Jeff's winter Corvette thread.

[ChargerX3]

Nothing is as cool as Jeffs potato truck, c'mon now.

[Jeff V.]

Oh, there's some shit going on with that thing.

Programming the Corvette may be my reward for dealing with that colossal mistake tomorrow...

[ChargerX3]

Lol, I cant wait to hear the details.

[Chris GTO TT]

opcorn:

[mjannusch]

I got the Z06 front grille to put on mine. So adventurous, right? Lol

[Jeff V.]

I have one too

I exploited a 20% off eBay coupon and bought the rest of my stage 2 aero stuff. I just need to finish fixing up that splitter and I can start putting everything on. All the old paint is off. It just needs sanding, filler and paint.

[Jeff V.]

For everyone who isn't Matt, here's what I did tonight.

When GM was working on the software for the 2019 cars, they found a whole new way to calibrate the magnetic suspension to make it ride smoother and corner better at the same time. I added some text from one of the GM documents below if you want the gory details.

Now normally GM doesn't port new software to previous model years. But they decided to make this a paid "GM Performance Parts" upgrade to 2014-2018 cars.

There's been a ton of confusion between owners and even dealers because apparently nobody can read. Owners are asking if their 2016 Z06 "needs" to be upgraded, they're bitching this should be free, or they're mad their dealer has no idea what they're talking about.

The dealers are confused because they don't understand the difference between normal service programming and paid accessory/performance upgrades. So they're charging people several hundred dollars to just duplicate the standard software their cars already had from day 1, and the owners are going away mad because their car doesn't feel any different.

Fuck all that noise. I've got the programming tool, and I found out I can use my software subscription to buy the upgrade and have it applied to my VIN.

So I did exactly that. No trip to the dealer. No confusion. Same price as it would have been if I had paid someone else to do it. That's all assuming the dealer would have charged me MSRP to begin with. Some of them are marking it up...a lot. I did it in my own garage in less time than it takes to finish a beer.





Per GM, the car needs to sit for 8-10 hours so a shock fluid temperature compensation to take place. So I'll test drive it tomorrow afternoon when we get back from my nephew's birthday party.

Here's the details of the upgrade. My car doesn't get a track mode upgrade, which is fine, because I virtually never use that mode. They say they might add it to the Z51 in the future, but I'm not holding my breath.

Continuous on-track and street development combined with the pursuit of perfection have pushed our Corvette engineers to develop updated tuning strategies and algorithms for existing MRC equipped Corvettes. Each calibration is independently tuned for its respective chassis; updates Tour, Sport, and Track modes unless otherwise noted, and includes independent compression and rebound calibration for front and rear dampers. This allows for precise control of heave, pitch, and roll under a wide variety of situations to fine tune the vehicle’s response. Corvette MRC Suspension Calibration Upgrades improve ride quality and handling feel, and have been rigorously developed and tested, ensuring all chassis systems work together seamlessly.

Attributes for the New MR Calibration Updates - Tour Mode

Major Improvements in impact isolation and integration – Impacts are softer, and less harsh.
When the vehicle does encounter rough roads, the structural feel is greatly improved.

Major improvements in ride motions at all speeds. Much more balanced and less abrupt. The car is
more poised in compression and rebound, resulting in a flatter ride. This is not implying stiffer
body motions, but the vehicle exhibits a more composed ride.

Parking lot and low speed (25 mph and less) ride motions are more compliant and less jarring.

Handling is more responsive and much more precise. The response of the vehicle is more exact
responding to the driver steering inputs.

Attributes for the New MR Calibration Updates - Sport Mode:

Sport also has major improvements in impact isolation and integration. With these new
improvements, the impact isolation and integration is better than the Tour mode with the original
production calibrations. – Impacts are softer, and less harsh. When the vehicle does encounter
rough roads, the structural feel is greatly improved.

Major improvements in ride motions at all speeds. Much more balanced and less abrupt. The car is
more poised in compression and rebound, resulting in a flatter ride. The Sport mode exhibits
significantly more body motion control that Tour.

Handling is more responsive and much more precise. The response of the vehicle is more exact
responding to the driver steering inputs weather using Sport mode as a daily driver, or carving
through a mountain road.

Parking lot and low speed (25 mph and less) ride motions are more compliant and less jarring.

Attributes for the New MR Calibration Updates - Track Mode: (Grand Sport and Z06 only)

The new track mode is better balanced and response to driver inputs are much more linear near
and at the limit of adhesion. With the new Track calibration, the redistribution of the damping
makes the car more fluid as it is cornered. The rotation of the car is more precise at initial turn in,
and maintains its path through the turn. As the driver applies throttle, the car sustains its heading
much better.

The new Track calibrations increases driver confidence. This, coupled with the vehicle being better
balanced during the cornering maneuvers resulted in an average of a 1 second lap time
improvement over the original calibration.

Revised temperature compensation tables. As the fluid heated up, during long continuous and
repeated runs, sometimes over 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), the damping was
effected, not only on an absolute basis, but also the front to rear effecting the balance of the car.

New temperature compensation tables were developed to make the balance of the car much more
exact regardless of the damper fluid temperature.

[ChargerX3]

That’s actually really cool you skipped the middle man. Now you can help out your Vette buddies.

I wonder how much better it really rides though.

[Jeff V.]

I've been doing the best I can to answer technical questions on the Corvette forum, but there's not much else I can do to help out. The programming subscription is per-VIN, so even if someone local wanted it done, that'd be an automatic $40 on top of the cost of the upgrade. I wouldn't do it anyway, because I don't want the liability if something goes wrong.

As far as the ride quality, several people have described it as a 'whole new car'. So it'll be interesting.

[DCIV]

That was nice of GM. I’m sure they could have just said nope and gave it to the next car.


Coop

[Jeff V.]

There were some minor yet useful changes made to the track mode display on the digital gauge cluster in 2018. People have been asking for that as a paid upgrade. GM has just ignored it.

I actually downloaded the firmware files for the cluster while I had everything hooked up last night. Just like the navigation system, the code has digital certificates attached to it. So there's no way to modify it ourselves.

[mjannusch]

I think I'll have my dealer do the upgrade on my Z51. Sounds worthwhile, though I can't really complain much about how the car feels right now. If it had similar/better handling and overall not quite as harsh, I'd consider that a good upgrade.

[Jeff V.]

We got back late last night, so I didn't get a chance to drive the car until my commute this morning.

Tour mode feels a lot better. I intentionally went over some rough patches and it's a lot less harsh and jarring. Not that it was that bad before. But this is a really positive improvement. I'll see how sport mode feels on the way home.

So far I'm pretty happy with it.

[Jeff V.]

Sport mode is much better. You still feel everything, but it's less of a sharp jolt or shock and more of a strong shove. It's really nice.

[Chris GTO TT]

Sounds like money well spent!

[Jeff V.]

This car is so good.

[Duck Vader]

But in the end, it is just a vette....

[Chris GTO TT]

I'd still take it for a ride

[Duck Vader]

Don't get me wrong, I have respect for the car and for what Jeff has done with it, but in the end, to me, it is just another Vette.

[Jeff V.]

My morning.



Your morning.