
• Low-velocity damping control on small bumps, dips or rollers
• Similarly, high-velocity damping control can assist on tough terrains
• Determines the force required at a certain velocity to adjust the fluid viscosity and draw the force-velocity graph

Apart from these benefits, the Magnetic Ride Control system detects the driving and road conditions 1000 times each second. That said, this suspension system can adjust in milliseconds and provide a better ride quality than the normal suspension system.
Sid, these are some of my notes from the launch of the C8 and the vehicle dynamic engineers comments. Still priced the same as it was when launched in 2020, in 2023 40.7% of C8 owners selected Magnetic Ride Control and it is included in every Z06 built for a reason.

As Jack would say ...
Coles notes version.
If you don't get it you won't miss it.
If you do get it you'll be glad you did.

 

[DavidWG]

Compared to previous magnetic ride control systems developed initially in 1995, Magnetic Ride 4.0 is a revolution and completely changes how the Corvette utilizes the adaptive suspension technology.
Two changes that happened with 4.0 is they went away from position sensors at each corner that calculate roll and pitch, to an accelerometer on the knuckle at each corner. You get immediate feedback as soon as the knuckle starts to move. An accelerometer measures changes in velocity along one axis. This gives more accuracy and more exact control for the suspension calibration with a lot more precision.
Another upgrade to the precision with the MR 4.0 is the addition of an IMU or Inertial Motion Unit that measures the exact heave, roll and pitch signals versus calculated ones. These better signals allow for better tuning of the suspension. All this happens within the MR controller.
Magnetic Ride Control unlike other fixed solutions deliver incredible control at high speeds and cornering forces. All of the rebound and compression ratios through all of the velocity ranges are all tunable and that is where you get the rolling plushness that really stands out in the FE2 and FE4 suspensions regardless if you have the Z51 or not.
Benefits:

• No mechanical wear and tear
• Accurate and precise in assessing road conditions and using the magnetic power to vary the viscosity of fluid
• Low-velocity damping control on small bumps, dips or rollers
• Similarly, high-velocity damping control can assist on tough terrains
• Determines the force required at a certain velocity to adjust the fluid viscosity and draw the force-velocity graph

Apart from these benefits, the Magnetic Ride Control system detects the driving and road conditions 1000 times each second. That said, this suspension system can adjust in milliseconds and provide a better ride quality than the normal suspension system.
Sid, these are some of my notes from the launch of the C8 and the vehicle dynamic engineers comments. Still priced the same as it was when launched in 2020, in 2023 40.7% of C8 owners selected Magnetic Ride Control and it is included in every Z06 built for a reason.

Best explanation of this feature I have seen anywhere. Thanks Scott for taking the time to write it all out. From my own experience I would not have a Corvette without it even if I had to delay my order.

 

[Mr.Corvette]

As Jack would say ...
Coles notes version.
If you don't get it you won't miss it.
If you do get it you'll be glad you did.

Murray, yes I did cut the information down as there is a lot more to my notes about how the system improves the performance and handling of the car. For those that want the best they order it along with Z51 and see how it interacts with the B4Z Performance Traction Management. There's a reason why every one of the 200 Stingrays at Ron Fellows is equipped with it along with the Performance options that comes with the Z51, because it improves performance driving and helps them with the resale value of the vehicle! It makes a noticeable difference in the car which is immediately felt. Even in a driving Miss Daisy scenario, she would appreciate the improved ride with the system. Like others have said on here, for those that get it, they won't buy another one without it and the bonus is, it hasn't gone up a dime to order in 5 years!

 

[Mr.Corvette]

Best explanation of this feature I have seen anywhere. Thanks Scott for taking the time to write it all out. From my own experience I would not have a Corvette without it even if I had to delay my order.

Thanks Dave, neither would I and to be honest with you speaking to the engineers or reading what they write about it helps one truly understand the benefits of the system. If it was 20K unless you were at the track every weekend it would be a hard no for 99% but for 2k it's a no brainer IMO. That's another one of the benefits of going to Ron Fellows to try these systems out and get an understanding of how they work. I read another report from a guy that finished his school yesterday and he owns a Stingray and a Z06. I have put it out there for a CCF group to go but only got one response.

 

[Murray20c8]

There's a reason why every one of the 200 Stingrays at Ron Fellows is equipped with it along with the Performance options that comes with the Z51,

Ya, because he can afford it.

Even in a driving Miss Daisy scenario, she would appreciate the improved ride with the system.!

If only she could afford it.

I don't got it, never had it, don't miss it.

 

[Sid]

A big thank you to everyone in this thread, and a big thanks to Scott for going into that level of detail on the MR 4.0. Adding this option to my 2024 build is a no brainer at this point. The response from the community here has been fantastic, I really appreciate the feedback from real owners who drive and love these cars.

 

[Mr.Corvette]

Ya, because he can afford it.

No, because it makes a difference in the performance of the car.

If only she could afford it.

The option is extremely affordable and the investment is recovered at resale.

I don't got it, never had it, don't miss it.

Maybe next time Mur! lol

 

[Murray20c8]

No, because it makes a difference in the performance of the car.

The option is extremely affordable and the investment is recovered at resale.

Maybe next time Mur! lol

I totally disagree with you. Not that it's not great, but it's value to me and others. It's a no brainer to me. It's not worth the cost for my pleasure car.
Why do some race cars have ABS and some don't? Because it's a different kind of car with and without. It's a different racing experience.