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

[azerik]

I dont believe the standard pack has a different spring. But yes a better spring would help. The problem I see is there is only so much coil possible in the area they put the spring in. However I do have an idea for a dual rate spring using dual springs. A secondary coil inside a lighter outer. I need to get some measurements on that to see if it’s even possible.

In other news I put almost 100 miles on the Vikings and have found my new current fav. 2c/14r. It smooths out so much I keep focusing on the front because the back doesn’t bother me. It also allows parking lot driving without being super annoying. The rear spring is so hard that most of the small parking lot style imperfections has to be soaked up by the tires. It’s also happily taken about half of the resonance bounce out. It loads up and you get some but it’s every 2nd or 3rd bounce instead of every bounce.
I also threw it hard through an intersection with a man hole, cross walk paint, brick crosswalk, and melted mangled asphalt and it remained incredibly composed. I was in the go pedal at about 50 while making that left. Also hit horrible train tracks which I took a video of.

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[kennethjk]

I dont believe the standard pack has a different spring. But yes a better spring would help. The problem I see is there is only so much coil possible in the area they put the spring in. However I do have an idea for a dual rate spring using dual springs. A secondary coil inside a lighter outer. I need to get some measurements on that to see if it’s even possible.

In other news I put almost 100 miles on the Vikings and have found my new current fav. 2c/14r. It smooths out so much I keep focusing on the front because the back doesn’t bother me. It also allows parking lot driving without being super annoying. The rear spring is so hard that most of the small parking lot style imperfections has to be soaked up by the tires. It’s also happily taken about half of the resonance bounce out. It loads up and you get some but it’s every 2nd or 3rd bounce instead of every bounce.
I also threw it hard through an intersection with a man hole, cross walk paint, brick crosswalk, and melted mangled asphalt and it remained incredibly composed. I was in the go pedal at about 50 while making that left. Also hit horrible train tracks which I took a video of.

This is excellent new.

are you running these on the 20 inch tires right now?

from what I remember of the Vikings, it looks like they are adjustable without lifting the car. Is that correct or am I confusing them with another shock

 

[markboris]

I dont believe the standard pack has a different spring. But yes a better spring would help. The problem I see is there is only so much coil possible in the area they put the spring in. However I do have an idea for a dual rate spring using dual springs. A secondary coil inside a lighter outer. I need to get some measurements on that to see if it’s even possible.

Erik, just mentioning that the standard battery, extended range battery and GT all have different springs. They are all different spring rates.

 

[tuminatr]

I think the bounce most are describing is mismatched pitch. Mismatched pitch is when the front and rear suspension respond out of sync. It feels a little like a rocking horse. What humans see as smooth in a car is when the front and rear respond together. The best way to fix this is less dampening and softer springs the the front. The other way is more dampening and stiffer rear shocks.

Here is a video

 

[CAL465]

At this point I'm just worried there will be a shock shortage once a recommendation is made ?

 

[b Mach e]

I would think that just changing the rear springs to a lower rate would imbalance the car. If you're going to do that, you should probably swap both the fronts and the rears. You still might have an imbalance, but less of one. Since the ER battery adds more weight to the rear than to the front, the rear spprings would have a lower rate than the ER rear springs and the front springs would have less rate than the ER front springs, but the percentage difference between spring rates would be larger for the rear springs. I don't honestly know the spring rates for the different battery/drive combinations, so that's just an educated guess. ??

Thanks for the thought on imbalance. I've poked around trying to find part numbers. There seems to be a letter that differentiates them but I think I need to talk to the parts counter for more Insight. They might be too far apart or not handle properly. The springs don't cost too much so I might toss them in after the shocks are sorted out. Shocks and tires. I may drop down to 18" wheels too

 

[azerik]

I think the bounce most are describing is mismatched pitch.

I feel this is helping with this by putting the back in line with the front. Over expansion joints there is a more noticeable thump from the rear. But over man hole covers, and actual issues on the road i feel currently 2c/14r is really close to matching the pitch from the front.

are you running these on the 20 inch tires right now?

from what I remember of the Vikings, it looks like they are adjustable without lifting the car. Is that correct or am I confusing them with another shock

Stock 19's with AS3's The AS3's were about to let go on that corner but the sway bars helped keep it planted. GT wheels and tires soon. But I don't expect a night and day diff with them. If they were Pilot4's or the Scorpions Mark mentioned maybe.

Currently any adjustment 0-13 can be done by hand quickly. I have a packing blanket I keep in the back of the car. Pull over somewhere and can roll with my finger either knob on either shock. Once you get up over 13 the knob becomes harder to roll and requires a bit more work. I have rolled them up to 18 but 17 and 18 clicks were killing my finger.

Here's a top down image of the knobs.

Note that little nub on the arm pivot, put dents in my single adjusts because the knob on those are centered. I was also lucky enough that Summit knocks $58 off my latest shock purchase. Had they done that the first time around I would have had duals from day one.

I'm still playing with it but am quite happy with the results. Picking my wife up from the airport. We'll see if she says anything.

 

[Mach1E]

I think the bounce most are describing is mismatched pitch. Mismatched pitch is when the front and rear suspension respond out of sync. It feels a little like a rocking horse. What humans see as smooth in a car is when the front and rear respond together. The best way to fix this is less dampening and softer springs the the front. The other way is more dampening and stiffer rear shocks.

