UPDATED: Replacing Rear Shocks: Reducing the rear end bounce.

[sci_goat]

Thanks HuntingPudel for the explanation. So coilovers are a more advanced and potentially more powerful solution, but upgraded dampers could potentially good enough.

From reading all the install threads, it seems like dampers might be a lighter mod, with fewer impacts on the geometry of the car. 21st_Century_Pony mentioned that the KW Coilovers produced some rubbing at >30mph when turning? Those would be some issues that less knowledgeable people like myself might not want to take on.

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[azerik]

How are the results of the upgraded dampers versus installing KW Coilovers? Interested mostly in reducing bounce and resonance. Would it be possible two install both? And if so, what would be the outcome on handling and feel?

A good read is the KW thread. The rear shock settings in there should be very close to what we’re getting in this thread. The ride might not be for everyone’s liking, and your results can vary based on tires, shocks, springs, road conditions and personal likings. That’s why we’re working through finding what works here and there and trying different cars and locations.
I’m personally trying to get the ride pretty close to my Focus. I bought the MME to replace that car due to not loving the bumpy ride…. And here I am. Trying to get the MME to be at least close to the car I don’t like driving lol.

 

[markboris]

Thanks HuntingPudel for the explanation. So coilovers are a more advanced and potentially more powerful solution, but upgraded dampers could potentially good enough.

From reading all the install threads, it seems like dampers might be a lighter mod, with fewer impacts on the geometry of the car. 21st_Century_Pony mentioned that the KW Coilovers produced some rubbing at >30mph when turning? Those would be some issues that less knowledgeable people like myself might not want to take on.

One thing I may add is that from what I have read, the KW coil over kit, at it's highest setting, drops the car about 1" from Premium ride height, 1/2" from GT ride height. Some don't want their cars lowered at all so just replacing rear shocks have no effect on ride height.

 

[sci_goat]

One thing I may add is that from what I have read, the KW coil over kit, at it's highest setting, drops the car about 1" from Premium ride height, 1/2" from GT ride height. Some don't want their cars lowered at all so just replacing rear shocks have no effect on ride height.

True. Have any of you found issues with the lowering (I think after KW install it would be about 4.7" ground clearance)

 

[markboris]

True. Have any of you found issues with the lowering (I think after KW install it would be about 4.7" ground clearance)

While I do not have the KW cool over kit, I have lowered my car using H&R lowering springs about 1/2” from the stock GT height. That would make it about 1 1/2” lower than the stock non GT height. Have not encountered any issues. I haven’t measured ground clearance but can if you want.

 

[sborsch]

There are thousands of Mach-E owners that are very happy with the ride, then there are those that believe it is the worst riding car they have ever owned and then there are those in-between. One thing for sure, it has been a hot topic on this forum as evidence from one of the longest running threads we have ( #1 ).

There are so many variables with this issue and that's why I think we have a big discrepancy. Some owners with the magneride suspension love it and have no issues, others think it could definitely be improved, myself for starters. The non-magneride models are all different depending on standard battery, extended battery, RWD, AWD. Then we have the tires which really do make a difference on how the car rides as has been stated many times by owners, me included. Above all, there are the various types of roads everyone drives on. I have absolutely no roads anywhere within 2 hours of where I live that induce any bouncing and yet some owners have to drive over these types of roads every day. I can go on and on but these things have been beaten to death so I'm going to stop here.

I'm not any type of a suspension expert while many here are (Steve HuntingPudel for one) but wanted to set out to see what I could do to tame the bouncing of this car. I know if you put 6 or more cases of water in the cargo area, the bounce literally disappears. This tells me the car has very firm springs in the rear, as it should to handle the extra weight of a fully loaded car of passengers and cargo. However, when the car is not weighted down, over certain road conditions, it can bounce like the empty bed of a truck. I figured maybe what I could do is replace the springs with air bags and see how that goes. While I did have a great ride with a full air bag suspension, virtually no bounce, I had a lot of other issues that needed to be addressed in customizing brackets and spacers and after one month of doing this, I didn't feel like going at it any further ( #1 ). I could have gone the coil over route (KW make an excellent kit) but that is more on the expensive side for those who just want to try and soften their bucking pony driving to work.

Sticking with the OEM springs, the only other thing we can do to try and tame the ride is change out the shocks. Again, while I am not a suspension expert, I feel the shocks are not firm enough to settle the springs down fast enough. So, I set out to find shocks that would closely match our rear OEM's which I did and I'm testing them out with Anton (eidbanger) on his Premium with OEM wheels and tires. He does have aftermarket wheels and tires which actually make the ride a bit better but changed to the OEM's to keep it more fare since most people don't change their wheels and tires.

