Auto Lowering Air Suspensing - what do you guys set it to and why?

[Waldek]

What do you have your "auto lowering air suspension" set to and why on what size of the wheels?
I have regular stock 20" wheels that comes with 90D in California with Continental CrossSport LX M+S tires. I just had my first MX 90D VIN 0017xx exchanged for MX 90D VIN 0415xx so nearly 40k difference in VIN and as this new car has new tires and all I was wondering what is your setting on autolowering suspension and how does it affect wear and tear on tires?
I used to have my 1 year old car set to never lower and used to drive always on "standard".... I made on my tires (same ones as I have now on a new car) 49k miles in 1 year. Front tires showed at the end significant wear and tear and they looked like they need to be changed in next 3-5k miles for sure. Rear tires looked like a bit over half way done so I would say they could last another 20-30k or a bit more to my eye. Worth to mention that about 5-7k miles out of total mileage was with towing trailer 3-4k lbs.

Let's get back to my question: I noticed on a new car that we took delivery 2 days ago default settings on autolowering suspension was set to "always"... I slid the slider for now to 75+ but I am just wondering if anyone has already any knowledge or experience with driving on low vs driving on standard and how does it affect wear and tear... and please also post how does it affect range, but for me this part is secondary unless there is huge difference on range

Anyone any input? I tried to ask delivery specialists at Fremont but they were not really knowledgeable about this part. I may ask some tech at service center when I visit them first time to take care of something next week Any and all input really appreciated.

 

[NovemberXray]

I keep mine in low all the time, primarily for aesthetic reasons. At highway speeds low will provide slightly better efficiency.

 

[wqu06]

I keep mine in low all the time, primarily for aesthetic reasons. At highway speeds low will provide slightly better efficiency.

Saw this video on YT recently, supposedly setting your suspension low/very low long term can wear out your inner treads of your tires?

 

[Rodolfo Paiz]

It's true that setting the suspension to low will push the wheels out a little further, increasing negative camber and thus increasing wear on the tires. That inch or so of reduced ground clearance also makes it more likely that you'll scrape the bottom of the car on something while driving or parking.

However, there are also benefits to the low suspension setting: at high speed, setting the suspension to low will provide an improvement in stability as well as in aerodynamic drag, so you'll get slightly more range. Like most things, there's no "right answer" and your choice is about your priorities.

To me, the reasonable choice is to set it on standard usually, but to low at 50+ mph. That way, I get better ground clearance and less tire wear in city and slow driving, but I get more stability and less drag when driving faster on the highway. Seems like a good compromise to me. Others may well choose differently.

 

[deque]

Delivery specialist set mine at 55MPH during orientation as a good value to start with.

 

[tizio]

When I first got mine, I set it to high in all the places I drive with speed bumps or awful roads. After a short bit, I realized that having the suspension fully extended on bumps actually leads to more jostling, so now I do VL on highways, L or S in the city, and VL at home for ingress/egress. The only time I use high now is when I'm parking in a lot with high curbs that could scrape the bumper.

 

[rainforest]

I set mine to 90km/hr.

 

[Nerdy_Engineer]

When I first got mine, I set it to high in all the places I drive with speed bumps or awful roads. After a short bit, I realized that having the suspension fully extended on bumps actually leads to more jostling, so now I do VL on highways, L or S in the city, and VL at home for ingress/egress. The only time I use high now is when I'm parking in a lot with high curbs that could scrape the bumper.

Be careful setting your suspension to high to clear curbs. Sometimes the suspension will randomly lower itself when the car is off.

 

[Yinn]

Originally I set it to 65mph auto lowering.

Reason was that at low speeds, it auto raises and avoids any parking curbs. It's a high enough speed that it will auto lower before entering most turns and having it adjust in turns. This also keeps uneven tire wear at a minimum.

After 10,000 mi; I changed to just keeping it on low. I just prefer it the way it drives that way. The only negative is parking curbs, so I'm extra careful around that.

 

[Peteybabes]

i have my car set to standard to auto lower over 50 mph.

this is so i can do most of my driving in standard mode which is more comfortable, and keeps the wheels straight and not off camber for reduced tire life and uneven wear...

 

[Maximus-MX]

I set mine to low at 60+MPH, standard otherwise. Don't want to worry parking curbs and I guess the "low" handles better in high speeds.

After reading the comment above, probably 55+MPH "low" or "very low" is a good setting.

 

[Peteybabes]

After reading the comment above, probably 55+MPH "low" or "very low" is a good setting.

very low is jarring and bumpy (I do have 22's which makes it that much worse) also there is a video showing how extreme the camber is which will wear the tires unnecessarily quickly

 

[outie]

When I first got mine, I set it to high in all the places I drive with speed bumps or awful roads. After a short bit, I realized that having the suspension fully extended on bumps actually leads to more jostling, so now I do VL on highways, L or S in the city, and VL at home for ingress/egress. The only time I use high now is when I'm parking in a lot with high curbs that could scrape the bumper.

So you keep changing the height throughout the drives?

 

[tizio]

So you keep changing the height throughout the drives?

I did when I first got the vehicle. Now it is trained to lift in the neighborhoods with potholes and go low when I get home. If I'm going offroad or someplace where I'll be entering/leaving the car a several times (like a hotel) I'll set a new hight adjustment GPS point there too. There are certain spots on the highway where traffic frequently slows to a crawl and I lift the vehicle way up to get a better view. I love how now it does that automatically if traffic is slow and lowers again once speed picks up.

Be careful setting your suspension to high to clear curbs. Sometimes the suspension will randomly lower itself when the car is off.

Good tip. I haven't seen that first hand, but I do recall the software updater warning this could happen.

 

[outie]

I did when I first got the vehicle. Now it is trained to lift in the neighborhoods with potholes and go low when I get home. If I'm going offroad or someplace where I'll be entering/leaving the car a several times (like a hotel) I'll set a new hight adjustment GPS point there too.


Good tip. I haven't seen that first hand, but I do recall the software updater warning this could happen.

Geofencing only works for high/very high.

 

[tizio]

Geofencing only works for high/very high.

Good to know. That would explain why it only seems to be fully lowered only about 75% of the time when I arrive home. Still, auto-raising is the bee's knees for potholes and traffic.