Magnetorheological Damping - How long?

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mk1_salami

mk1_salami

After reading glowing reviews of how the MP4-12C rides over rough surfaces, yet remains taught enough on the race track, it got me wondering about the fancy dampers it uses and how long it'll be until the technology filters to the aftermarket community.

Making a car better at the track has, for years, meant cars have been too stiff to enjoy on a backroad blast. I'm at the point where I no longer enjoy throwing my car down a B road anymore, which is a real shame.

So - how long until a realistically priced aftermarket Magnetorheological damper system will become available for popular cars? How much would you consider paying for such a system?
 
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Well its already in many mainstream cars, LR, Audi and possibly BMW. Aftermarket though it gets far more complex as systems like the MP4-12C as these are computer controlled as well.
 
Audi and other manufacturers use this already in their sports and executive cars. I dont ever see it becoming mainstream though for a long time with companies such as Ford, Vauxhall etc because of the costs and complexity involved in the system.
 
Been around in the States for almost a decade - on fairly 'normal' cars too. Introduced on the Cadillac STS in 2002 then made its way onto the Corvette C5 in 2003. Turns up on a fair few GM vehicles.

So it's pretty mainstream anyway, in some respects.

Aftermarket systems? I'm not sure. Most systems are just four shocks, an ECU and some wiring - and companies like Delphi have already looked at supplying existing owners with 'retrofit' kits in order to convert their conventionally sprung cars, which were otherwise available with magnetic ride control.

The catch is that I'm not sure whether the manufacturers would consider taking the time to develop and release setups for cars that never had magnetic ride control in the first place - because it takes a lot of development to get proper damping curves and so on for the system to be effective. Probably not cost effective.

Aftermarket 'programmable' ECUs could be an option but I'm not sure if people would be able to get worthwhile results out of them.

The only other downside would be that many are integrated with stability and traction control systems too, so to implement a fully capable one is going to require considerable expenditure and effort - which the supplying companies may not see as being worthwhile.
 
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Do all the other systems dispense with anti roll bars as well though?

I suspect the systems will vary greatly and will be greatly dependant on the calibration.
 
By the end of this year - Koni, Tein and Ohlins already have them in testing.
 
Issue #160 of Evo had a page on mag' dampers.

Downsides they listed are price, weight and added complexity (example was £1175 and 20kg in weight to a TT). Also, MR dampers fail "off", so there needs to be enough damping in that state to control the car which reduces what you can do overall.
 
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