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MANDO ECS 1O UNIT REVIEW

4K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  ProjectVeloN 
#1 ·
Many people on here have a mando unit. Also, many more on the Kia forum. I have read almost everything you can find on the Mando unit and there seem to be about 4 schools of thought on what it does and how it operates. However, no one seems to truly know and honestly it made me get more confused when trying to program mine.

I have had the unit for about 2 weeks now and been playing with it and tried to find more people online who have one and talk to them and also gather their experiences and explanations. I will present the common school of thought and then include what I have arrived at based on a few conversations with people who seemed to understand its complexity, explain it to me simply, and also coincided with my testing.

Here is what many people think:

1. Mando unit is a suspension module that controls compression (ride) and handling (rebound.)
2. (Ride) is straight line performance and (Handling) is cornering performance.
3. When you adjust (ride) and (handling) you get the benefits of both at the same time.
4. The Mando unit controls Low Speed Compression (Ride) and High Speed Compressions (Handling.)

You can see how these 4 schools of though could confuse someone trying to set up their MANDO up because a test would validate one but disprove another. And something that should be true in one instance, given certain rule parameters, and the rules own logic that govern it, would quickly be disproved in a test.

Here were my two test:

1. Straight ahead at 30mph and onto the brakes hard. Here were the 4 variants.
1a. Ride (O - Full Soft) / Handling (0 - Full Soft)
1b. Ride (O- Full Soft) / Handling (100- Full Stiff)
1c. Ride (100 - Full Stiff) / Handling (0-Full Soft)
1d. Ride (100- Full Stiff) / Handling (100 - Full Stiff)

Options 1A and 1C delivered the same results on nose dive at braking. And, it was a lot!! The only difference was the ride quality going into the braking zone before applying the brakes. Once on the brakes - nothing changed.

Options 1B and 1D also delivered the same results on nose dive at braking. And there was almost none. The difference again being ride quality at 30mph entering the braking zone. One ride was very smooth, and one ride was very stiff. Once on the brakes - nothing changed.

Test Two: 25 mph straight ahead into a 360 degree cul de sac where I took the first 180 with a hard jolt of the wheel and almost full lock to the left. Here were the 4 variants.

1a. Ride (O - Full Soft) / Handling (0 - Full Soft)
1b. Ride (O- Full Soft) / Handling (100- Full Stiff)
1c. Ride (100 - Full Stiff) / Handling (0-Full Soft)
1d. Ride (100- Full Stiff) / Handling (100 - Full Stiff)

Options 1A and 1C delivered the same results in body roll. And, it was a lot!! The only difference was the ride quality going into the braking zone before quickly turning the wheel. Once I began the quick jolt of the wheel - nothing changed between 1A and 1C. The body was the same and it was enormous. If I didn't have my seat belt on I would of been in the passenger seat.

Options 1B and 1D also delivered the same results in body roll. And - there was almost none. The difference again being ride quality at 25mph entering the cul de sac. One ride was very smooth, and one ride was very stiff. Once the wheel turned - nothing changed between the two options. Both delivered great results and the car was balanced, poised, and responsive.

Conclusions: Inferences.

1.
The Mando unit does not control compression and rebound.

2. (Ride) is straight line performance and (Handling) is cornering performance. This is the most accurate statement but is not fully true, and that will be explained later.

3. When you adjust the mando unit you get the benefits of both (ride) and (handling) at the same time(because people, myself included, assume one is compression and one is rebound. This is false. It is on a priority scale. The default setting is (ride), but certain conditions, governed by a few sensors, dictate (handling) situations. Ride is default until you slam on the brakes, make an aggressive lane change, enter into a corner too fast, and the factors that dictate a handling situation, make (handling) the default mode until you are out of that situation.

3A Example: If you set front and rear (ride) setting to 25 you will have a fairly comfortable ride with also a touch of road feel and firmness. If you set the (handling) to 25 , nothing happens in ride comfort. It doesnt matter if you set handling to 0 or a 100. What does change is the response of the car in lane changes, cornering, body roll, but only when necessitated. So, if you, like me, set the (ride) at 25 and the (handling) at 25 and assume you have balanced out the compression and rebound you are wrong. You have not balanced the car in that way. You have made a soft car in comfortable driving situations and aggressive driving situations unfortunately.

3B Example: If you set the (ride) to 50 and the handling to (50) you will have a rough ride almost all the time and feel all the potholes because 50 on Mando is pretty firm. If the (handling) is set at 50 you will have a car that feel pretty planted and a tad better than our N mode from a feel and responsiveness standpoint.

4. The Mando Unit controls low speed compression and high speed compressions. This is also false. This is not dictated by speed btw. The mando unit controls (ride) and (handling) which are all filed under Low speed compressions.

High speed compressions and rebound are fixed on our car. The mando allows us to adjust the compression damping, and the rebound damping is fixed. The high speed dampening on our cars is also fixed and the electronic dampening adjust only the low speed dampening.

The compression Damping comes into play anytime we hit a bump or turn a corner. Any time the length of the shock is reduced (compressed). This is when variable damping is utilized.

The shock control is very fast. VERY. The shocks can go from 0 to 100% firmness in milliseconds. Because of this - the computer can constantly change between the 2 settings of ride and handling.

What triggers a handling event?

Rapid acceleration or deceleration
Rapid changes to yes sensors
Changes in yaw (rotation) are also a trigger for (handling).
Steering angle input. Even before the yaw sensor detects - steering angle combined with speed will trigger a (handling) event.
Many combos of throttle or brake and steering angle and yaw combined switch to (handling) situation.



These are the (ride) events:

Cruising down the freeway at 30mph or 85mph on a flat road with minimal input will experience the same ride quality if (ride) is set to 20. The ride will be comfortable. If you set the (ride) to 50 it will be more firm and that wont change based on your speed.
Most parking maneuvres cause speed is too slow to trigger handling event.

Based upon these rules I suggest you aslo play with your mando and I think you will be quite pleased.

To finalize and reiterate -

1. Ride is the normal condition
2. Handling is triggered by an event
3. You can not have both at the same time.
4. Choose your (ride) setting according to the roads you are driving on
5. Choose your (handling) setting based upon how aggressive you will steer and brake.

I hope this helps! I havent slept in quite a while!

Blessings,
-JE








 
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#3 ·
OMG. I've been messing with it at autocross events, which don't give enough time/runs to really figure out what everything is, and had planned on really trying to figure out the difference between ride and handling in an upcoming test & tune I was doing. You have answered so many questions, thank you!
 
#4 ·
I couldnt sleep for weeks and my head was spinning trying to figure it out. I also did another test which I didnt write about, but what I came to realize is that if the Mando controls compression/rebound only the the app doesnt make the car better, its actually limits it.

By doing it on the priority scale you can optimize for ride and handling.

Lastly, if it only controlled compression/rebound whether as a stand alone or in terms of high speed compression/low speed compression then the interface is useless because it gives insufficient options to control all of those.

-JE
 
#5 ·
If I was doing AutoX , depending on the surface I would set the (ride) somewhere between 60-80 front and rear.
I would set the (handling) to 80-90 front and 70-80 rear and work from there.

If I was on the track then I would make the (handling) higher in the rear and lower in the front.

-JE
 
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