[Electric]

I have a 5th gen 1LE and thinking of upgrading. Have a few questions for those of you who have experience with mag ride control on the race track or autocross.

1. How consistent does mag ride work in the real world? I understand that, in theory, dynamically adjusting shock stiffens can make a huge performance improvement, however it would be rather disconcerting if the computer were to decide to adjust the stiffness differently in otherwise similar situations. Do such inconsistencies ever happen? Does the car always behave as expected, at different temperature or road/track conditions?

2. Can I completely disable traction/stability control while keeping mag ride on?

3. Does mag ride in itself feel like a nanny in any way?

4. Does mag ride feel artificial? In other worlds, do you feel that a computer is helping you drive the car?

5. Are there any delays between driver inputs and mag ride adjusting shocks?

6. If I were to completely disable mag ride, how bad would the car handle. Will the car feel bouncy?

7. Is there anything imperfect about mag ride. (Sorry not trying to troll, just want to understand it as good as possible before making a financial commitment.)

Thanks in advance!

[Provoste]

Originally Posted by Electric

I have a 5th gen 1LE and thinking of upgrading. Have a few questions for those of you who have experience with mag ride control on the race track or autocross.

1. How consistent does mag ride work in the real world? I understand that, in theory, dynamically adjusting shock stiffens can make a huge performance improvement, however it would be rather disconcerting if the computer were to decide to adjust the stiffness differently in otherwise similar situations. Do such inconsistencies ever happen? Does the car always behave as expected, at different temperature or road/track conditions?

2. Can I completely disable traction/stability control while keeping mag ride on?

3. Does mag ride in itself feel like a nanny in any way?

4. Does mag ride feel artificial? In other worlds, do you feel that a computer is helping you drive the car?

5. Are there any delays between driver inputs and mag ride adjusting shocks?

6. If I were to completely disable mag ride, how bad would the car handle. Will the car feel bouncy?

7. Is there anything imperfect about mag ride. (Sorry not trying to troll, just want to understand it as good as possible before making a financial commitment.)

Thanks in advance!

1. Yes, never feels artificial... car always is composed with stunning body control. You never "catch" the car sleeping.
2. Yes, the dampers don't have any other way of functioning.
3. No, never. I drive with everything off. Mag ride and e-diff always working their magic.
4. No
5. No
6. You can't and shouldn't... that would be like draining all the nitrogen from a nitrogen shock, that's the only way it works eh.
7. NO. Go buy this months Car and Driver, it has an in depth article articulating the differences between electronic, magnetic, spool valve, etc shocks.

[pbsinternet1le]

What he said...x2

[thescreensavers]

They are really well done, no negatives to report at all.

[TJay74]

I have almost 3k miles on my 17 1LE, I have yet to find anything negative on the MRC shock system or the eLSD diff. Everything works perfectly every time.

[Electric]

That's good to hear. Thanks for the replies everyone!

[Ryephile]

There aren't many damper brands I haven't owned. Ohlins, Penske, Nitron, Koni, Bilstein, KW, blah blah blah the list goes on. If you haven't noticed, a bunch of us here in the 1LE section are rather seasoned old hats to the track scene, many of us transplants from other marques. As a group it's fair to say we're surprisingly experienced.

These MRC's in the 1LE are the real deal. The Penske's I have in my Miata are a distant 2nd; and at the time I thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. How quickly the bar got shoved upward. With the MRC's I cruise to the track in comfort, then fiddle the switch and bang out legitimately quick laps with incredible confidence and precision, and then put it back into Touring and cruise back home. They always work exactly as you want and hope, there's no second guessing. It's witchcraft.

[TrackClub]

GM invented the technology quite a while ago and at one point even licensed it to Ferrari. The patent expired recently that's why you see GT350s with magnetic shocks, but clearly GM has pretty much perfected it and continues to do it.
This tech only controls bump and re-bound functions of the shocks and has little to do with Performance Traction/Stability control, which some refer to as "nannies".

[mjk3888]

Originally Posted by Provoste

1. Yes, never feels artificial... car always is composed with stunning body control. You never "catch" the car sleeping.
2. Yes, the dampers don't have any other way of functioning.
3. No, never. I drive with everything off. Mag ride and e-diff always working their magic.
4. No
5. No
6. You can't and shouldn't... that would be like draining all the nitrogen from a nitrogen shock, that's the only way it works eh.
7. NO. Go buy this months Car and Driver, it has an in depth article articulating the differences between electronic, magnetic, spool valve, etc shocks.

I agree 100% with Provoste! I know for a fact he is a better driver than me (just watch his videos) so its nice to hear all my opinions confirmed by someone who pushes the car to its limits.

[Vintage]

Provoste is the track king!

[Th3Beast]

Originally Posted by Provoste

1. Yes, never feels artificial... car always is composed with stunning body control. You never "catch" the car sleeping.
2. Yes, the dampers don't have any other way of functioning.
3. No, never. I drive with everything off. Mag ride and e-diff always working their magic.
4. No
5. No
6. You can't and shouldn't... that would be like draining all the nitrogen from a nitrogen shock, that's the only way it works eh.
7. NO. Go buy this months Car and Driver, it has an in depth article articulating the differences between electronic, magnetic, spool valve, etc shocks.

Also agree 100%. The MRC dampers make the Bilstein B8 dampers I've had in the past feel like cheap $40 Gabriel's from Autozone. The MRC dampers are making adjustments every millisecond (according to a Motor Trend article from a few years ago). Can't really get any better than that from a production car.

[Electric]

Thanks for the confirmation again. Since the Motor Trend says it's good, and everyone here says their are good, they must be indeed good.