Quote:
Originally Posted by satz
Hi Sinbad,
respectfully, I'm not sure that description is accurate about the 'reactive' suspension aspect on our humble X3 adaptive M suspension.
I believe it's a relatively simple valving system that changes on the dampers, depending on the drive experience setting to make the damping softer or firmer. Using 'adaptive' mode just means that the valving would activate firmer/softer depending on perhaps steering angle, speed, pitch, (maybe evn navigation data?) but I don't think the system reacts to the road surface itself at each wheel. That would be like that reactive suspension that Lotus developed in the 1980s/1990s that I used to dream of having on a car... But our relatively low cost adaptive suspension option is probably not that sophisticated.  I believe it might work like that on the more top-end BMWs?
Couldn't find anything about it in the Technical Training Manuals.
Happy to stand corrected!
cheers |
No worries. It's not explained from BMW very well.
Adjustable shocks used to work off a manual dial where you will literally dial in the firmness of the strut to meet your preferred stiffness.
BMW Adaptive M Suspension doesn't just do this electronically - that is, it doesn't simply set soft, firm, firmest like the old adjustable suspensions. There's a lot more going on. Many sensors, it's own bus, computer module dedicated to constantly assess and make micro adjustments - within a few milliseconds.
I notice this best when taking a cloverleaf on uneven pavement, the tires just stay glued to the road. Very, very nice.
Here's some various sources with more info:
This explains how it modifies on-the-fly to hold the road:
This Youtuber explains pretty well. Posting @ part where he discusses BMW:
This guys writes a good explanation:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=942225
From Jalopnik:
https://jalopnik.com/the-engineering...ing-1830257906