MRC; let's talk suspension settings

[WhiteyChev]

So I just finished a 12-1400 mile trip, including an 11 hr day in the ZL1.
To Cape Cod from Eastern Canada. Other than the seats being a little firm for long distance endurance runs, it worked awesome.
I got a chance to really get intimate with my suspension settings. I found a noticeable difference beteween tour & sport mode.
On rough roads with just me in the car, the suspension seems better able to react & handle bumps & ESP patchy pavement in the sport mode. This was counter intuitive to me, as I had always saved sport mode for go fast sessions, thinking the comfort was in tour. Tour mode is comfy & seems to perform well only on the smoothest roads, OR when I have a few passengers, in other words under heavy load.
When I had the G/Y's on I was able to find the outer edges of the traction control. Sport mode allowing a degree to two more sideways slippage than the tour mode.

My question is this. Moving into track mode settings, what changes or differences do we see from tour/sport mode, as we move up from settings 1-5?
IE I've read here where some put their ZL1 in setting 1, wet track, in rain on the road. Is this a 'better' setting for highway travel? Does it allow less slippage than tour, etc? Same? Are their safety issues with track mode on the street?

Can we assume that the settings continue to allow a further degree of slip, or time before kicking in, as we go up through the settings?

What do you use?

[MPR]

Below is the ptm modes. Personally I use sport 1 in the rain (mode 3) and Track (mode 5) when it is sunny daily driving. Ptm all off when at the track.

Mode 1 – Traction control set for wet conditions, with stability control on and Magnetic Ride Control set on Tour.

Mode 2 – Traction control set for dry conditions, with stability control on and Magnetic Ride Control set on Tour.

Mode 3 – Traction control set on Sport 1, with stability control on and Magnetic Ride Control set on Sport.

Mode 4 – Traction control set on Sport 2, with stability control off and Magnetic Ride Control set on Sport.

Mode 5 – Traction control set on Race, with stability control off and Magnetic Ride Control set on Track. Launch control tuned for VHT-prepped drag strips.

[joes407]

I use mode 5 always

[NightmareZL1]

First, I ALWAYS drive in PTM modes. I wish it was an option to have ptm auto on.
The wet mode is very, very excellent in the wet. Seriously. When you are in a turn, tip toeing through, use PTM1 and then, mid corner, mash the gas - the car will stay in line and you will hear the exhaust sputter as the car manages torque to the ground. If you use PTM1 during dry driving and try the same thing, the car will stumble over itself midcorner and be embarrassingly sloppy.
I normally drive in PTM 2 on rough, poorly maintained road or highway. The suspension is nice and soft and if I get too stupid in a high G corner, the car will, again, make the sputtering sound out of the exhaust and stay in the cornering line.
PTM 3 is rarely used for me.
PTM 4 is fun mode. Unlike PTM1,2,3 which will cut your power if you try to abuse the tires with abrupt steering changes or trying to drift the rear, the PTM4 mode will almost let you do anything, while the PTM4 suspension settings are great at controlling body roll.
PTM5 is great fun as well. But, it will let the car go much more sideways, scary when you didn't mean to do it. Does let loose, but it also saves you if you get too crossed up. and suspension is HARD. Wife dislikes the ride in PTM 4 and hates the ride in PTM 5.

As far was dragging or launching:
PTM 1 Not really useful. Cuts the power big time if wheels spin and won't give it back right away. Launch control does work in the rain and actually is the fastest you will ever take off wet road.
PTM 2 Will suck for launching if you didn't use the launch control (without launch controll, too much wheel spin will cause complete cut off of power for a second or two - embarrassing).
PTM 3 - No really use for me
PTM 4 - Launches are good without launch control and great with launch control.
PTM 5 - You are free to launch however you want, but launch control usage on the street is not very efficient (lots of wheel spin)

Last thing I have noticed is the when you change between modes that change the suspension, the change will be drastic at first and then soften up. Especially when changing from any mode to mode 5, the shocks get super hard and then soften a second later. I guess GM wanted us to feel that there was actually a change.

So I mostly drive in PTM 2 and PTM 4. 2 for rough and 4 for smooth or when wanting to rail through a corner at 1G.

[DrkPhx]

Originally Posted by joes407

I use mode 5 always

I mostly use this mode with second being nannies off and Tour mode; but PTM 5 is my favorite because I run DR's.