Last week, I posted on fitting & testing rear shocks in the bounce thread but thought I should start a new thread. ( #1,322 ) << Please read this post as it explains more about this project with photos.
This post explains a little more about the particular shocks ( #1,325 )

Today, Anton had a bit of time so I went over to his place and installed the Koni's in his premium. Now, I am not use to Anton's car and he will be posting explaining in more detail how it rode and he will also have some data as he monitored each run with some type of motion app (not sure what it was). On the softest setting, they were worse than the OEM shocks. On the middle setting he said it was possiblely a bit better than OEM. Then went to the firmest setting and he had a huge smile on his face and said, my back end is barely bouncing. Again he will post here and explain in more detail with data but I know he would not let me take the shocks off the car. ? He wants to drive around with them for a week at which time I will go back down to his place and we will swap the Koni's for the Bilstein's.

On another note, we took my car out on the same stretch of bouncy road to see how the magneride did. With my car set to Unbridled, we both had a hard time finding a difference but decided if we had to pick, it would be the Koni's. Going over speed bumps at a slow speed, the Koni't definitely had the advantage as the rear went up, down and settled where as the magneride has a slight second bounce (which is why I think Ford needs to improve the tuning of the magneride VDM module).

Sorry for this long winded post. I wasn't sure even if changing out just the rear shocks would make a difference but it definitely does.

Both Anton and I will be adding to this thread as we do more testing. I think he may even post some charts off his motion app. He is backed up with work so don't expect him to post for at least a few days to a week.

I want to mention the Erik (azerik) is also working on some QA1 rear shocks and we are anxious to hear what his results are.

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@markboris, the *only* thing my wife and I don’t like about our MME is that rear bounciness. I find it only really bothers either of us when we are tired, not feeling well, or are in the backseat (I had to drive her home for over an hour after January foot surgery, and she almost threw up several times).

We‘ve decided we must figure out how to mitigate the bounciness or figure out our next EV to buy and make plans to do so.

A lot of this discussion you’ve begun has been beyond me but I’ve learned A LOT, especially going through and then independently searching on items you and others have brought (up as well as watching YouTube videos about suspension).

QUESTION: When you have fully analyzed these shocks, determined settings, and are ready to let us all know what you have decided, I’m assuming (and yes, hoping) you’ll do an UPDATE on this post with your recommendation?

Again, THANK YOU for this effort. @Ford Motor Company should send you something. ;-)

 

[markboris]

@markboris, the *only* thing my wife and I don’t like about our Mach-E is that rear bounciness. I find it only really bothers either of us when we are tired, not feeling well, or are in the backseat (I had to drive her home for over an hour after January foot surgery, and she almost threw up several times).

We‘ve decided we must figure out how to mitigate the bounciness or figure out our next EV to buy and make plans to do so.

A lot of this discussion you’ve begun has been beyond me but I’ve learned A LOT, especially going through and then independently searching on items you and others have brought (up as well as watching YouTube videos about suspension).

QUESTION: When you have fully analyzed these shocks, determined settings, and are ready to let us all know what you have decided, I’m assuming (and yes, hoping) you’ll do an UPDATE on this post with your recommendation?

Again, THANK YOU for this effort. @Ford Motor Company should send you something. ;-)

Don’t you worry Steve, we are always adding to this thread and will for sure keep everyone updated as to our findings.

 

[sci_goat]

While I do not have the KW cool over kit, I have lowered my car using H&R lowering springs about 1/2” from the stock GT height. That would make it about 1 1/2” lower than the stock non GT height. Have not encountered any issues. I haven’t measured ground clearance but can if you want.

Thank you! If you could measure the ride height after lowering that would great info to add to the knowledgebase.

 

[Anton]

Been on the Konis with firmest setting for 11 days now.
Resonating bounce - still gone.
Ride quality - still improved.

Swapped out the OEM rims+tires with Pirelli Scorpion A/S+ 255/45/20 pumped up to 39 psi. I don't know how, but at first it seemed that the OEMs produced a better ride. Pirellis at 39 felt overinflated and it was a harsher ride than I remembered. I dropped down to 36psi and that solved it.

The ride quality is magnitudes better than with OEM shocks/wheels/tires. The jolts over the expansion joints are noticeably much duller than with OEM tires. Wife agrees. They're now barely noticeable.