Here is a video

So softening the front could eliminate the bounce as well?

My bet is that that would be a more beneficial solution for those wanting a more luxury ride while stiffening the rear would be more geared towards those looking to eliminate the bounce and improving handling.

 

[tuminatr]

So softening the front could eliminate the bounce as well?

My bet is that that would be a more beneficial solution for those wanting a more luxury ride while stiffening the rear would be more geared towards those looking to eliminate the bounce and improving handling.

Completely agree, but no one makes anything to do that at this point.

 

[Mach-Lee]

So softening the front could eliminate the bounce as well?

My bet is that that would be a more beneficial solution for those wanting a more luxury ride while stiffening the rear would be more geared towards those looking to eliminate the bounce and improving handling.

Regardless of the front, the rear is still underdamped.

 

[azerik]

Completely agree, but no one makes anything to do that at this point.

Working on that as well. Nothing so far.

So softening the front could eliminate the bounce as well?

My bet is that that would be a more beneficial solution for those wanting a more luxury ride while stiffening the rear would be more geared towards those looking to eliminate the bounce and improving handling.

We need to leave the word luxury out of any of these posts. This isn't and as far as i can see will never be a luxury ride.

Yes the front needs to be lightened. But it too doesn't exist yet. And it gets very expensive to mess around with the front & back shocks, springs and tires all at once. Right now we're just trying to help limit that backend craziness. Which will help a LOT of people if they read this forum lol.

I was happy with the ride yesterday so I thought I'd soften it up more for the trip to pick up my wife from PHX. So I set it to 1c/14r which was a terrible ride on the miles of concrete freeway to and fro the airport . The rebound loaded up not letting the shock rebound fast enough so the rear tires did pretty much all of the 'work' that the suspension should have. This coupled with the front made for quite the jet ski type of ride. Amazingly my wife said nothing. So this morning I put it back to 2c/12r. I will try to make that run to the airport again in the next couple days. It's quite possible with the 1c/14r setting that the back compressed to the point of being on the bump stop and just about pogo'ing due to that. I'll gather more info on that once I swap the Vikings for QA1's. I plan on running 1 of the shocks if not both without the dust boot or I might cut a slit in the boot so I can see what's going on without having to pull the shocks off again.

Testing continues.

 

[Mach1E]

Working on that as well. Nothing so far.


We need to leave the word luxury out of any of these posts. This isn't and as far as i can see will never be a luxury ride.

Yes the front needs to be lightened. But it too doesn't exist yet. And it gets very expensive to mess around with the front & back shocks, springs and tires all at once. Right now we're just trying to help limit that backend craziness. Which will help a LOT of people if they read this forum lol.

I was happy with the ride yesterday so I thought I'd soften it up more for the trip to pick up my wife from PHX. So I set it to 1c/14r which was a terrible ride on the miles of concrete freeway to and fro the airport . The rebound loaded up not letting the shock rebound fast enough so the rear tires did pretty much all of the 'work' that the suspension should have. This coupled with the front made for quite the jet ski type of ride. Amazingly my wife said nothing. So this morning I put it back to 2c/12r. I will try to make that run to the airport again in the next couple days. It's quite possible with the 1c/14r setting that the back compressed to the point of being on the bump stop and just about pogo'ing due to that. I'll gather more info on that once I swap the Vikings for QA1's. I plan on running 1 of the shocks if not both without the dust boot or I might cut a slit in the boot so I can see what's going on without having to pull the shocks off again.

Testing continues.

Why “never luxury?”

I get that options don’t exist yet. But the only real difference between the ride in my Mach E and the ride in my wife’s “luxury” Lincoln Aviator are the shocks and springs.

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that 90+ percent of the non-GT Mach E drivers would swap their suspension for how the Aviator rides if they could.

Even the base suspension in my wife’s Aviator is like riding on a cloud compared to whisper on my GTPE.

It handles like a boat, but she for sure doesn’t care..

 

[azerik]

The 2.5 inches of travel the Premium has, the 2.1 inches of travel the GT has vs your Lincoln with probably close to 6 inches and air or magnaride. Not even close to possible to create suspension travel where it can't exist. Remove the battery and you can double the length of the a-arms and get your plush suspension. But the way this was designed it doesn't have the geometry required for it. We have less suspension travel than an 80's go-kart and the weight of carrying a pair of jet ski's in a Camry.

We're in the range of a firmly riding Civic, at best.

 

[CAL465]

I would like to make a few mod without going too crazy. Addressing the rear suspension is something I'd like to do. Ford's first go at this and their price point is on target with what I expected. If I could afford it I would have purchased a Mercedes, Lucid or even a BMW EV. I don't compare the MME to other cars. I did my research, I knew what I was getting, I loved the design and the price was right.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I would like to make a few mod without going too crazy. Addressing the rear suspension is something I'd like to do. Ford's first go at this and their price point is on target with what I expected. If I could afford it I would have purchased a Mercedes, Lucid or even a BMW EV. I don't compare the MME to other cars. I did my research, I knew what I was getting, I loved the design and the price was right.

^^ THIS

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