Quote:
Originally Posted by FlukeSS
On MRC cars though Sport, Track and Touring are vastly different as they do involve suspension changes. I think in general, Track has a harder suspension setting since turning performance is more involved. Sport is more of an in between Track and Touring, where little bit light on suspension but stiffer than touring which is more for normal driving and better mpg.
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I find that MRC is one of the more difficult things really wrap one's head around.
There are two main components to the suspension at each corner - a spring and a shock [absorber]. The spring will impact how much force is required to cause it to compress / how much force it expands with while the shock controls how quickly that compression / expansion actually occurs. The way that a shock does this is predominantly through forcing a viscous liquid through baffles inside of the shock.
You can think of the baffles sort of like a colander (strainer) with holes in it. In a non-MRC car, you get plain old shock fluid. In an MRC car, however, the viscosity of the fluid is influenced through electric charge which create a magnetic field inside of the shock. Different charges and magnetic fields result in 'effectively' different viscosities within the same fluid.
Tour is like pouring water through your colander - it's the least viscous and can move the most easily from one side of the shock to the other. Sport is more like pancake batter - it's thicker and will take more pressure / impact to force it through the holes. Track is like molasses in the winter - it will go through the holes but not without a LOT of pressure to do so.
How easily and quickly the fluid can move from one side of the baffle to the other is what determines the damping rate and the overall "feel" on the road. Tour is going feel softer because it can much more easily absorb minor bumps and such on the roadway. Track transfers the feeling of variances in the roadway to the driver more simply because the suspension absorbs much less of it.