Is anyone familiar with the Auto adjust suspension?

Spike

we've met, but never dated



what do you wanna know?

Certain FCs (US spec GXL's and Japanese spec TII's with the AAS option) were equipped with AAS (Auto Adjusting Suspension). AAS is a system that automatically changes the damping rate on your struts and shocks based on three different scenarios. The struts and shocks have three internal settings and two external settings. The settings are soft, firm, and very firm.



If the car is accelerated quickly while driving below 37 MPH, the anti-squat feature kicks in. When the anti-squat feature engages, if the normal button is pressed the front struts and rear shocks will automatically change over from the soft setting to the firm setting. If the sport button is pressed, the front struts and rear shocks will automatically change over from the firm setting to the very firm setting.



AAS also controls is anti-dive. Anti-dive is engaged if someone suddenly jumps on the brakes. When the anti-dive feature engages, if the normal button is pressed the front struts and rear shocks will automatically change over from the soft setting to the firm setting. If the sport button is pressed, the front struts and rear shocks will automatically change over from the firm setting to the very firm setting.



During regular driving, if the normal button is pressed the front struts and rear shocks will be in the soft setting until the car reaches approximately 50 MPH. Above 50 MPH, the front struts will automatically change over to the firm setting, while the rears are left in the soft setting. If the sport button is pressed, the front struts and rear shocks will be in the firm setting until the car reaches 50 MPH. Above 50 MPH, the front struts will automatically change over to the very firm setting, while the rears are left in the firm setting.



If you still have the original AAS struts and shocks, they are blown. The seals don’t, any oil that hasn’t leaked has the consistency of mayonnaise, and the car may handle like a full sized Buick. The hardware is made by Tokico, and I don’t know of anyone outside of a dealer (in this case Mazdatrix would qualify as a dealer) that can supply them.

They are blown no matter what? I find that hard to believe with how well my FC handles with the stock AAS.



I figured it was the AAS actuator solenoids that failed. I pulled one apart, and ran leads on it and electrically it didn't work so well (anymore).



The solenoid turns a small mechanism that looks exactly like the inside of a valve stem on a tire - I am curious if anyone knows which way you can turn them to set them all to very firm setting? Just to play around until my new suspension arrives.. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/wink.png It looks like can be adjusted with a regular valve stem tool.



Any ideas?

Realistically? They’re blown. Pull a shock and compress it. You’ll see. What are you replacing them with?

i was thinking of putting the aas unit onto like tokiko 5 way struts, but i dont think its really worth doing

Converting the manually adjustable Tokicos sounds pretty interesting. There are aftermarket companies that sell electronically controlled actuators, but they usually require them to be on their struts/shocks. If you could pull it off there may be a market for them. KONI is the OEM supplier for the AAS technology that’s currently used on the Ferrari 575M, 456M, and 360. The big difference in the Tokico units and the KONI parts used by Ferrari, is the KONIs only have two settings.



I know of some places that will rebuild motorcycle shocks, some of those places will rebuild auto shocks, but I don't know of anyone who will rebuild the OEM Tokicos. That’s a shame too because the main problem with the electronic Tokicos is their price.