[silverds]

Originally Posted by NightmareZL1

First, I ALWAYS drive in PTM modes. I wish it was an option to have ptm auto on.
The wet mode is very, very excellent in the wet. Seriously. When you are in a turn, tip toeing through, use PTM1 and then, mid corner, mash the gas - the car will stay in line and you will hear the exhaust sputter as the car manages torque to the ground. If you use PTM1 during dry driving and try the same thing, the car will stumble over itself midcorner and be embarrassingly sloppy.
I normally drive in PTM 2 on rough, poorly maintained road or highway. The suspension is nice and soft and if I get too stupid in a high G corner, the car will, again, make the sputtering sound out of the exhaust and stay in the cornering line.
PTM 3 is rarely used for me.
PTM 4 is fun mode. Unlike PTM1,2,3 which will cut your power if you try to abuse the tires with abrupt steering changes or trying to drift the rear, the PTM4 mode will almost let you do anything, while the PTM4 suspension settings are great at controlling body roll.
PTM5 is great fun as well. But, it will let the car go much more sideways, scary when you didn't mean to do it. Does let loose, but it also saves you if you get too crossed up. and suspension is HARD. Wife dislikes the ride in PTM 4 and hates the ride in PTM 5.

As far was dragging or launching:
PTM 1 Not really useful. Cuts the power big time if wheels spin and won't give it back right away. Launch control does work in the rain and actually is the fastest you will ever take off wet road.
PTM 2 Will suck for launching if you didn't use the launch control (without launch controll, too much wheel spin will cause complete cut off of power for a second or two - embarrassing).
PTM 3 - No really use for me
PTM 4 - Launches are good without launch control and great with launch control.
PTM 5 - You are free to launch however you want, but launch control usage on the street is not very efficient (lots of wheel spin)

Last thing I have noticed is the when you change between modes that change the suspension, the change will be drastic at first and then soften up. Especially when changing from any mode to mode 5, the shocks get super hard and then soften a second later. I guess GM wanted us to feel that there was actually a change.

So I mostly drive in PTM 2 and PTM 4. 2 for rough and 4 for smooth or when wanting to rail through a corner at 1G.

This ^^^ perfectly describes my experience with PTM. Having daily driven my Zl1 for four complete seasons in most weather conditions on both rural and highway roads and including one unintentional but very spectacular lane change on a cold and misty November morning, I couldn't from my experience, describe PTM any better

[BlackinBlack]

Originally Posted by NightmareZL1

First, I ALWAYS drive in PTM modes. I wish it was an option to have ptm auto on.
The wet mode is very, very excellent in the wet. Seriously. When you are in a turn, tip toeing through, use PTM1 and then, mid corner, mash the gas - the car will stay in line and you will hear the exhaust sputter as the car manages torque to the ground. If you use PTM1 during dry driving and try the same thing, the car will stumble over itself midcorner and be embarrassingly sloppy.
I normally drive in PTM 2 on rough, poorly maintained road or highway. The suspension is nice and soft and if I get too stupid in a high G corner, the car will, again, make the sputtering sound out of the exhaust and stay in the cornering line.
PTM 3 is rarely used for me.
PTM 4 is fun mode. Unlike PTM1,2,3 which will cut your power if you try to abuse the tires with abrupt steering changes or trying to drift the rear, the PTM4 mode will almost let you do anything, while the PTM4 suspension settings are great at controlling body roll.
PTM5 is great fun as well. But, it will let the car go much more sideways, scary when you didn't mean to do it. Does let loose, but it also saves you if you get too crossed up. and suspension is HARD. Wife dislikes the ride in PTM 4 and hates the ride in PTM 5.

As far was dragging or launching:
PTM 1 Not really useful. Cuts the power big time if wheels spin and won't give it back right away. Launch control does work in the rain and actually is the fastest you will ever take off wet road.
PTM 2 Will suck for launching if you didn't use the launch control (without launch controll, too much wheel spin will cause complete cut off of power for a second or two - embarrassing).
PTM 3 - No really use for me
PTM 4 - Launches are good without launch control and great with launch control.
PTM 5 - You are free to launch however you want, but launch control usage on the street is not very efficient (lots of wheel spin)

Last thing I have noticed is the when you change between modes that change the suspension, the change will be drastic at first and then soften up. Especially when changing from any mode to mode 5, the shocks get super hard and then soften a second later. I guess GM wanted us to feel that there was actually a change.

