Here's what happens jacking when not in Jack Mode

[scottm]

Turns out, nothing horrendous.

Only air suspension folks would care about this thread.

After jacking up a front corner to change the wheel seasons over... I noticed the whole car was sitting at a "very high" type of setting. Thinking that's odd, I always have Normal height selected for garage parking. As I was jacking, I guess the car must have fought its way up on all other corners trying to keep level ... but even the wheel I was working on was now also in "very high" position (but dangling in the air).

Then it hit me DOH! I guess noises in the garage prevented me from hearing the Tesla doing its air injection... otherwise I might have clued in faster to get Jack Mode turned on.

The remaining 3 corners enjoyed Jack Mode.

 

[scottm]

My normal routine for tire change overs is to select "very high" ride height first, then "jack mode"... then do the dirty work... It's easier to slip the floor jack under the car when "pre-jacked" on very high mode.

Especially if you've got lowering links.. like me.

And a low profile jack to slip under the car helps too.

 

[ticopowell]

Funny story, I had almost the opposite happen to my car. I'm not sure what setting they had it in but I had my wheels powdercoated and when I got it back and it was a low rider. The rear wheels were tucked inside the wheel wells and the fronts were also lower than I had ever seen them. I should have taken a picture. I'm assuming they didn't put the car in jack mode but I'm not sure how the wheels got sucked up so far into the wheel wells. I got in the car and set the suspension to normal and everything went back to normal.

 

[scottm]

Yes, that's happened to me too, when the car was up on a drive-on rack for alignment check.. somehow or other using additional supports and whatnot... the car sucked its wheels upward into the body so when all the support was removed... my car was sitting there slammed on the rack up in the air. I guess Jack Mode was forgotten there too.

Maybe the car takes different behaviors depending on whether one or more wheels are dangled when Jack Mode is off.

There'd be no way I could have gotten the car backed down off that ramp without adjusting ride height setting for some lift again. Even on "very high" the ramp slope meant I was juuuuust clearing a hump that would have high centered the car. Had to crawl so slowly... clearing by about 2 mm within scraping distance of the battery belly pan.

Be careful - these cars are long and low... pay attention when in shops, driving them up or down ramps.. it's too easy to hit the belly. My guy was prepared and watching carefully... He said they have to add ramp extenders for some cars (Corvette cited) to lessen the slope pitch so it can clear the hump.

 

[ticopowell]

Makes me wonder how much the auto-leveling kicks in when on a slope. Thinking more about it I would imagine that jacking just the front tires or just the rear tires will make that set of tires try to lower themselves to keep the car level. then when you set the car back down they don't have air so the car sinks to the ground.

 

[siai47]

To member Scottm (and others with air suspension getting alignment checks) the car must be at the normal ride height during the check. There will be camber changes and possibly minor toe changes if the ride height is higher or lower than were you normally set the suspension when you drive the car. Camber is a big problem on the Model S rear suspension when running lower than normal. Hence the camber links sold elsewhere on this site to help with this problem.