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Active Air vs. Standard Suspension

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Guess I'm equally naive - Curious as to the answer

not sure about the electronics to control air suspension. But there are a ton of aftermarket companies that specialize in converting air suspension to coil suspension for Mercedes, Audi, Landrover, Jaguar....pretty sure someone will design one for Tesla once warranty runs out.
it is a simpler device. replacing air with coil spring is pretty straight forward (assume no electronic issue). another option will probably be swapping them out with Bilstein/Koni/AST/KW coilover. someone is bound to make one for the S in few years.

Strutmasters - The Suspension Experts

they sell not only conversion kit, but most air compressor, air spring bag and relay kit to fix most air suspension, so it probably wouldn't be too costly to fix S. air suspension http://www.suncoreindustries.com
 
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not sure what your definition of affordable price is. do a Google search on Mercedes, Audi, Landrover..... you will see air suspension reliability hasn't improved much lately. there is no reason to believe a new company like Tesla will do a better job building a more reliable air suspension than say Mercedes ,that's been doing it for over 40 years, who still can't get reliability right. price PER corner (air suspension) is usually $1,000 (used) to $2,500 (dealer) when it comes time to fix them.

4 years warranty goes by really fast !!!
this is one of reason why many high-end cars depreciate like crazy. once off lease and out of warranty, one simply can't afford to maintain them when $$$ parts break. so just because Tesla will warranty for 4 years, doesn't mean you should care less. it will affect its resale price closer you are to warranty expiration.

best OEM suspension on the market are Magneride by GM (used by Ferrari). that I would upgrade to

The air suspension used by Tesla is made by Continental, not Tesla. Same company that supplies the air suspension for Audi and Mercedes. Reliability and parts will be the same as for those.
 
I have had my own bad experiences with Air Shocks, that I will be ordering my MS with standard. First off, my parents old Lincoln Navigator, has had 7 new sets of air shocks. Yes, it is a 2002, but that is only 11 years old. At first, they thought they got suckered into the extended warranty's, however, that has paid off. The Extended Warranty has paid close to $22,000 in Air Shock replacements and repairs on a vehicle that is worth less then 10,000. All repairs were done by lincold using OEM parts. Even tried different dealership to make sure the dealer was not "the problem". Fast Forward, parents 2010 Lincon MKT, 2 sets of air shocks. They do not hit things, just normal driving, about 80% freeway for them. the MKT has 22,000 miles on it.

Air Shocks on Mother-n-laws Nissan, list goes on. Noone listens to me when I say go standard.
 
I have had my own bad experiences with Air Shocks, that I will be ordering my MS with standard. First off, my parents old Lincoln Navigator, has had 7 new sets of air shocks. Yes, it is a 2002, but that is only 11 years old. At first, they thought they got suckered into the extended warranty's, however, that has paid off. The Extended Warranty has paid close to $22,000 in Air Shock replacements and repairs on a vehicle that is worth less then 10,000. All repairs were done by lincold using OEM parts. Even tried different dealership to make sure the dealer was not "the problem". Fast Forward, parents 2010 Lincon MKT, 2 sets of air shocks. They do not hit things, just normal driving, about 80% freeway for them. the MKT has 22,000 miles on it.

Air Shocks on Mother-n-laws Nissan, list goes on. Noone listens to me when I say go standard.
Yep, that is the main reason I didn't go with the performance. I don't want active air suspension.
 
So, to renew the question, has anyone gotten standard suspension who can report what the ride is like? I'd be very interested to hear a comparison, but I'd be nearly as interested to simply hear a review of the standard suspension.

(I got air suspension for comfort, since our roads are bumpity bumpity bumpity; it'll cost more later, but it'll save me in back pain.)
 
Someone in the Tesla Forums that just picked up a standard suspension model has provided some insight:

"nfsilver | MARCH 19, 2013I only test drove the air suspension once back in December and I remembered the suspensions being more stiff. It's probably because we are lower to the ground when driving in the air. These standard ones feel much more comfortable to me, like a more bouncy feel when going over imperfections on the road.
Since std. suspensions are being delivered now, maybe they will start having some for test drives.
Fyi, I am a person that prefers less mechanical failure issues, so even if air suspension would have felt better, I'd still have opted for standard. This is why I also didn't opt for the panoramic roof."
 
surprised all the negativity with standard suspension? I picked STD suspension out of choice not financial reason. I would of taken it even if air suspension is a zero dollar option. in the past 50 years, is there ever a time a collector or a used car buyer ever wished an used car with air suspension ? They cost $$$ to fix, difficult to upgrade. you are stuck with what factory gave you. no modification. anything breaks, you are better off junking the car. you better hope Tesla would build a standard suspension so once the warranty run out, you can retrofit your air suspension S if anything goes wrong.

does Ferrari or Porsche build their sports car with air suspension ? I can name 100 great handling std suspension cars, can you name even just a few air suspension cars that are benchmark for handling ?
if you decide for whatever reason (we are all different), your air suspension rides too harsh or too soft, what you gonna do ? us std suspension just a shock or springs away.

Had it not been for the delivery timing I would have opted for the standard suspension myself. Being a car geek I know that I can wrench on a standard coil/spring suspension with no issues vs an air suspension setup. Couple that with the fact that I can't permanently set the ride height or comfort level that the air suspension gives just makes it that much more frustrating.

Don't get me wrong, the ride is great and handling is pretty darn good for a car as big as the Model S. You can easily rotate the car in corners, feed in power exiting corners and keep it stable. It corners very flatly for a car with dinky sway bars so they have some sort of magic going on under there but I am old school and would like to have standard suspension.
 
So, to renew the question, has anyone gotten standard suspension who can report what the ride is like? I'd be very interested to hear a comparison, but I'd be nearly as interested to simply hear a review of the standard suspension.

(I got air suspension for comfort, since our roads are bumpity bumpity bumpity; it'll cost more later, but it'll save me in back pain.)
Feels fine. It's been 8 months since I have driven a car with air, but I don't think there is much difference, especially with the 19" wheels.