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Active Air vs. Standard Suspension

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The original topic of this thread is a hot issue for me right now. There's one thing I'd like to know, but it's probably difficult to determine with a sufficient level of confidence: That's whether or not range at highway speeds is significantly affected by the type of suspension (in particular, by the fact that the active air lowers the car for improved aerodynamics). Any chance that two owners with otherwise similarly configured cars (particularly: tires) take a highway trip together and check their ideal range readouts before and afterwards? I couldn't find any official word from Tesla in this regard (other than that air suspension "helps with range" ), did I miss something?
 
The original topic of this thread is a hot issue for me right now. There's one thing I'd like to know, but it's probably difficult to determine with a sufficient level of confidence: That's whether or not range at highway speeds is significantly affected by the type of suspension (in particular, by the fact that the active air lowers the car for improved aerodynamics). Any chance that two owners with otherwise similarly configured cars (particularly: tires) take a highway trip together and check their ideal range readouts before and afterwards? I couldn't find any official word from Tesla in this regard (other than that air suspension "helps with range" ), did I miss something?
I havent noticed a difference comparing to what others post for range. I usually don't drive faster than 65-70mph though. Having said that, in order to get any sort of accurate comparison, one needs to compare two cars at the same location, time etc. In my limited experience I will say that it's relatively easy to get rated range.
 
It's a byproduct of the low center of gravity. If the car doesn't roll in the first place, because cog is almost level with the axes, then you don't need no anti-roll-bars. Which is great because it saves on weight, again.

Corvette has same CG, yet it has a beefy sway bar......

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The original topic of this thread is a hot issue for me right now. There's one thing I'd like to know, but it's probably difficult to determine with a sufficient level of confidence: That's whether or not range at highway speeds is significantly affected by the type of suspension (in particular, by the fact that the active air lowers the car for improved aerodynamics). Any chance that two owners with otherwise similarly configured cars (particularly: tires) take a highway trip together and check their ideal range readouts before and afterwards? I couldn't find any official word from Tesla in this regard (other than that air suspension "helps with range" ), did I miss something?

with Tesla's flat bottom, mpg hit will be a lot less than a regular car.
 
yeap, I saw that dinky sway bar (on a 4,600LB car), wonder why even bother....2,000LB Miata has a beefier bar !!
It's a byproduct of the low center of gravity. If the car doesn't roll in the first place, because cog is almost level with the axes, then you don't need no anti-roll-bars. Which is great because it saves on weight, again.
Corvette has same CG, yet it has a beefy sway bar......
I'm no expert, but here are two sources citing Peter Rawlinson with this explanation (which I remembered somewhere in the back of my head):

Peter indicates that this gives the car an unusually low center of gravity, which helps to reduce the amount it rolls in corners. It's so low that the car, despite its considerable 4,200lb bulk, can make do with relatively thin anti-rollbars. We asked Peter if we're getting to the point where the CG is so low, beneath the roll center of the car, that it would actually cause it to lean into corners. The Model S isn't quite there, apparently, the roll-center is still below the center of gravity of the car, but according to Peter having a car that leans into corners is apparently not as desirable a suspension effect as we'd have thought, causing an unsatisfactory driving sensation, among other things.
Engadget, Jan. 2011: Tesla Chief Engineer Peter Rawlinson geeks out with us about Model S design

Even with its suspension compressed in the banked turns, the Model S rode smoothly, soaking up the many fissures in the plant’s old and cracking pavement. Chief engineer Peter Rawlinson says the low center of gravity helps out here, too, allowing the Model S to run much thinner anti-roll bars than would be normal on a two-ton sports sedan. That helps reduce impact shock and ride harshness.
Car and Driver, Oct. 2011: 2012 Tesla Model S: Riding Shotgun
 
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I have the active air suspension since 1.) my son's preschool has a short but ridiculously steep driveway so I use it daily and 2.) I wanted the car sooner (3 and 1/2 year wait was enough). I have been very happy with it. I can't compare it to standard suspension however. I would think that unless you are dealing with steep driveways or other obstacles you may not need it.
 
QWK, re;Your comments on standard suspension feeling the same as air as best as you can recall.

This is nice to hear. My standard suspension/19 inch S arrives on 4/9. Do you think the car sits at about the same height as less than 55 speeds as the air suspension? I too chose standard for reliability and longevity. My guess resale value once the vehicle is past warranty will be markedly higher for standard suspension over air suspension.
 
QWK, re;Your comments on standard suspension feeling the same as air as best as you can recall.

