2020.32.x - Raven Suspension Tuning

[serendipitous]

Casual discussion thread here - I have no real data to offer.

Anyone have any observations yet on the new tuning and data readouts for the adaptive suspension that's available in the 2020.32.x software builds?

I just received .32.3 yesterday, and have only had a short opportunity to fiddle with it. Seems that changing the Handling slider adjusts the compression/rebound percentages, and that sliding all the way to the right is more firm than setting the suspension to Sport mode. I didn't notice it being substantially firmer though on the butt-meter. The Comfort slider doesn't appear to change any of the displayed values, so not sure what it's adjusting.

 

[artx55]

I just got it last night but like yourself, haven't had too much time to play with it. I watch this thread with interest.

 

[serendipitous]

Some corrections because my memory was off when I posted originally. The top setting is Ride Comfort, and Soft vs Firm seems to adjust the compression/rebound % (pre-load?). As I said, setting it to fully Firm doesn't seem any more firm or harsh than the "Sport" setting even though the % are higher.

The lower setting is Handling (Comfort vs Sport), and I didn't notice any changes to the data readouts. Maybe it's how quickly the suspension reacts to changing conditions/compression of the suspension.

I really need to find a good consistent road to test on - I know that Comfort vs Sport makes a huge difference in floaty/smooth vs harsh when cruising on pock-marked highways, but I wasn't able to recreate or learn much about these new settings in terms of turn-in or harshness/bounciness on two passes today. I made two sharp lane changes on an empty (but smooth) highway in fully Firm/Sport vs Soft/Comfort and didn't feel either was noticeably more crisp or bouncy.

Also curious what the suspension technology is. I've had vehicles with both magneto-rheological suspension ("real-time" viscosity adjustments of damping fluid dynamics via magnetic fields) and just plain old electronically adjustable shocks (like turning the adjuster knobs). It doesn't seem like the latter given how quickly the feel changes, but I thought the former was a proprietary GM/Bosch thing or whoever invented it for them.

Also still not clear what exactly the compression/rebound % and lines mean - I'm guessing the % of resistance applied over their range?

Anyway, just more alcohol-enhanced rambling and speculation here.

 

[cmarshack]

Compression relates to the compression damping (how much the shock slows the compressing of the suspension) and rebound relates to the rebound damping (how much the shock controls how fast the suspension returns from being compressed). The more compression damping, the harder the ride but more responsive the feel. Rebound damping is how the suspension slows the rebound of the spring, too slow and the car remains compressed in a bump and cannot extend the suspension to be ready for the next bump. When tuning suspension rebound should always be as fast as possible but as slow as necessary. Compression and Rebound work in concert with one another to create the ride characteristics you might be looking for.

 

[jebs2k]

good info, so it wouldn't make sense to put handling on firm with ride comfort on soft
lol

 

[serendipitous]

Compression relates to the compression damping (how much the shock slows the compressing of the suspension) and rebound relates to the rebound damping (how much the shock controls how fast the suspension returns from being compressed). The more compression damping, the harder the ride but more responsive the feel. Rebound damping is how the suspension slows the rebound of the spring, too slow and the car remains compressed in a bump and cannot extend the suspension to be ready for the next bump. When tuning suspension rebound should always be as fast as possible but as slow as necessary. Compression and Rebound work in concert with one another to create the ride characteristics you might be looking for.

I get the suspension dynamics, but I don't know how the car's various settings correspond to those or what the data readout means. For example, does Compression % refer to how much resistance is being applied in realtime to Compression? And how do the canned modes or the Handling and Comfort sliders impact those resistances to compression and rebound? Since it's adaptive, it doesn't seem as simple as saying that Sport = lots of compression and rebound resistance. There's some real-time adjustment that happens.

Pure speculation would be that the Ride Comfort slider adjusts the base values or ranges of adaptation in compression/rebound (Firm --> shift toward lots of resistance to compression, less resistance to rebound, and soft --> not as much resistance so the suspension is more compliant), and the Handling slider might adjust how quickly it allows itself to adjust (comfort --> adjusts quickly to smooth things out when substantial jerk is detected, sport --> keeps things in a tight range for more predictable handling in spite of jerk).

 

[DustinT]

I'm subscribing to this thread in the hopes that in time more information becomes available. I'd love to understand how this works.