One of he topics that never seems to be deeply discussed anywhere is the technology/functionality behind the active damping on the 355. I've searched and very little of sustance seems to comes up. Possibly this is because the system appears to be quite reliable (with the notable exception of the motorised actuators on top of the damper struts). So my questions are: How fast does the system respond, what is the capability of the system to react? Can the system learn and modify settings depending on driving style? Does anybody on the board actually know? In the WSM I see that the suspension control system has accellerometers to detect pitch/yaw/roll and speed sensor etc. & IIRC theres even a brake fluid pressure sensor. The car has an ECU to process the data and adjust the damping but how fast does it all work? This question is prompted by two things; on Sunday I drove my 355 for the first time in 4 months. For the first 15 mins the car felt super-fidgety to the point where I stopped and checked my tyre pressures. After a while the car settled down. Is this just me readjusting? Maybe the tyres needed a few miles to buff them clean? But I'm wondering if the suspension ECU could be relearning perameters in the same way the engine ECU does? The second reason is that I am unable to detect any difference in suspension setting when the "comfort" switch is on (I know it changes the shift time on the F1 trans). So I ask myself how much influence the active damping really has? Anyway, would appreciate the thoughts of the board???
My 2cents for what it's worth: It may be called ADS but falls way way way short of what people normally associate this term with..i.e. F1. The 355 design is adaptive to the drivers input rather than road conditions..it does not control spring rate or roll-bar stiffness....it IMO is slow, and also does not control the 4 corners independently..that is all corners are set at the same dampening rate. I am not sure but it may talk to the ABS and Air Bag control units. I'm sure others on this forum have alot more experience with the Ferrari system than I and maybe they can correct or add to my offering.
It does not adapt. It only responds as the programming dictates. To me it is very noticeable when driving down the highway if it is switched from Std. to Sport. It will react very quickly. It is fast enough to respond to a rapid braking action to reduce nose diving and will react mid jounce on vertical movement of the chassis. It is a dampening control system. Nowhere in the word dampening does spring or sway bar rate fit. The front and rear dampening is most certainly different. On a Challenge car it happens to be the same front and rear. If something more advanced was expected I would suggest a newer car. That system was quite good when Ferrari started with it 12 years ago. Its replacement system came in the 360 and 575 and even those cars are no longer in production. It does not communicate with any other system. Some signals generated by the car (like road speed) are shared as an input only with many systems but not for the sake of intercommunication.
Flicking the suspension switch on the center console doesnt appear to do a lot. Perhaps i am just not noticing it correctly. I really woudl ike to know what it is doing. What can i expect / look for when the light is on or off? Also when the light is on does that mean active dampning is enabled or disabled? Thanks
The switch function varies with model (F1/Spider). It is best to read the owner's manual, it gives pretty good information on the system. I have noticed when I am in the "comfort" mode at freeway speeds, there is noticeably less rebound damping.
Thanks both of you for your insight. I have non-f1 spider. I will have to play around with it and see...
Ive never turned on the light except for short spurts to test it out, but never really noticed anything. is it bad to drive in sport (light off) mode all the time? thanks
