Show of hands… Adaptive Suspension

[SteveSchweer]

How many new Model S owners out there can actually FEEL the difference between “Sport” and “Comfort “? I know I can’t.… even though Tesla Service says it is functioning normally. No matter what I do with the suspension controls, my ride is the same… punishingly harsh. Yet, from these forums and YouTube, I see that many of you think the suspension is great. As this is probably one of the most sophisticated suspensions ever put in a car, I have trouble believing that mine is “functioning normally “. I think the key objective question here is “can you actually FEEL a difference in ride quality when you change suspension modes?” (By ”feel” I mean you KNOW it changed, if you just THINK it changed then it didn’t). It would really help me and, I know, a number of others out there to find out if our suspensions are screwed up or if that’s just the way they are. Thanks for any input you can provide.

 

[terranx]

Every day that I drive my Jaguar XJL that replace my 2023 Model S, I get more angry that I wasted 8 months of my life that I will never get back driving that Model S. It just shows that there are zero excuses for the incompetence of Tesla's chassis engineers.

I mean I don’t hate my model S like you did yours. I do find the overall package acceptable for its price point. But what frustrates me is the amount of wasted potential. The underlying framework is there. It’s an immensely fast car with a very low Cg with a double wishbone + double pivot front axle and multilink rear. Unfortunately it’s clear the leadership does not value in giving their engineers time to refine a product, they instead just want them to constantly pump out new half baked *sugar*.

 

[terranx]

Accelerometers should be enough if the implementation is clever enough.

Which unfortunately is not teslas style. They think of something that is theoretically possible but then don’t do the leg work to get it to actually work. See: the entirety of Tesla vision.

It is also possible that the dampers they’re using cannot adjust quick enough to react to the accelerometer data in real time

 

[sorka]

It is also possible that the dampers they’re using cannot adjust quick enough to react to the accelerometer data in real time

Seems unlikely. My 1992 300ZXTT's damping valves adjusted instantly when the actuator rotated.

 

[terranx]

Seems unlikely. My 1992 300ZXTT's damping valves adjusted instantly when the actuator rotated.

To react well to the accelerometers, you’d need to be making adjustments hundreds of times per second.

 

[sorka]

To react well to the accelerometers, you’d need to be making adjustments hundreds of times per second.

This is not what I'm talking about. I'm simply talking about increasing damping to damp out an oscillation after a bump when it's relatively smooth. It wouldn't be perfect but they could do a lot better than they are now. You don't need to change dampening hundreds of times a second. I have no doubt the actuators could continuously and variably move in real time but I don't think it would get you much.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I mean I don’t hate my model S like you did yours. I do find the overall package acceptable for its price point. But what frustrates me is the amount of wasted potential. The underlying framework is there. It’s an immensely fast car with a very low Cg with a double wishbone + double pivot front axle and multilink rear. Unfortunately it’s clear the leadership does not value in giving their engineers time to refine a product, they instead just want them to constantly pump out new half baked *sugar*.

I agree with what you are saying. I am sure too that bad management is leading to very poor hardware and software engineering at Tesla. Bugs me that people think they have amazing engineering when almost everything about them is half baked when you really get to know the cars. In terms of me hating mine, the incredibly poor quality of the suspension tuning was only one of many issues with my car, and it was pretty low down on that long list.

 

[terranx]

Bugs me that people think they have amazing engineering when almost everything about them is half baked when you really get to know the cars.

Yep I would say the one thing that's actually engineered pretty well are the motors themselves, but even that shows their lack of willingness to refine (see the whole front motor vibration fiasco), and the lead they used to have there has pretty much evaporated

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Yep I would say the one thing that's actually engineered pretty well are the motors themselves, but even that shows their lack of willingness to refine (see the whole front motor vibration fiasco), and the lead they used to have there has pretty much evaporated

My Model S had an extremely annoying milling/warbling noise at low speeds and a high-pitched, electric buzzer sound at freeway speeds. Of course, they started with the, "it's the sound of the electrons," but when I showed them it makes those noises in Neutral when no electronics are coming or going, they quickly pivoted to the "it's in spec" BS and refused to fix it. Brand new $100K car, and you have to turn up the radio like you're in a beater to mask noises from a defective drive unit.

While I waited for the front drive unit to get worse, the rear drive unit blew its inverter while driving and then triggered the pyro fuse, leaving me stranded on the side of the road at midnight.

Yeah, I am not too impressed with the drive units either.

 

[Kohley]

This is not what I'm talking about. I'm simply talking about increasing damping to damp out an oscillation after a bump when it's relatively smooth. It wouldn't be perfect but they could do a lot better than they are now. You don't need to change dampening hundreds of times a second. I have no doubt the actuators could continuously and variably move in real time but I don't think it would get you much.

I am more convinced now after 2 weeks of ownership and 400 miles that the issue with ride quality is damper related. I say that because I started out at 45 PSI, and have since tried pressures as high as 49 and now back down to 40. The ride is not much different. Adding or subtracting pressure effectively changes the wheel rate (static spring rate). If the wheel rate was way off, there should have been a bigger difference with 9 pounds of pressure chanages in the ride. Since there wasn't any or very very little, i think the issue is the damper responses. I am hoping at some point, tesla can make a software change to control dampers better or give us more adjustability. The problem could be solved that way if the damper valves are not too far off from where they need to be. If they are too far off, you need different valving, that can't be solved with software.