table of contents
■ The performance damper really worked!
Yamaha Motor's "Performance Damper" is installed on Lexus "F SPORT" and "NISMO Road Car" and is said to have a tremendous effect on driving.
I visited Yamaha Motor, the developer and manufacturer, to solve the long-standing question, "Does it really work?"
Following the "first part" that approaches the theory and structure, the second part is a long-awaited test drive of the actual vehicle. We approach "Does the performance damper really work?"
What to hide, the author who writes the manuscript in this way has been riding cars with performance dampers such as Lexus's "F SPORT" and Nissan's "NISMO road car series" many times, "It is different with performance dampers. "Hey," he was the one who talked with a familiar face.
However, I'm ashamed to say that I haven't actually tried the "effect of a single performance damper".
This is a valuable opportunity to directly compare the presence / absence of a performance damper on the same vehicle (Lexus GS), so I can't help but look forward to it. I will judge without a sontaku.
From the conclusion, it is "too effective and surprised".
From the principle, I expected that it would work, but it would work so far ...
First, drive with the Lexus GS without the damper. Because the design is old, the car body is loose and the rigidity is weak enough to think "Is this what GS is?" According to people, "it wasn't because of deterioration over time, but from the beginning").
What happens if you install a performance damper there? The impression is completely different, as if it were scales from the eyes. Resonance of the car body is reduced when crossing a step or due to unevenness of the road surface, and it seems as if the rigidity of the body has increased. Is it so different?
It is often said that "a car with high rigidity absorbs the impact from the road surface immediately", but that is exactly what happens after the performance damper is installed. It is impressive that it absorbs the impact from the road surface even in the extremely low speed range where people walk.
From that point onward, even if you are driving in the city, the car will sway less on bad roads and the feeling of flat riding will increase, so not only the driver but also the passengers will benefit from the increased comfort.
According to the person in charge of Yamaha Motor, the body is less likely to wobble because "the body no longer resonates, and the suspension can now demonstrate its original performance." It's amazing.
As for the improvement of drivability, the calmness and firmness of the steer feel have increased. And it is impressive that the steering angle of the steering is firmly determined and the number of correction steering during turning is reduced.
In other words, it feels like "I have transformed from an American car to a European car."
The ride has become thicker than it was frivolous. The effect is easier to understand than I expected.
Next, we took a test drive on the predecessor model of the Toyota "86" that incorporated a special performance damper for testing.
The damper installed in this vehicle can switch the damping force from the controller in the room. In this test drive, instead of switching the damping force finely, I tried to compare while switching between the "weakest" and "strongest" patterns.
The first thing I was able to confirm was that when it was made the strongest, the vibration of the car body that came around was alleviated and the body rigidity seemed to increase. It's really strange, but did you install the car body reinforcement parts? It will change steadily.
By increasing the damping force, the ride quality will be improved, the steering will be more calm, and the steering angle will be determined exactly, just like the GS after installing the performance damper.
Once you know the ride quality of the performance tamper, when you weaken the effect, you may wonder, "Is the 86 so soft?"
Did you do the suspension tune because the steering response became better and the driving was sharp? It changes in the direction of good maneuverability. I'm prepared to lie if I praise it too much, but the effect of the performance damper is amazing.
With or without the performance damper, it feels like "the slightly turbid water has become clear and clear." The steer feel, handling, and stagnation and miscellaneous tastes that were comfortable to ride disappear, and the taste changes to a refreshing taste. After installing the performance tamper, it is similar to the feeling of drinking tap water with a miscellaneous taste through a water purifier.
It may be said that the feeling of the car has improved, but it may be easier to think that it has "regained the original performance of the design".
Certainly, if you buy it as an after-part, it will cost you nearly 100,000 yen including wages, so it may not be affordable. However, when I compared them in this way, I understood the effect well. Once you know it, you can't go back.
By the way, performance dampers currently ship about 300,000 units a year. It seems that the total number of shipments reached 2.5 million at the end of 2021.
The car installed in the new car is lucky in a sense because it saves you the trouble of purchasing and installing it yourself.
Even so, it's not so different.
(Text: Takahiro Kudo / Photo: Ya Tamura)