Front Struts - What do These Numbers Mean

[Houston Kid]

I’ve been looking at CFTP springs and front struts. Do the numbers on the struts reflect different damping for the magneride?
OHM - magneride damping?
ANG - ???
My local dealership seems to be stumped.
The one missing some of the label is a base strut.
Looking the car up by VIN and part number they cannot find one they feel confident it’s the one I’m looking for.

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[Jmeo]

I’ve been looking at CFTP springs and front struts. Do the numbers on the struts reflect different damping for the magneride?
OHM - magneride damping?
ANG - ???
My local dealership seems to be stumped.
The one missing some of the label is a base strut.
Looking the car up by VIN and part number they cannot find one they feel confident it’s the one I’m looking for.

OHM is probably the Magnaride setting
ANG must be angle

 

[Epiphany]

What is interesting is that my Base numbers are different than yours. And my (earlier revision?) engineering number ends in AD and yours ends in AE...

ON EDIT:

I just got through to somebody at BWI Group in Kettering, Ohio. Nobody answers the phone at the number listed online so I had to do some sleuthing to get another number which led me to somebody at BWI's human resources department in Kettering. They are all working from their cell phone, remotely, so I was told there is likely nobody there to answer that particular phone. I was given a contact number for somebody who happens to currently be in Mexico at a plant they have down there so I tried contacting him. He doesn't answer his phone and his mailbox is full so I left a text message explaining what I was looking for. We'll see and I hope to get an informative response.

I'd also assume Billy could get an answer from any of the engineers he worked with on this program, that is, if they answer their phone either.

 

[Houston Kid]

What is interesting is that my Base numbers are different than yours. And my (earlier revision?) engineering number ends in AD and yours ends in AE...

ON EDIT:

I just got through to somebody at BWI Group in Kettering, Ohio. Nobody answers the phone at the number listed online so I had to do some sleuthing to get another number which led me to somebody at BWI's human resources department in Kettering. They are all working from their cell phone, remotely, so I was told there is likely nobody there to answer that particular phone. I was given a contact number for somebody who happens to currently be in Mexico at a plant they have down there so I tried contacting him. He doesn't answer his phone and his mailbox is full so I left a text message explaining what I was looking for. We'll see and I hope to get an informative response.

I'd also assume Billy could get an answer from any of the engineers he worked with on this program, that is, if they answer their phone either.

I appreciate the effort. It would be nice to know why the numbers are different and if it makes a difference in application.

 

[Houston Kid]

I need to look at the other side and see what it says. The base one in the pic is passenger side.

 

[Epiphany]

Neither side gives you an explanation.

 

[Houston Kid]

I’m not sure how but the dealership said they finally were able to determine the difference between my base shock and others. They said if I need a base shock there is one in Washington that has the exact same specs. Again, no explanation as to how they know. They were unsure on a CFTP strut but they advised the base CPU would not jive with the CFTP tunning.
????

 

[Jmeo]

I’m not sure how but the dealership said they finally were able to determine the difference between my base shock and others. They said if I need a base shock there is one in Washington that has the exact same specs. Again, no explanation as to how they know. They were unsure on a CFTP strut but they advised the base CPU would not jive with the CFTP tunning.
????

This is true, the base and CFTP have a different suspension calibration.

 

[Snoopy49]

Check with the service department at your dealer and have them give you a copy of the VIN Information.
Here is a copy of mine.

 

[Epiphany]

BWI got back to me regarding the data on the mag dampers...

 

[Houston Kid]

BWI got back to me regarding the data on the mag dampers...

My dealership arrived at the same conclusion. Those are manufacturing specs and have nothing to do with the performance of the shock itself.

 

[Epiphany]

I inquired with BWI as to whether or not the "slot gap" is different on the CFTP vs the Base dampers such as it is between the GT350 and the GT350R.