This is nice to hear. My standard suspension/19 inch S arrives on 4/9. Do you think the car sits at about the same height as less than 55 speeds as the air suspension? I too chose standard for reliability and longevity. My guess resale value once the vehicle is past warranty will be markedly higher for standard suspension over air suspension.
Probably close to the same height as air suspension car in regular mode. Yep, air suspensions are just another buch of possible failure points that are big $ to fix. No thanks.
 
qwk,

If you could, would you please post a picture of what the touchscreen interface looks like on the controls screen? I'm wondering what the graphics look like where the air suspension buttons would normally appear.

Thanks!

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qwk,

If you could, would you please post a picture of what the touchscreen interface looks like on the controls screen? I'm wondering what the graphics look like where the air suspension buttons would normally appear.

Thanks!
 
Geez, now I want to test-drive a car with the standard suspension *on my local roads* just to compare for myself.

I've never driven a car with air suspension before the Model S. I've experienced some behavior which I attribute to the air suspension, but I could be wrong. It seems to "muffle" the very serious bumps in my local roads; these are bumps which on other cars (with coil springs) caused a "bouncity-bouncity" reaction for some time after actually hitting the bumps. The air suspension presumably would not have the same "slinky-like" behavior, which is why I'm attributing this to the air suspension, but what do I know?

(I really need to get a picture of the worst road -- the ruts in the brick surface are six inches deep. It needs to be rebuilt from subgrade, but there are no plans to do so any time soon.)

My only experience with air suspensions before this car has been on trains, where they've been standard on passenger railroad cars for years.
 
Since the majority of people own air suspension cars, hopefully this won't be too hard to answer;

Does the car remember when you choose a "non-standard" setting? What I mean by this is, if I prefer to have a higher ride height most of the time (say High or Very High), will the car do its thing and lower when I go on the highway, then return to its previous "high" setting when I slow down again? Or will it always return to Standard?

The reason I ask is that I am a very forgetful person and if I have to consciously choose to raise the car every time I enter a parking lot or stop on a street with high curbs, I will probably not really use it. Obviously, this limits the value of the air suspension somewhat.
 
Since the majority of people own air suspension cars, hopefully this won't be too hard to answer;

Does the car remember when you choose a "non-standard" setting? What I mean by this is, if I prefer to have a higher ride height most of the time (say High or Very High), will the car do its thing and lower when I go on the highway, then return to its previous "high" setting when I slow down again? Or will it always return to Standard?

The reason I ask is that I am a very forgetful person and if I have to consciously choose to raise the car every time I enter a parking lot or stop on a street with high curbs, I will probably not really use it. Obviously, this limits the value of the air suspension somewhat.

No. The car will automatically switch between "Normal" and "Low". It will be "Low" at highway speeds and "Normal" at all other times. If you manually set it to "High" or "Very High" (can only be done at low speeds), it will change it back to "Normal" after you speed-up to normal driving speeds.

The setting does persist through locking/unlocking of the car though -- i.e. If you raise the car to pull into your driveway, lock it overnight, it will remain raised in the morning when you get in and back out.

However, there is talk from Tesla reps that upcoming firmware will have "geo-fencing" for the suspension height settings. So that speed bump that you drive over every morning using a "High" setting will be remembered by the car based on GPS location.
 
Does anyone have pics of standard suspension? I'm starting to think it does not actually exist and was replaced by software limited air suspension like the 40kWh pack :)
Need pics or it didn't happen :scared:
 
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I have received my standard suspension Model S today. It is coil springs over Bilstein shocks. This is exactly what I was hoping for, a truly mechanical, traditional suspension. Easy and cheap to maintain. I have about 2 hours of time behind a friend's air suspension Model S. He has 21" wheels, I have 19's, so the higher profile may be why my ride is better. But I absolutely am sure, my standard suspension with 19's rides much more smoothly yet still handles completely flat around the curves. I am blown away with the ride!

The car was perfect upon arrival. I can not find a single defect.
 
I have received my standard suspension Model S today. It is coil springs over Bilstein shocks. This is exactly what I was hoping for, a truly mechanical, traditional suspension. Easy and cheap to maintain. I have about 2 hours of time behind a friend's air suspension Model S. He has 21" wheels, I have 19's, so the higher profile may be why my ride is better. But I absolutely am sure, my standard suspension with 19's rides much more smoothly yet still handles completely flat around the curves. I am blown away with the ride!

Thanks for the quick review/observation. I have a standard suspension on order and have driven 3 separate air suspension cars (with both 19's and 21's). Glad to know the standard feels great!