Does Active Air Improve Ride Quality or just adjust the Height?

[jerry33]

On trips at normal highway speeds of 65 - 75mph, does the air suspension Low mode actually increase range at all? Does Tesla claim that?

Tesla claims that lowering the car at high speeds lowers the aerodynamic drag. That will increase range if you don't increase speed.

 

[gene]

I don't know of any 19" tires that last only 8,000 miles on Model S w/ air suspension. I'm just pointing that out because your post seems to imply that there are premature tire wear issues with the 19" wheels, yet I have not heard of any such incidents - only with the larger wheels.

Yes, you are right, it seems the 21's are what have shown extensive wear. As my tires wear evenly, I really haven't watched those threads closely.

 

[mandfunk]

I have driven both extensively, both with 19's. I've put about 1,000 miles on a friend's S with air. I find the air suspension a tad less harsh than the coils. But I find the the coils more "in touch" with the road in a good way. With the coils, I drive more confidently. I have 10,000 miles on my coil sprung S, I have never scraped on a driveway ever. In fact, the front of the car body is rather high compared to the sides, it will clear those concrete stops you see in parking lots easily. I'm a pro mechanic and I have seen the poor reliability and outrageous repair costs of air suspension. If you read the threads on this site about excessive tire wear due to negative camber, some of these guys go through tires in 8000 miles! The coil suspension does not have this problem. My tires with 10K are wearing perfectly even, they'll go another 10k easily. I made mine coils.

Nice choice on the Obeche (I have matte) and tan interior. I have seen that on blue, it looks great.

Thanks Gene! Good info, which jives with the 200 or so other posts I've read here. I've driven both air and coils as well and felt the difference in the softness of the ride was hardly noticeable, with handling going in favor of coils. There are very few major racing teams that use air suspension on the track...most use coils, probably for the same reasons you've outlined. When you consider the additional purchase cost, increased tire wear cost, likely decreased reliability and greater maintenance cost, more sporty feel and handling, coils appear to be the way to go. Of course, since the car could only be purchased with air for some time, there are far more owners with air right now, so I'm sure we'll get lots of disagreement on this. I admit though that its not an easy call be...it is definitely cool to be able to raise and lower the car should you need that feature...

 

[mandfunk]

I just got off the phone with one of the sales guys at our local SC. He said its his opinion that the "difference in ride quality is barely noticeable" and that when he is able to buy his own MS, it will definitely be coil. This is coming from a guy that drives all varieties of the Model every day. He also said that nearly all the cars they get in now are coil...they keep one or two around with air just for those who must have it and want to test drive it. I asked what percentage are now sold with coils. He said at least 80%, and that some of those buy air did so solely because they had some form of trouble getting in and out of the car (one was an older couple, one was disabled and was installing hand controls, one had back issues, etc.). I then spoke to one of the folks in service...a gal who works on the cars, and does a lot of the concierge service. She said she prefers the coil too, and has never really needed to raise the car. They've already had an air suspension with issues...rear end would not level (was fixed under warranty). Of course, other shops may differ in opinion...but it was nice to get an honest opinion rather than a salesman trying to sell another option.

 

[maxwells]

I drove both suspensions on 19" wheels, and there was definitely a small difference going over potholes. I don't think you will feel the difference if you have good roads or if you're mostly driving on highways. I got it because I live in SF, which has some of the worst roads in the country, and some rather steep ones as well.

 

[Pilot_51]

I drove both suspensions on 19" wheels, and there was definitely a small difference going over potholes. I don't think you will feel the difference if you have good roads or if you're mostly driving on highways. I got it because I live in SF, which has some of the worst roads in the country, and some rather steep ones as well.

I always thought Michigan had some of the worst roads, mostly because of the snow plows and lack of spending on roads. Here's the kind of potholes we have to deal with: Photo: Pothole Tries To Eat Pothole Repair Truck : The Two-Way : NPR (okay, maybe that's on the extreme end, but it's not that far off)

 

[jerry33]

Thanks Gene! Good info, which jives with the 200 or so other posts I've read here. I've driven both air and coils as well and felt the difference in the softness of the ride was hardly noticeable, with handling going in favor of coils. There are very few major racing teams that use air suspension on the track...most use coils, probably for the same reasons you've outlined. When you consider the additional purchase cost, increased tire wear cost, likely decreased reliability and greater maintenance cost, more sporty feel and handling, coils appear to be the way to go. Of course, since the car could only be purchased with air for some time, there are far more owners with air right now, so I'm sure we'll get lots of disagreement on this.

I was really happy I had air the other day when I had to drive over a couple of curbs.

 

[maxwells]

I always thought Michigan had some of the worst roads, mostly because of the snow plows and lack of spending on roads. Here's the kind of potholes we have to deal with: Photo: Pothole Tries To Eat Pothole Repair Truck : The Two-Way : NPR (okay, maybe that's on the extreme end, but it's not that far off)

hah! yeah, you win

 

[mandfunk]

Yeah, I could definitely see that having air where the roads are bad could be important, particularly up north. The SC here is near Atlanta, where roads are pretty good in comparison, so that might be why they favor coils. Anyone know what the current ride heights are with air with version 5.9? The full time low feature of 5.9 might be a nice feature for those who want the lower look, all the time. Here are the old numbers from 2012.