So I mostly drive in PTM 2 and PTM 4. 2 for rough and 4 for smooth or when wanting to rail through a corner at 1G.

Cool review. Most people forget that the power assist changes too. More assist in the lower modes and less in the higher modes.

I personally use Tour for day to day as I cannot tell the difference from Mode 2 and one less button to press driving around. Rain is Mode 1 all the way. Sport driving is Mode 4 for me too. Mode 5 is fun but rough on most streets and if you get a little crazy or the road is not perfect you can become a statistic pretty easy.

[Sven59]

Its good to see that everybody is really figuring this system out. I think it is a genius system teaching those unfamiliar while allowing those very capable to both drive within their capabilities. The thing I really like is that when driving you feel so much more in control in this car and it just begs you, push me!

[RexZL1]

PTM is one of the things about our car that is truly brilliant from an engineering standpoint. It's also what makes our cars such a bargain for the price, because this is the sort of high end engineering usually found on European sports cars at much, much, much higher prices.
People jack our threads all the time and try to tell us how cool THEIR car is, or how fast it will go in a straight line. If I want a car that will do a 10 sec 1/4, I'll go get an old chevelle or somethin and for fairly cheap make it go fast in a straight line.
I COULD NOT, however MAKE a ZL1, with the tech it has at all. It would be very costly, and not practical.

[white ZL1]

Originally Posted by MPR

Mode 1 – Traction control set for wet conditions, with stability control on and Magnetic Ride Control set on Tour.

Mode 2 – Traction control set for dry conditions, with stability control on and Magnetic Ride Control set on Tour.

Mode 3 – Traction control set on Sport 1, with stability control on and Magnetic Ride Control set on Sport.

Mode 4 – Traction control set on Sport 2, with stability control off and Magnetic Ride Control set on Sport.

Mode 5 – Traction control set on Race, with stability control off and Magnetic Ride Control set on Track. Launch control tuned for VHT-prepped drag strips.

Originally Posted by NightmareZL1

The wet mode is very, very excellent in the wet. Seriously. When you are in a turn, tip toeing through, use PTM1 and then, mid corner, mash the gas - the car will stay in line and you will hear the exhaust sputter as the car manages torque to the ground. If you use PTM1 during dry driving and try the same thing, the car will stumble over itself midcorner and be embarrassingly sloppy.
I normally drive in PTM 2 on rough, poorly maintained road or highway. The suspension is nice and soft and if I get too stupid in a high G corner, the car will, again, make the sputtering sound out of the exhaust and stay in the cornering line.
PTM 3 is rarely used for me.
PTM 4 is fun mode. Unlike PTM1,2,3 which will cut your power if you try to abuse the tires with abrupt steering changes or trying to drift the rear, the PTM4 mode will almost let you do anything, while the PTM4 suspension settings are great at controlling body roll.
PTM5 is great fun as well. But, it will let the car go much more sideways, scary when you didn't mean to do it. Does let loose, but it also saves you if you get too crossed up. and suspension is HARD. Wife dislikes the ride in PTM 4 and hates the ride in PTM 5.

As far was dragging or launching:
PTM 1 Not really useful. Cuts the power big time if wheels spin and won't give it back right away. Launch control does work in the rain and actually is the fastest you will ever take off wet road.
PTM 2 Will suck for launching if you didn't use the launch control (without launch controll, too much wheel spin will cause complete cut off of power for a second or two - embarrassing).
PTM 3 - No really use for me
PTM 4 - Launches are good without launch control and great with launch control.
PTM 5 - You are free to launch however you want, but launch control usage on the street is not very efficient (lots of wheel spin)

I guess I don't understand the advantage to using any of the PTM modes during normal daily driving.
Leave everything on and in Tour mode and you have the softer ride with all of the traction control and active handling that you should need.
Set it to Sport mode and you have a bit firmer steering, sportier ride, and the same traction control and active handling.

If I'm actually at a track (not a dragstrip), then I can use PTM modes 1 through 5 depending on surface conditions and driver ability.

On a dragstrip, it sounds like PTM 4 or 5 are what most have success with on stock or street type radials.
On a drag radial or slick, turn it all off.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by white 2SS/RS

I guess I don't understand the advantage to using any of the PTM modes during normal daily driving.

Individual preference.

Not everybody wants to always (or ever) be confined to the limits of a short computerized leash. Not even on their commutes or runs to the store. To an extent, PTM lets you select your own comfort level without necessarily throwing all of the assists away.


Norm