Now this is a cool. Electronicly selectable shocks from RideTech!

[Larry Callahan]

[zbugger]

I wish I could afford those.... They'd be great on my Buick.

[MrQuick]

I wish I could afford those.... They'd be great on my Buick.

I think shock waves would be better so you can mow the grass under it.

[darren@ridetech]

I think shock waves would be better so you can mow the grass under it.

These baby's can be used on a shockwave, coilover or as a stand alone shock. Gonna install a set on my Chevelle this weekend.... Keep an eye out for an installation video.

[wellis77]

I'm real excited about these and will be using them with the shockwave and internal ride height sensor. All those options make them a crazy expensive component but it will make tuning easy. On account of the cost, I won't be picking mine up until next year...

[HotRod68Camaro]

Can the valving be adjusted infinitely, maybe mechanically prior to installation? I guess what i am getting at is there are only 2 settings already setup from the factory. Can those setting be changed for different stiffness for soft mode and different for firm/sport mode.

[darren@ridetech]

Can the valving be adjusted infinitely, maybe mechanically prior to installation? I guess what i am getting at is there are only 2 settings already setup from the factory. Can those setting be changed for different stiffness for soft mode and different for firm/sport mode.

The customer will not have the abiltiy to adjust the two settings. However, the possiblities are endless as we assemble the valve stacks in house. We have taken out most the thinking for the customer tho.... We were actually able to use our Master Series double adjustable shocks to determine which compression and rebound settings offer the best ride and which offer the best handling for that specific, then dyno them and replicate in the Select Series stuff.

Personally, I'm pretty excited about this product....lots of possiblities.

[Blitz]

How do these compare to the Titanium series?

[darren@ridetech]

Our Master DA & Titanium Series shocks are both double adjustable. The Master's are twin tube. The Titaniums are monotube and have remote reservoir. Having 24 adjustments of compression and 24 adjustments of rebound gives the user infinite amounts of adjustment. These shocks are great for the serious performance enthusiast who knows how to use them.

But I've found that for some customers this is just too much adjustability. All they want is the car to ride "really good" and handle "really good". And they don't want to get their shirt dirty in the transition between the two....

[marolf101x]

As most of you know, I do product development at ridetech. The Select series was my project and as such I thought I should jump on and provide a little info.

This technology has been available to the OEM's for a number of years, but, for the first time ever, myself, with the help of everyone else in the company, were able to bring this technology to the Aftermarket.

Shedding some light:
The Select Series is actually considered a "bi-state monotube"; meaning it has two settings (soft and firm) inside a single monotube shock absorber. This is accomplished with two separate valve stacks. An electromagnet opens or closes a plunger to divert the oil flow to the desired valve stack.
(Many vehicles have "selectable" suspension, but you need to know how they work. For example, many cars in the past had 3 settings for shock valving selectable inside the cabin. These units, especially struts, had a motor on top of the strut that would physically turn the adjustment knob. This adjustment knob simply controlled how much "bleed" the shock had. It adjusted a needle that allowed oil to bypass the single valve stack. More "bleed" resulted in softer valving as the oil didn't have to force itself through the valve stack, opposed to the Select shock which has two physical valve stacks.)

As Darren stated, we were able to take our existing products and determine an excellent ride quality setting as well as push them to the limits to determine a setting that works very well in a "competitive" environment (hence all the autocross and big track events in past few years).

We do this by many means. When choosing a "soft" setting we use the tried and true "butt dyno" as well as an electronic ride meter (just like the OEM's) on a variety of road surfaces and conditions. This allows us to use a benchmark car (like a Caddy or Lexus for instance) which the general public considers a great riding luxury car as a goal. We keep revising valve codes until we get whatever vehicle we are working on very close to the benchmark numbers (sometimes even exceeding these numbers.)
When choosing a "competitive" setting we also use a benchmark car (in this case a 2007 Z06 Corvette) with the ride meter and actual track times (using the same driver, on the same day, on the same track, etc. . . I know how people like to pull the driver/track/day card)

Each Select Series damper is tuned to the vehicle in which it is to be installed. This ensures the customer gets a damper that provides the best possible ride quality and handling the shock can provide. In essence this eliminates the customer having to learn how to tune shocks on a vehicle; just push the button.

The next step up from Bi-State:
BSRTD: Bi-State Real Time Dampening
Basically you take a Bi-State shock and use a computer and sensors to switch between soft and firm as the vehicle travels across the road surface. This technology lies between the Select Series (the user pushes the button) and the MR shocks mentioned earlier in this thread (and we'll get to later).
Though it is possible to offer this computer controlled technology to the Aftermarket it's simply not realistically/economically feasible at this time. Opposed to the OEM's who build only a couple of variations on each platform, the Aftermarket is rife with variations of the same vehicle (1969 Camaro; big block, small block, auto, manual, stock panels, CF panels, stock subframe, Aftermarket suspension parts, etc.) So making one shock work flawlessly on all these vehicles requires an "adaptive" computer that can learn the vehicle and adapt to what is required. The technology is progressing to this end, just look at the self-tuning EFI set-ups, but we are not quite there yet.

The "ultimate" shock
MR: Magneto-Rheological
MR shocks utilize a variable-viscosity oil that can actually flow like water or like concrete depending on the voltage supplied to the fluid. This technology is currently used on a few high-end OEM vehicles and some military applications. Basically you have VERY small particles of metal suspended in the oil. When there is no voltage supplied to the damper these particles are allowed to float wherever they want in the fluid, creating a fluid that easily flows through a small orifice as the particles can move freely. When voltage is applied these particles align to the magnetic field, which causes the fluid to become "stiff" as the particles have to be forced to move toward and through the orifice as the shock piston moves.
Again, this requires computer controls which are more easily developed for an OEM platform.

Hope this helps explain what's out there and how it works!

[crustysack]

Those are cool but I have seen the (not available to the general public) military spec variable dampning shocks. They use a conductive hydraulic fluid that changes its viscosity when the voltage is altered. The electrical signal can be computer controlled so the shocks can adjust 100s of times a second based on speed and terrain input. But at about $12000 for a set(just the shocks) I dont think they will be on the market anytime soon

[claytonisbob]

Those are cool but I have seen the (not available to the general public) military spec variable dampning shocks. They use a conductive hydraulic fluid that changes its viscosity when the voltage is altered. The electrical signal can be computer controlled so the shocks can adjust 100s of times a second based on speed and terrain input. But at about $12000 for a set(just the shocks) I dont think they will be on the market anytime soon

A lot of exotic type cars are starting to go this way IIRC. It's a pretty exciting idea, but I don't know if it would ever be refined to the point where they'd be affordable for the hobbyist. Plus there would be a computer system that has to manage them based on vehicle speed ect, and it would probably need to be tuned for a specific vehicles dynamics. That is unless they are much less complicated than I think they would be.

[Wesley J]

Those are cool but I have seen the (not available to the general public) military spec variable dampning shocks. They use a conductive hydraulic fluid that changes its viscosity when the voltage is altered. The electrical signal can be computer controlled so the shocks can adjust 100s of times a second based on speed and terrain input. But at about $12000 for a set(just the shocks) I dont think they will be on the market anytime soon

Corvette ZR1 uses that technology, as does the new Accura 5 door thing.