Sport suspension setting

I think in 95 light off was sport mode, and in 96-99 it was the opposite. My 95 is light off for sport.

Glad you like the car! Would love to hear your impression of the different cars.

 

Is your light either of the ones marked 1 and 2 below?

In my 98 F1, the light marked "sport" (number 1) is on when in sport mode.

The other light (number 2) is a failure warning light.
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been asked hundreds of times - conclusion is no one really knows despite what the owners manuals say - I cant feel a different in either setting

 

It's called the placebo button.

 

haha - that answer shld be made into a sticky! well done

 

That's because the settings will adapt to how you are driving the car regardless of what mode you have selected.

In other words, if you are driving aggressively in comfort mode everything will firm up anyway, so if you then select sport you probably won't notice any significant difference.

 

Pre 98 have a picture of a shock that lights up. When it's lit it is comfort mode. 98+ have the word sport. When it is lit it is obviously sport mode.

 

You have to love Italian sports machines.
They do this surely to confuse us all.

 

I can't tell the difference in ride when using SPORT mode. I don't get the shock absorber warning light, so I'm assuming they still work.

The car handles well and feels nimble, but the ride is super soft by sports car standards. SPORT mode or not!

 

I can feel the difference in suspension somewhat when I'm in sport mode on my '98... but it's *very* clear that you're in sport mode with the F1 shifting. Redline shifts in sport mode kick so hard it'll throw your head back and blur your vision. So for the F1s out there, it's definitely not a placebo button.

 

Agreed.

The car is definitely firmer, but there's not a lot in it.

 

I remember reading a while back a post from someone knowledgable that the switch only affects the shocks rebound, and not the initial impact from a bump. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Sorry I don't know the right terms.

 

I've never heard of this... Can anyone confirm?

 

I brought this up a few months back and we got a good answer from rifledriver.

Having owned both a 99 f1 and a 95 gts, the switches do different things as noted in this thread (opposites).

I still think it makes a difference in the turn in feel and many people who have driven both of my cars have complemented the difference between both modes, so I doubt it is placebo.

Either way the car is fun, sport mode just makes it raw (much more pronouced on the f1 because of the neck snapping shifts) cost me a motor mount back in the day. lol

 

I have heard of this characteristic in this section, but not sure how the shock sensors work and don't have a link.

When I was less young and stupid I had a 1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that had adjustable suspension, and in soft mode if you hit the gas hard, hit the brakes hard, hit the gas hard, or whacked on the suspension the shocks would instantly stiffen up, VERY noticeable. For a big American GT car with a tiny 2.3l 4-cyl turbo motor it was actually pretty quick back in the good old days. Bought it from my best friend who is now gone sadly.

I was wrong earlier about the years of light on/light off production, someone else posted the correct years above.

 

A mechanic explained to me once that if you accelerate and brake rapidly the ECU will firm everything up regardless of the switch position. The owners manual doesn't do a great job of explaining it (of course) but here's a little bit about it. There is more in other sections of the manual.
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i cant either...I call the suspension light (#2 in diagram ) the mach 5 light...looks like speed racer is about to launch...only cam on when I hit the key to many times without driving it...havent seen it since

 

I'd like to revise my previous statement...
Initially after buying the car (almost 2 years ago) I kept it in comfort mode 24/7. I would put it into sport here and there, but mostly wanted to get a feel for the car (my first non-AWD in 15 years) before getting "rampante" with it.
Recently I've been driving in sport mode 24/7. We just did our annual chapter drive of around 400 miles, so I was in the car a significant amount of time in sport mode.
Today I went for a quick ride and put it in comfort mode. Wow. I guess I've really gotten used to it in sport mode, as turns that I take every day which normally feel tight and responsive suddenly felt mushy with much understeer.
So yeah, I can *definitely* feel the difference in both shifting and suspension between the two modes.

 

my 96 has the light on in comfort mode. I can definetly tell a difference between sport and comfort.

 

I too can feel the difference between both.

Many believe the dampers to be "active dampening," where damper settings are adjusted on the fly to the current road condition. The 355 suspension in reality is "adaptive dampening," where the ecu absorbs a sample of the road condition AND THEN adjusts its settings and assumes the road will be continue to be this way. In other words, the dampening adjustment response is lagged a bit and not always accurate as it is using past road information to guess future road condition. It's like driving a car down a winding road in reverse trying to gauge what the road will be like based on what you see right now.