Dynamics on how the active air suspense will handle when corning is to be announced, but I can expand upon the height levels. Manual Adjustments are as follows:

• Normal height = 6”
• High Level 1 = 0.90” taller; When the vehicle accelerates above 19 mph, the clearance adjusts back to Normal height.
• High level 2 = 1.3” above Standard and can be used for ascending a steep driveway or fording deep snow. Clearance reverts to High Level 1 above 10 mph.
• Low Level = 0.79” under Standard; Active Air Suspension will automatically lower the vehicle for highway driving to improve aerodynamics. Low Level is also accessible from the touchscreen for loading/unloading of passengers. When the vehicle begins driving the clearance adjusts back to Normal height.
• The suspension will also self-level the car. For example if you load a lot of weight in the trunk the vehicle will remain level.

 

[bareyb]

I like the auto lowering on the Freeway with the Active Air. Tesla turned it off about a week after I got my P85 and I immediately noticed an improvement in handling on the freeway when they turned it back on a month or two later. My last car had Air suspension (Lexus) and I think air ride is very supple and smooth. I love the way it drives and handles. I just hope I never have to repair it. FWIW, the Air on my Lexus had almost 90k miles and nary a problem.

 

[Vip]

We have parking assist in my wife's car and we turned it off after about two weeks. The beeping drove us crazy and there's no way to turn off the Audio (this is true for the Model S too). The backup camera serves almost the same purpose so we use that instead.

Actually with the Model S you can turn off the audible cues for the parking sensors.

 

[tliving]

I had a loaner a while back and got to test the active air suspension. I didn't really notice/feel the difference. Was more of a gimmick to me, but I only had the loaner for a couple hours of drive time. More on my experience with it here:

S60 Loaner Impressions | Tesla Living

No regrets not paying for the active air suspension and i've never bottomed out or hit a curb. I've parked in fields, gone up/down crazy driveways all without a problem on standard suspension.

 

[bareyb]

It's always interesting to see the different responses people give about Air Shocks in this thread. It's mostly divided into two camps. Those who have decided to, or paid to get it and those who didn't. Those who paid to get it think it's worth it and improves handling, and those who didn't pay for it think it's a "gimmick" and can't feel the difference. It's called "selection bias. We tend to defend our choices. Especially ones that cost or save us a lot of money.

Personally, I think Air Shocks improve ride quality on surface roads and markedly improve handling on the freeway, and of course, are worth every penny.

 

[3mp_kwh]

It's always interesting to see the different responses..... Those who paid to get it think it's worth it and improves handling, and those who didn't pay for it think it's a "gimmick" and can't feel the difference. It's called "selection bias.

I don't think that is true. What comes out in the threads are people who made this choice before they bought. I am not sure how you are concluding otherwise, if you are really reading the comments. This thread got resurrected, but has been echoed in the past by people who pick suspensions based upon much harder driving, that others never do. Pretty consistently, guys, including lolachampcar end up picking coils. And, if anything, their P+, and P, cars often have air. So, the selection isn't just some academic behavior. I don't have a dog in the race, if you are trying to analyze my post. I prefer coils, after testing air, and what others mentioned.

 

[bareyb]

I don't think that is true. What comes out in the threads are people who made this choice before they bought. I am not sure how you are concluding otherwise, if you are really reading the comments. This thread got resurrected, but has been echoed in the past by people who pick suspensions based upon much harder driving, that others never do. Pretty consistently, guys, including lolachampcar end up picking coils. And, if anything, their P+, and P, cars often have air. So, the selection isn't just some academic behavior. I don't have a dog in the race, if you are trying to analyze my post. I prefer coils, after testing air, and what others mentioned.

Did you read the whole thread? The first page or so is overwhelmingly people recommending GETTING the air. Almost every single one of them either had it on their own car or had decided to have it on their own car. Lately it's been the opposite, yourself included. Nearly everyone who says not to get it, in fact, has decided it's not worth it and did not get it on their own car. I'd give far more credence to someone who didn't get it and then drove a loaner and realized it was actually something they wish they had gotten. Or Vice Versa. Those are exceedingly rare, but they carry a lot of weight.

 

[Pilot_51]

My experience so far is that the ride quality isn't as smooth as I was expecting based on what others said, you still feel most bumps or hear the smaller ones and I wouldn't describe the feel as riding on air. Coming from a 1997 Honda Odyssey and 2002 Ford Explorer, it's probably about what I would expect a coil suspension in a new car to feel, noticeably smoother than a decade old car. I chose it for the flexibility of changing height, primarily for snow and clearing curbs, and with the excuse of gaining experience. Any benefit in ride quality is a bonus.

 

[mellington]

I currently drive a Land Rover with air suspension, in that it's great to be able to load the car and have the suspension self adjust and level with the new load. Also handy for getting over big lumps.