What is Magna ride?

[Trides]

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Magnaride is a premium suspension option, where the shocks change stiffness in accordance with the road conditions and how you drive the truck. This controlled by a computer which has many sensor inputs, such as wheel rotation speed, truck speed, braking status, and lateral acceleration changes. The specific feature of the Magnaride suspension is that an electrical current is sent to each shock from the computer, and the electrical current will change the viscosity of the fluid in the shocks to change the amount of stiffness. Each shock is controlled independently by the computer.

There is also an air system component in the rear shocks, with an on-board compressor which keeps the truck level, when loading the back cargo area, or when attaching a trailer to the truck. This is also tied into the computer which controls the shocks fluid viscosity.

 

[olyelr]

Well said joseph!

 

[Doubeleive]

looks like you answered your own question

 

[keg97]

I'd say it's a money pit!!! It's nice when it works but the shocks are pricey and not durable. I've changed over to a regular suspension on m Escalade ESV and really don't notice a difference. Unless you count the improvement from driving on a near frozen magnaride shock!

 

[CMoore711]

I’ll admit that there are some owners who have to end up replacing their magnetic ride control (MRC) shocks sooner than they should. A few owners having to replace at 20-30K miles is premature. This happens occasionally with regular shocks too.

It is quite normal to have to replace any “standard” type of shock/strut as soon as 50K miles. To get closer 100K miles out of shocks/struts when you consider how heavy our SUVs are I would consider lucky and pretty damn good.

There are numerous opinions on how much people like or dislike the MRC ride. Suspension ride quality is very subjective. Regardless, all of GMs highest trim models across many platforms have the MRC suspension so they consider it their “premium” best suspension option. I happen to like the way it rides very well. But to think “oh no the OEM replacements are too expensive” “oh what a money pit”. Why would any owner of the higher trim models think that the MRC shocks/struts would be cheap or average priced parts to replace? You paid a premium price for you high trim model that was equipped with the MRC didn’t you? You could have gotten a cheaper less expensive lower trim model. To think that replacement OEM parts on your high trim model with MRC suspension should be cheap or comparable to standard shocks is just ignorant.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

When I purchased my new-to-me 07 Yukon XL Denali, the previous owner had stripped out the electronic Autoride Suspension (the precursor premium active suspension before the MagnaRide suspension), and replaced it with standard shocks and coilovers. I converted back to the OEM Electronic Autoride Suspension with genuine OEM parts, and the ride quality is much improved, in my opinion.

 

[salman]

Excellent post, I've been looking for such explanation of how this system work. But I have question, I noticed lately the air compressor is kicking in more often. Why is that happening?
2015 Yukon Denali

 

[Tahoe14]

Possibly a leak at one of the hose fittings. Maybe spray some soapy water and look for air bubbles. Also inspect the hose.

 

[keg97]

I’ll admit that there are some owners who have to end up replacing their magnetic ride control (MRC) shocks sooner than they should. A few owners having to replace at 20-30K miles is premature. This happens occasionally with regular shocks too.

It is quite normal to have to replace any “standard” type of shock/strut as soon as 50K miles. To get closer 100K miles out of shocks/struts when you consider how heavy our SUVs are I would consider lucky and pretty damn good.

There are numerous opinions on how much people like or dislike the MRC ride. Suspension ride quality is very subjective. Regardless, all of GMs highest trim models across many platforms have the MRC suspension so they consider it their “premium” best suspension option. I happen to like the way it rides very well. But to think “oh no the OEM replacements are too expensive” “oh what a money pit”. Why would any owner of the higher trim models think that the MRC shocks/struts would be cheap or average priced parts to replace? You paid a premium price for you high trim model that was equipped with the MRC didn’t you? You could have gotten a cheaper less expensive lower trim model. To think that replacement OEM parts on your high trim model with MRC suspension should be cheap or comparable to standard shocks is just ignorant.

Sorry but this is a simplistic response. It's not the price. I have vehicles that cost significantly more than our Escalade. I'm not cheap but I'm not going to throw good money after bad. I always put premium in for gas. I typically use the dealer for servicing to ensure it's done according to OEM standards. Can't emphasize enough- it's not a "can't afford this" proposition.

I'd gladly pay the price to change out a defective shock or recognize I'll need to change them out at a particular interval (80-120K). But the warranty changed out 4 shocks for me. Then I had two more freeze up and was staring at thousands in changing them out. And this was over 115K miles. So that's going on my 3rd set of MRC shocks over 5 years and 115K miles. This truck is our family wagon and does a ton of highway miles going to travel sports practices/tournaments. Previous similar vehicles (Infiniti QX56 & a QX80) never had any shock replacement before trading them in at 130K and 160K miles.

Sorry- that's poor design exacerbated by a high replacement cost. All for what many of us would say is a slight (perhaps none) improvement over standard shocks.