What's your favorite Mando setting! Post it!

[Ty Davis]

This is what I don't understand: if the Stinger is "bouncy" at 30 to 50 mph, but buttoned down the faster it goes, isn't that the best? Soft and cushy at "Civilized" speeds, and firm, high performance at extralegal speeds.

I think that you may be assuming that bouncing = smoother ride
And Firmer = Harsher ride...

True, there is typically a trade off between ride quality and handling/stiffness.
The Stinger in it’s stock form, however, leaves plenty room on the table to increase BOTH ride and handling.
One, in fact, can be increased without diminishing the other. Look at all of the people who have installed stiffer bars, springs, coils, Mando, etc. and reported an increase in both the ride and handling...

But to answer you original question,
Bouncy at slow speeds and firm at high speeds is not the best.
Really, a cars ride characteristics are best when they are consistent and repeatable throughout its entire working range. Ideally a car would be flat, compliant, and have minimal ride motions in response to the road surface.

Things like bounce, float, shimmy, dive, squat, porpoising, and pitch should be minimized in a well tuned sedan.
To resort to adding bounce at low speeds, to civilize the ride, is a bandaid for other issues or bad tuning. We can only do so much with the Mando because the stock shocks have a physical damping curve built into them that can’t be changed without replacement. We can try to work around this, but it will take some time, trial, and error. I’ve gone through a blizzard of settings already, still trying to find what’s best for the hardware we have.

 

[Waynerm002]

LOL, this tuning thing really take some trial and error to get right. I took the car and adjusted it a bit more today, It feels a bit better but I didn't want to change it until I have a chance to drive it on the crappy roads I encounter on my commute. The few "bad" roads I encountered in my area didn't make the car upset like the crappy roads would but the jittery ride was a bit less. Adding what I'm set at now.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Things like bounce, float, shimmy, dive, squat, porpoising, and pitch should be minimized in a well tuned sedan.

Always felt satisfied with all of those stock. And the rear sway bar upgrade made the car better still. I haven't pursued getting an aftermarket front bar because I haven't felt like criticizing how my Stinger handles.

We can only do so much with the Mando because the stock shocks have a physical damping curve built into them that can’t be changed without replacement.

This is the first time I've seen stock shocks mentioned as a limiting factor in achieving what all you all are pursuing. It looks like raining on the parade.

 

[Waynerm002]

I decided to give the standard settings a try and I have to say it was a bit strange feeling, how it made the car drive and handle. I tried the Sport setting and during my drive switched to the car's Sport setting when a left lane hogger wouldn't let me pass when the right lane freed up. He wood speed up to the next car then slowed down to prevent anyone from passing. I saw an opening a couple cars ahead, flicked the switch to sport mode, dropped down 3 gears and floored it. The car just went, didn't feel that push as much as I recall from the normal setup of the car, it was more like it just wafted down the road. It doesn't make the car ride hard on smooth or even on crappy roads, it does add a bit of noise to the chassis (creaks, depending on the surface) but nothing like going up to 60+ in the custom settings. Really liking this Mando box and discovering new things all the time.

 

[itguy61]

I decided to give the standard settings a try and I have to say it was a bit strange feeling, how it made the car drive and handle. I tried the Sport setting and during my drive switched to the car's Sport setting when a left lane hogger wouldn't let me pass when the right lane freed up. He wood speed up to the next car then slowed down to prevent anyone from passing. I saw an opening a couple cars ahead, flicked the switch to sport mode, dropped down 3 gears and floored it. The car just went, didn't feel that push as much as I recall from the normal setup of the car, it was more like it just wafted down the road. It doesn't make the car ride hard on smooth or even on crappy roads, it does add a bit of noise to the chassis (creaks, depending on the surface) but nothing like going up to 60+ in the custom settings. Really liking this Mando box and discovering new things all the time.

Interesting. I have been trying out the two built in settings as well. I am just now starting to get a feel for what they do. I have been trying both with the car in comfort and then again in sport. I am pretty impressed at the range of adjustment you can get with those four combinations. The car feels pretty buttoned down with the app in sport mode and the car in sport mode as well.

 

[Waynerm002]

So I decided to tweak the custom profile again and on my drive home today. This new setting worked well with the cars sport mode to give what, in my mind, is what I recall the G70 feeling like. The front doesn't rise much on acceleration nor dive a lot on braking, it was good on slow traffic filled road and on the highway in the rain. Below is the updated setting.

Ride
Speed Front/Rear
25KM - 25 - 30
50KM - 27 - 32
75KM - 28 - 34
100KM - 30 - 36
125KM - 34 - 38
150KM - 40 - 40
175KM - 45 - 45
200KM - 50 - 45

Handling
Speed Front/Rear
25KM - 38 - 35
70KM - 38 - 35
100KM - 38 - 35
135KM - 46 - 40
160KM - 60 - 60

As a note, I didn't get up past 75 mph (120KM) so I can't say much on the higher levels, but for normal commute, the car felt quite good.

 

[Cyrus Duong]

Lots of settings to play with. Hard to get some numbers without equipment, since the results will all be based on personal perspectives. So far, I need more time in order to draw some conclusions. It is a decent chunk of work unless I manage to find some time to test, tweak and repeat.