 

[Epiphany]

I'm lucky to have been put in touch with THE gentleman that has handled calibrating the mag dampers for the GT350's and now the GT500. So I'm trying to be careful here in sharing some of what should be considered general information. I think it is important as this is the type of thing we don't get to hear about in detail from Ford - but we should! Anyway, some damper data to chew on...

...you are a gentleman and I thank you very much for that. If I may, one more... The CFTP GT500 and the Base GT500 use a different part number for the mag dampers. Is it true that the slot gap, or internal orifices, are smaller on the CFTP car's dampers to better work with the vehicle dynamics module calibration?

The response...

"My pleasure... In all things related to suspension tuning, details matter. The damper "gap" - the flow area where the magneto-rheological effect takes place within the damper piston - was picked for both the CFTP and base GT500 by the Ford Performance Vehicle Dynamics Engineer to hit his desired performance targets. My memory of why certain gaps were picked is hazy, but I would guess that the CFTP gap is slightly smaller, generally resulting in higher maximum damping potential (good for smooth track usage) but also slightly increasing the minimum possible damping loads. On top of the physical damper gap change, we have calibrations... and this is where we have almost infinite ability for change: each drive mode has ~2000 separately tunable calibrations. Certainly, all ~2000 are not different from one another through all the modes - in many places we have values that are the same from mode to mode. Here's the "really great but crazy" thing: a change in even 1 of these ~2000 calibrations can sometimes make a very noticeable difference. (This is somewhat analogous to changes that we make in damper valving, where changing the thickness of a single disk in a stack of 10 disks by one step can make a noticeable difference.) The damper gap and the calibrations are a matched set, developed over a relatively long period of time on different road surfaces and evaluated by several knowledgeable people who balance performance, durability, and other factors to arrive at the best overall solution. Sorry for the long answer, but even this only scratches the surface on the tunability of MagneRide. More information may be found at MagneRide.com. Finally, I might mention that I speak from experience, having tuned the GT350, GT350R, and GT500 with FP V-Dyn engineers.

Best regards..."

 

[Houston Kid]

I'm lucky to have been put in touch with THE gentleman that has handled calibrating the mag dampers for the GT350's and now the GT500. So I'm trying to be careful here in sharing some of what should be considered general information. I think it is important as this is the type of thing we don't get to hear about in detail from Ford - but we should! Anyway, some damper data to chew on...



The response...

"My pleasure... In all things related to suspension tuning, details matter. The damper "gap" - the flow area where the magneto-rheological effect takes place within the damper piston - was picked for both the CFTP and base GT500 by the Ford Performance Vehicle Dynamics Engineer to hit his desired performance targets. My memory of why certain gaps were picked is hazy, but I would guess that the CFTP gap is slightly smaller, generally resulting in higher maximum damping potential (good for smooth track usage) but also slightly increasing the minimum possible damping loads. On top of the physical damper gap change, we have calibrations... and this is where we have almost infinite ability for change: each drive mode has ~2000 separately tunable calibrations. Certainly, all ~2000 are not different from one another through all the modes - in many places we have values that are the same from mode to mode. Here's the "really great but crazy" thing: a change in even 1 of these ~2000 calibrations can sometimes make a very noticeable difference. (This is somewhat analogous to changes that we make in damper valving, where changing the thickness of a single disk in a stack of 10 disks by one step can make a noticeable difference.) The damper gap and the calibrations are a matched set, developed over a relatively long period of time on different road surfaces and evaluated by several knowledgeable people who balance performance, durability, and other factors to arrive at the best overall solution. Sorry for the long answer, but even this only scratches the surface on the tunability of MagneRide. More information may be found at MagneRide.com. Finally, I might mention that I speak from experience, having tuned the GT350, GT350R, and GT500 with FP V-Dyn engineers.

Best regards..."

Wow. Once again you got to the bottom of it and got some answers I was not expecting.

Thanks.

 

[kilobravo]

Amazing, Tob, but honestly, the fact that you were able to contact one of THE people in the know is even MORE amazing. Well, maybe not for you but for most of us. <smiling>

Well done, amigo.

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