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Lowered my car this morning with adjustable links: Key steps that ensure precision
- Thread starter artsci
- Start date
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- Tags
- Driving Dynamics Model S
My service center loves the things I've done to my car, but they haven't seen it lowered yet. My guess is that they'll be pleased. But some service centers seem to have the proverbial you-know-what up the you-know-where and may not feel the same
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I don't have photos but the issue was that the front links, set to the shortest possible length, were still longer than the stock front links and would have lowered the car too much. I dealt with it by using a hack saw to cut the link body and one arm about 3/16" shorter, which then made them about the same length as the stock front links. With that done I could then calculate the proper length and final settings to lower the car to my target level. The work was pretty simple and, as I thought they had mixed up a front link from a different car with my order, I didn't make a big deal of it. But I did let Mark know, as did Todd. Thus Mark's message. I told Mark what the stock length of the front link was and he's working with that number as he redesigns the front link.
arijaycomet
Member
Can you clarify if these modifications were done prior to the photos you posted? I guess what I'm curious about is--- the photos you posted of the links installed and the car at LOW height--- were those after the modifications you made?
Mark was nice enough to CALL me all the way from the UK to USA today, just to explain all of these details and offer various options. Based on our telephone chat, I think that I am going to proceed to install the links as-is. It is my understanding and "estimated measurements" that 35mm drop will not be too aggressive for me. Frankly I think it will be perfect for driving all the time. Chances are good that I'll never be able to use the low setting other than to park the car (cosmetics)-- and Normal will become my permanent ride height for driving. We'll see...
But I just wanted to verify that the drop shown you have I assume is "post" hack saw cut? Your height looks perfect to me for "permanent driving" ... so I think that I might be okay if LOW for me is even lower than what you show there, because I can just drive in Normal mode.
Can you clarify if these modifications were done prior to the photos you posted? I guess what I'm curious about is--- the photos you posted of the links installed and the car at LOW height--- were those after the modifications you made?
Mark was nice enough to CALL me all the way from the UK to USA today, just to explain all of these details and offer various options. Based on our telephone chat, I think that I am going to proceed to install the links as-is. It is my understanding and "estimated measurements" that 35mm drop will not be too aggressive for me. Frankly I think it will be perfect for driving all the time. Chances are good that I'll never be able to use the low setting other than to park the car (cosmetics)-- and Normal will become my permanent ride height for driving. We'll see...
But I just wanted to verify that the drop shown you have I assume is "post" hack saw cut? Your height looks perfect to me for "permanent driving" ... so I think that I might be okay if LOW for me is even lower than what you show there, because I can just drive in Normal mode.
Yes, the photos show the car lowered post hack saw shortening of the front links. The link lengths were set to 70.75 mm front and 86.5 mm rear before they were installed. So if you can set the front link length to 70.75 without having to cut it, great. You'll achieve the same effect as I did.
arijaycomet
Member
From what Mark said, that won't be the case -- it'll be lower (longer). Do we know how much the car lowers (delta inches or MM) from LOW vs NORMAL? Just doing some "bench" math here...
Now if the guys at my local shop would just get back to me to setup an appointment I could go get on their lift and get my rear camber correcting arms and these links installed....
ToddRLockwood
Active Member
While I fully respect Artsci's "lowering for visual appearance" approach, I think it's worth considering that the factory's front/rear ride height ratio may have been arrived at after considerable road testing, even though it doesn't look perfect. While the front fender gap is indeed greater than the rear fender gap, this may have been an inadvertent result of finding the car's ideal balance point after the chassis was finalized. For this reason, I think it might be prudent to lower the front and rear by the same amount.
I'm planning to have my P85 lowered tomorrow. I'm going to lower both the front and rear by 0.5in. The factory Low height setting will therefore become my new Normal height setting. And my new Low setting will be 0.50in lower than the factory Low. I've been driving the car around Vermont for the past few days with the car kept in Low all the time, to get a feel for what my new Normal height will feel like. What a difference! The car feels much more nimble. There is less nosedive when stopping and less rear-squat when accelerating hard. The cornering is flatter than ever. All this with only a 0.05in change. I'm curious to see how the new Low feels on the highway.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The ball ends on the rear suspension links need to be oriented 180 degrees from each other. The front suspension links must both point in the same direction.