I've just switched over to my new winter tires, so right now I'm just sliding everywhere. Hopefully, the release agent for the tire molds wears before the weather gets bad so I can find a repeatable place to test.

I think too soft (35ish%?) on the front in ride/handling causes vague-ness in steering while accelerating. I'm not sure if that's because there is more rise in the nose with a softer setting or what. I'm really not a qualified engineer in this field or tuning area.

The rear is a mess while cornering. I do feel the bump/jostle when going over divisions/cracks in the road of a tight radius interchange and increasing ride/handling there (60ish%) has helped that situation. But at lower to medium speeds or less tight turns (more sweeping instead of acute), the rear stays composed so not sure what I should set here.

I think I'm going to need to still play a bit more before settling on values for my 'Commuting' profile. I'll hopefully then get some custom settings for 'Spirited', 'Drag', and leave a profile to just tweak and test things out with. It's gonna take time which I have none of right now .

 

[redtrack]

yesterday i tested some values on the basic settings. They are fix through all speeds. you set front and rear.
By changing while driving , I can figure out the feeling of a 20% versus 40%, F and R same value versus harder on rear, etc. I made drastic changes at the beginning to feel how the shocks reacts...never pass 60%, it too hard for our roads...
Depending on the roads you drive and what you like, you'll find your perfect setting. For example, wayner is on the mid20's in front up to 75kph. i event tried 20% front, but it's too soft.... If someone find the standard oem settings in comfort, it will be great as starting point. Looks like we'll spend a lot of time playing with settings.....

 

[Waynerm002]

35% actually isn't "soft" for a road setting, if you are setting the handling at a similar level or higher. It does smooth out the ride at that point from what I've experienced so far. I changed my handling setting to a lower point as it introduces some rattling into the car on less than perfect roads. My settings are mainly for my daily drive as I want to maintain comfort with a balance of handling. I figure I'll be swapping the winter setup on in a couple of weeks, i'll have to work something in for that setup as well. I might do a minor tweak as I recall 30/35, on the Ride was what I found to be a nice balance of comfort in the Basic setting. Staying in that range, while tweaking the handling some more, will get me closer to a balanced ride/handling setup for how I want my car to be.

 

[itguy61]

Has everyone tried the built in sport mode on the unit with the car in both comfort and sport settings? It feels pretty good to me so far. I wish we should find out what the setting are for this one and tweak from there.

 

[Waynerm002]

Oh yeah, I tried it and posted about it on Friday, I like it as well but there seem to be some minor jitters at stock tire pressure, with the drop in temp, I think my morning morning psi is 34/36 now and the car was smoother. This is what made me go back to try the speed based settings again. Monday evening on the drive home, it was around 68 degrees, yesterday morning it in the low 50s and in the afternoon around upper 50s to low 60s and raining. The crappy pavement on my commute route has been patched over the past week, not a lot of places left to feel the bad stuff anymore. However, while I still feel some improvements could be made to it, when I tried the setting with the car's Sport mode, it felt so good that I had to share that one. My plan is to tweak that a bit more as my custom mode is set for Sport suspension tune and Comfort on the powertrain.

 

[itguy61]

I just tried this on the way to work. I would name your settings "sports sedan mode" Haha. Pretty responsive and very good steering response, firm ride. I also tried it with the car in comfort mode, a bit softer but still felt good.

 

[MerlintheMad]

How does AWD and RWD play into all of this?

 

[Waynerm002]

Mine is an AWD version, can't speak to how the unit differs between models.

I just tried this on the way to work. I would name your settings "sports sedan mode" Haha. Pretty responsive and very good steering response, firm ride. I also tried it with the car in comfort mode, a bit softer but still felt good.

I would concur with that assessment. It certainly reminded me of the G70 and probably the 2010 335 w/ M-Sport Package. Glad you like it.

 

[itguy61]

Mine is an AWD version, can't speak to how the unit differs between models.



I would concur with that assessment. It certainly reminded me of the G70 and probably the 2010 335 w/ M-Sport Package. Glad you like it.

Bingo! I was having a hard time thinking of what it reminded me of. E series 3 with M sport!! Firm but not harsh and very well controlled on squat and dive.

 

[Waynerm002]

Yup! It feels like a Sport Sedan now.

 

[Waynerm002]

Took the hybrid today and I have to say I forgot how smooth that car drives. Was burning rubber off the line as I forgot it doesn't need as much pedal effort as the Stinger. Car felt lighter gliding down the road, but the steering on the Optima Hybrid in Sport mode, felt heavier than the Stinger in Sport mode. I recall getting the Stinger to feel just as smooth with a tuning, I have to see if I can find that ride setting to tweak with a decent handling setting. That last setting I posted is a good sporty car feel, that could use a slight improvement. I'm keeping that for my "enhanced" Sport (Mando+car Sport) setting and want to make a setting close to my Optima for a Comfort setting.

 

[xot1]

You guys may wanna see this little advertisement clip from Mando:

As well as this short test video

 

[Waynerm002]

LOL! I like that first video! Guess we will go to any lengths to get the girl. I am happy I got this unit. I hope they develop some more modes or at least give us a starting point from the built in Comfort and Sport modes for us to build on. Best $400 I spent on a mod.

 

[itguy61]

Enjoying the settings you provided, rides pretty good in sport on the car. I like the increased control, feels tight! Thanks Wayne!