If this is how the ride was for the MachE to begin with then there would be none of these conversations (re: bounce). It's a sporty ride. Your butt can feel the the cracks in the road and the expansion joints. But it's controlled and quickly settles back. Not galloping/bouncing in resonance.

This is a beautiful ride now and my wife and I both love it. We're still going to test the Vikings to compare. But honestly, I'm not sure that anything can make the ride better than it is now.

 

[CAL465]

Dropping the Psi by 3 made the ride smother? Will it impact range?

 

[Anton]

Dropping the Psi by 3 made the ride smother? Will it impact range?

It did. I think it balanced everything out nicely.

Don't think it will impact range. Not worried about that.

 

[bellyer]

Been on the Konis with firmest setting for 11 days now.
Resonating bounce - still gone.
Ride quality - still improved.

Swapped out the OEM rims+tires with Pirelli Scorpion A/S+ 255/45/20 pumped up to 39 psi. I don't know how, but at first it seemed that the OEMs produced a better ride. Pirellis at 39 felt overinflated and it was a harsher ride than I remembered. I dropped down to 36psi and that solved it.

The ride quality is magnitudes better than with OEM shocks/wheels/tires. The jolts over the expansion joints are noticeably much duller than with OEM tires. Wife agrees. They're now barely noticeable.

If this is how the ride was for the MachE to begin with then there would be none of these conversations (re: bounce). It's a sporty ride. Your butt can feel the the cracks in the road and the expansion joints. But it's controlled and quickly settles back. Not galloping/bouncing in resonance.

This is a beautiful ride now and my wife and I both love it. We're still going to test the Vikings to compare. But honestly, I'm not sure that anything can make the ride better than it is now.

Maybe I missed it, but, for the ease of putting this all together in hopes of mimicking your setup, can you share the exact combination of specific makes/models of shocks, wheels, and tires you are using now? I know you mentioned Koni shocks on their firms settings and you mentioned the Ljrelli Scorpion tires, but if you can put together a few bullet points listing the specific model numbers in a post showing what got you such a satisfactory ride quality, it would be appreciated. ?

 

[mkhuffman]

Dropping the Psi by 3 made the ride smother? Will it impact range?

It did. I think it balanced everything out nicely.

Don't think it will impact range. Not worried about that.

3 psi might not be noticable, but lower tire pressure increases rolling resistance and range is impacted. If you are concerned about range, go to the max pressure recommend to get the best range. If not, roll on and don't worry about it!

 

[markboris]

Maybe I missed it, but, for the ease of putting this all together in hopes of mimicking your setup, can you share the exact combination of specific makes/models of shocks, wheels, and tires you are using now? I know you mentioned Koni shocks on their firms settings and you mentioned the Ljrelli Scorpion tires, but if you can put together a few bullet points listing the specific model numbers in a post showing what got you such a satisfactory ride quality, it would be appreciated. ?

I have listed the exact Koni shocks and washers/spacers needed that I built up for Anton to try. However Erik is testing out some Viking shocks I built up for him and we are going to be swapping shocks between Koni's and Viking's to see which ones might be better than the other (the 4 types of Bilstein's I tested did not work out). Not only that but if the Viking's end up being better, I might be able to get them to build a shock so we don't need any extra parts to make them fit. All of this is a work in progress and each shock we try requires slightly different spacers/parts (very minor). I would not recommend to waste your money and buy something when we are not done testing yet. I can tell you, since you are the OP of one of the largest running threads we have here, that as soon as we come up with what we like, I will personally send you a set to try out. Everyone has to remember that every road is a bit different and everyone has different expectations of how a car should ride. We are trying our best to minimize bounce but can only work on the rear at this time.

Anton is running Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Plus 255/45/20 tires that I recommended. As far as tires go, pretty much anything is better than the OEM tires where ride quality is concerned. I have now tried over 9 different sets of tires on the Mach-E and I have also posted somewhere on this forum all the different ones and my opinions of them. I don't remember what thread it was in but it might be outdated as I have within the last 2 months changed out two more sets of tires and continually evaluating. I am not going to turn this into another tire thread but when we figure out the shock setup we like, I will then give my opinion of tires.

 

[HuntingPudel]

3 psi might not be noticable, but lower tire pressure increases rolling resistance and range is impacted. If you are concerned about range, go to the max pressure recommend to get the best range. If not, roll on and don't worry about it!

It’s worth noting that Anton’s tires are wider than stock. Given the same rim dimensions as stock, that would require a lower pressure to maintain proper tread contact with the road. ??

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