I'm planning to have my P85 lowered tomorrow. I'm going to lower both the front and rear by 0.5in. The factory Low height setting will therefore become my new Normal height setting. And my new Low setting will be 0.50in lower than the factory Low. I've been driving the car around Vermont for the past few days with the car kept in Low all the time, to get a feel for what my new Normal height will feel like. What a difference! The car feels much more nimble. There is less nosedive when stopping and less rear-squat when accelerating hard. The cornering is flatter than ever. All this with only a 0.05in change. I'm curious to see how the new Low feels on the highway.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The ball ends on the rear suspension links need to be oriented 180 degrees from each other. The front suspension links must both point in the same direction.
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Anybody try this guy's links?
Tesla Model s Air Suspension lowering Links Module | eBay
He says the links can only be adjusted in length by popping off one end. Sounds like a good idea that they can't turn and self-adjust while on the car over time.
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stock, or after your new settings?
Tesla Model s Air Suspension lowering Links Module | eBay
He says the links can only be adjusted in length by popping off one end. Sounds like a good idea that they can't turn and self-adjust while on the car over time.
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stock, or after your new settings?
ToddRLockwood
Active Member
Yes, you have to cut of about 3/8" from one end of the link body with a hacksaw to make the front links short enough to use. Mark is creating a new front link that won't require doing this. He expects to have them in about a month and will repost on TMC. These are nicely made. He sells them for a lot of other vehicles as well.
mnx
2018 M3P
Well I measured a dozen times and used a spreadsheet to calculate everything and ended up with less than perfect results.
Before: (Driver Front, Driver Rear, Passanger Rear, Passanger Front)
127mm
114.3mm
111.12
127mm
After:
107mm
95.25mm (I was shooting for 95mm, at least I nailed it once!)
107mm
101.12mm
I might make a few minor adjustments, or I may leave it as is. 1 turn of the threads on the links turns out to be a fairly large adjustment IMO.
Did some tweaking today (lengthened the front links by 2 turns) and found a more accurate way to measure ground clearance. Ride heights in the 4 corners are now: 98.8, 94.31, 93.21 and 100.16mm. Overall I'm very satisfied. I didn't have to cut my links at all except I did need to remove a nut and replace it with lock washers to get the link a little shorter. My link lengths are: 73 and 72.80mm in the front and 88.49 and 88.51mm in the rear.
Should have just saved myself 1000 words. Here's an after photo:
Model S lowered
Before: (Driver Front, Driver Rear, Passanger Rear, Passanger Front)
127mm
114.3mm
111.12
127mm
After:
107mm
95.25mm (I was shooting for 95mm, at least I nailed it once!)
107mm
101.12mm
I might make a few minor adjustments, or I may leave it as is. 1 turn of the threads on the links turns out to be a fairly large adjustment IMO.
Did some tweaking today (lengthened the front links by 2 turns) and found a more accurate way to measure ground clearance. Ride heights in the 4 corners are now: 98.8, 94.31, 93.21 and 100.16mm. Overall I'm very satisfied. I didn't have to cut my links at all except I did need to remove a nut and replace it with lock washers to get the link a little shorter. My link lengths are: 73 and 72.80mm in the front and 88.49 and 88.51mm in the rear.
Should have just saved myself 1000 words. Here's an after photo:
Model S lowered
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Measured the ground clearance with the car lowered this morning. It's now about 4" all around. Given that I lowered the car about .75 at the low height setting, that's what it should be, given the above ground clearance data. But in the lowest setting rear camber is now -1.9, so lowering the car .75 inches resulted in a .9 change in the rear camber, which means the rear tire wear problem will return if I run the car at speed in the low setting. And at the new lower height the ability to adjust the camber any further is gone, even with the adjustable camber links.
So on the highway the standard height setting will be it for me: park and low speeds in low height, highway speeds in standard height (which for me is now the same as the stock low height).
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While I do not claim to be an expert, the track alignment guys that have been watching my rear alignment closely (and put in my rear upper [camber] links) seem not to be at all thinking the negative camber (1-2 degrees) to be all that big of a deal on wear, as many other performance cars are in the same ballpark. They've always contended that toe-out is the issue. I am not sure we have all that much data on 265/21" tire wear where the toe is perfect and the negative camber is within some reason (1-2).
My first set of rear 265 PS2s was trashed with incorrectly set factory toe. My 2nd set is doing ok and I am well past the mileage that trashed the last set and I have only had my .210+ rear upper links in maybe 1k miles and I still have > 1+ degree neg camber at std. But I tend to run in std all the time.
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