edchung2000

It has been written that the new Control Blade suspension allows separate tuning of ride and handling, ie there needs to be no sacrifice of either.

Why then, have we still got the "normal" suspension and the "sports" one? You could have both a plush ride and sports handling across the range.

I doubt the extra cost of the sports suspension is due to extra time and effort required for tuning....

Any thoughts?

T3man

Well the tuning is probably only within a range of settings according to the chosen spring rates. So you can have std springs which are very comfortable but offer a degree of sportiness. Or you can have sports springs which are not uncomfortable although not as smooth as the std ones. My interpretation.

2002 s3 xr8

I sometimes wonder what the real cost difference is. It couldn't be much. Simular amounts of nuts, bolts, rubber, steel etc

colcol

There has to become a point when one (handling vs ride) contradicts the other, hence the need for a different starting preference or bias.

I would say each version would be set up with different scope limitations e.g. you can tune the 'normal' IRS to a sport-style ride or a very soft one and alternatively you can tune the 'sports' IRS to a very firm performance ride or a reasonable comfortable one for a sports sedan that is.

Confused?. I am..lol

__________________
Bring on FPV

Swampy

My guess is you are probably paying the extra for better technology and development costs.

Take two computors for example, one can significantly out perform the other but if you break either computor down to there base elements they both only contain about $0.45c worth of plastic.

Swampy

edchung2000

It probably is just another excuse for Ford to charge more; in the form of another options box to tick.

colcol

Sounds like good business to me and if it wasn't for good business by ford or any other maker we would'nt have these cars to talk about.

__________________
Bring on FPV

max_torque

The sports irs possibly has better shock absorbers in it, maybe a sway-bar? It would be nice if it has adjustable spring seats to modify the ride height and spring preload but that is probably too much to ask.

__________________
Ford to Victory!

ianmcginley

Personally, I see it like this:

Firm Sports Ride -------------Medium-------------Comfy Limo Ride

Basically the more sporty the ride the less limo like it gets - handling changes.

I guess by them saying that control blade has a wider range of settings means that the above is for Control Blade IRS, and below is for the AU IRS:

FSR-----MED----CLR

__________________
Falcon Killer (if you believe what Ford Service Departments have to say about me)
AU II XR6 - October 2001 ~ December 2002 - RIP
BA XR6 - December 2002 ~ Soon to disappear if Ford CRC can't fix it....

45,000km service coming up - and i'll be asking for a sizable list of fixes:
* Gearbox (3rd time)
* Steering click (5th time)
* Brake Shudder (2nd time, and has the applied "Fix")
* etc...