Magneride limitation or problem

[redtrack]

I will give some context as I am trying to understand myself what exactly is happening. I noticed that at low speeds in very rare situations the magneride suspension reacts in a bit of a sloppy way.
Let’s take a relatively rough road. Most of the time all is good but sometimes you get the occasional thump in a bigger imperfection of the road and it is unpredictable. If I go over the same section of road again it will most likely not happen.
Now let’s take a smooth road but with a cresting section (basically road going up and then abruptly going down). Nothing dramatical that would cause a bottoming up. Very rarely the thump happens again.
Now let’s take a road with expansion joints. Again most of the time everything is cool but you get the random thump nevertheless.
Now an interesting one. It happened today and of course is not reproducible. Brake hard for a left turn, pavement is rough, make the turn, pavement rough again, speed is like 10mph or less (I am in a parking lot) and my front suspension (I assume) is going crazy and starts thumping multiple times - not correlated with pavement condition. I decide to stop and then everything stops and goes back to normal.

99.99% of the time I love the suspension on these cars but you get stuff like above. Is this something the design is prone to or something else is is going on?

FPA1974, have you found the cause of the problem?
I have a '18 GT, with the same problem and can't find much info about this, except this old post on the 350's.
I check all the suspension, and found nothing... also happens more offen in the mornings or after long hours without running. No malfunction lights on magneride.

Sponsored

 

[Niz55]

The noise is from the internal bump stops. Normal.

 

[fpa1974]

The noise is from the internal bump stops. Normal.

Yes, when it happens once, but mine could get itself in this mode where it would just loose its mind (the magneride computer I guess). In any case, what I noticed is that after I put the FP springs on, it did not happen again (loosing its mind that is). The shocks are still a bit noisy but that is ok.

 

[Stackinjack]

My experience with the Magneride so far has been not been good. I ordered my 2020 GT pp2 basically for the Magneride. I track my car a lot, not a daily driver. I found that on the track, the turn in was great but then in mid corner you would get a suspension shift that would really be concerning. So then I had the suspension checked and everything was tight. I then tried the next session in normal mode, problem gone. Except wow what a spongy turn in. Tried sport mode and problem came back, but not as pronounced. Installed DSC controller and had same feeling but maybe only about 30 percent. I believe it is definitely in the programming of the controller. Will talk to DSC tomorrow.

 

[redtrack]

I got tired of the noises and strange behaviors, so I converted to a regular PP1 suspension, with "minimal drop" springs from steeda.
Now I'm happy with it. I think, the program of the module it's not fully developed for all conditions. Xineering LLc sell the "similulators" so the computer keeps happy. @Stackinjack, for tracking I'll recomend some coil overs and forget about the magneride.

 

[Scoobs]

"
Now an interesting one. It happened today and of course is not reproducible. Brake hard for a left turn, pavement is rough, make the turn, pavement rough again, speed is like 10mph or less (I am in a parking lot) and my front suspension (I assume) is going crazy and starts thumping multiple times - not correlated with pavement condition. I decide to stop and then everything stops and goes back to normal."

I have experienced the exact same thing on slow speed turns over rough/bumpy surfaces, usually under 15 mph. I thought it was the magneride at first, then I realized that it was my right foot bumping on the accelerator due to the rough surface.

 

[shogun32]

I wonder if the potentiometers are cheap junk and are giving out 'skipping' or erratic readouts.

 

[JAJ]

My experience with the Magneride so far has been not been good. I ordered my 2020 GT pp2 basically for the Magneride. I track my car a lot, not a daily driver. I found that on the track, the turn in was great but then in mid corner you would get a suspension shift that would really be concerning. So then I had the suspension checked and everything was tight. I then tried the next session in normal mode, problem gone. Except wow what a spongy turn in. Tried sport mode and problem came back, but not as pronounced. Installed DSC controller and had same feeling but maybe only about 30 percent. I believe it is definitely in the programming of the controller. Will talk to DSC tomorrow.

I got tired of the noises and strange behaviors, so I converted to a regular PP1 suspension, with "minimal drop" springs from steeda.
Now I'm happy with it. I think, the program of the module it's not fully developed for all conditions. Xineering LLc sell the "similulators" so the computer keeps happy. @Stackinjack, for tracking I'll recomend some coil overs and forget about the magneride.

I can say with some certainty that the noise reported by the OP is not normal with Magneride. So, if any of the current crew on this thread have noises, something's broken - sway bar link, upper strut mount, brake caliper, whatever. The Magneride dampers have no moving parts related to Magneride - it's purely electrical. So, if it's making noise, something somewhere is actually broken.

As for Magneride in the GT, it's hard to offer any advice because everything I've worked on, and I've done a lot, was on my GT350 (which now has the R suspension under it). The Mustang GT is a Ford product and the Shelby's are a Ford Performance product, and each has its own engineering group and its own set of engineering goals and standards. For instance, FP engages pro race drivers like Billy Johnson to work with them to tune their products for track use. Ford doesn't - if they did we'd know all about it from the media group. While the regular Ford engineering team is talented and capable and has access to the results of all of FP's work, they're working on a different car that's being built to meet a different set of engineering and marketing goals. For instance, IIRC, the PP2 was introduced as a "canyon carving" machine. I'm sure it's excellent at that, but a canyon road is not a race track so setting up the suspension up to encourage drivers to drive well below the grip limit (usually done by making the car understeer) is a valid choice. I'm not saying that the GT Magneride isn't as highly engineered as the GT350 - it's just that the goals might be different.

 

[Vettel-ish]

Does it do it all the time? I find mine making a clunk but only every now and then, does not even have to be a rough road.

Sponsored