Suspension Height - Tire Wear, Acceleration Shudder, Etc

[McManX]

Just took the X in to replace the tires because the inside wore down to the belts on the rears without me noticing. (stock Conti Silent Cross Contact LX Sport staggered). Not sure the milage I got on them but its in the 35k-40k range; about what I got with the first set. This will be set 3.


What should my suspension settings be to increase the life of my tires?

From what I have put together:

• Normal (with low at 75mph+)
  • Results in longer tire life, less wear
  • May result in acceleration shudder (though I have never experienced)
• Always Low
  • Results in shorter tire life, more wear
  • May eliminate acceleration shudder

Anything I am forgetting or not considering. What do you think?

 

[animorph]

I have not seen uneven wear with Always Low, yet. But I only have 12.5k miles. It definitely helps with the shudder problem, so I'll just continue to watch the wear.

Setting the height to Standard should help with inside tire wear, but mostly a real alignment in the Low setting would be best. The SC wouldn't do that for me in March, only Standard height. If your SC won't do it, go to a local alignment place and get it done there.

 

[McManX]

I am going in for a service appointment next week (no problems, just routine service) and will see what they have to say. I was always under the impression that standard was the best with regard to tire wear because of camber when in low. Maybe I am wrong. Will ask if they can re-align to low.

My suspension has always been set at standard (low at 75+)

 

[McManX]

Got the tires mounted and all but one of the TPMS has updated, strange. I'll have the service center check it out if not working by then.

Anyone else have opinions on suspension height?

 

[idoco]

Just had four tires replaced and an alignment done on our MX. Original Conti's with about 25k miles. Replaced with Pirelli Scorpion.

The inner tread of the rear tires was worn down to the steel belts. I have been running the suspension at low. Apparently the camber varies based on suspension height. Low suspension is ~2.5 deg while standard is ~1.5 deg and high ~0.5 deg. There is camber adjustment on the front tires but not on the rear.

The tire shop said running at low will definitely reduce the life of the rears. They suggested standard height.

 

[idoco]

...but mostly a real alignment in the Low setting would be best.

According to my tire shop the camber can't be adjusted on the rears. Only on the front.

 

[jtdiddy]

but low is so fun and cool.

 

[pers1]

Recommending to set it to Normal
Have look here

 

[pers1]

Have a look at this as well

 

[DriverOne]

Aren't they coming with "always low" set from the factory nowadays?

 

[pers1]

Aren't they coming with "always low" set from the factory nowadays?

Yes they do, because of the acceleration noise bug from the front drive unit and the cambered angle is less noticeable when accelerating!

 

[McManX]

@pers1 thanks for the links, very helpful

 

[DriverOne]

Yes they do [set it to low from factory

Yet you advocate going against this and setting it to normal? Tesla recommends Low, and balances the wheels for Low camber... I would stick with that.

To my understanding, uneven wear was caused by driving in low yet not having the wheels balanced for low.

 

[Sonic_78]

Yet you advocate going against this and setting it to normal? Tesla recommends Low

Where does Tesla recommend low over standard? I cant find it anywhere, also not in the Owners Manual. Both called and emailed Tesla support, inquired at my local SC after alignment, and was told by all that Standard is optimal for regular driving needs.

This is a topic I'd like to understand better too as a new X owner. Thanks.

 

[pers1]

At delivery they deliver all X’s in Low and always setting on. Alignment are done i Standard. If it had been done in low all of us wouldn’t have the allignment camber issue

 

[McManX]

For what it’s worth, my X was an early delivery 90D. And I believe the alignment of wheels to low suspension is a recent change? Correct me if I’m wrong

 

[Sonic_78]

For what it’s worth, my X was an early delivery 90D. And I believe the alignment of wheels to low suspension is a recent change? Correct me if I’m wrong

Besides from hearsay, I've not been able to find anywhere that states Tesla aligns on low. Tesla support and SC have stated to me, possibly incorrectly, but nonetheless they use Standard.

 

[DriverOne]

I think you're right. Based on a prior thread I had started driving around only on low for the past few thousand miles. Yesterday I looked and sure enough, the very inner treads are worn more than the outer, similar to the "Combat" video above.

I'll return to a mix of low & standard, in an attempt to even out the wear. Low when I might be accelerating quick, and standard once cruising. For that a setting "raise to standard above <some speed>" rather than the "lower above <some speed>" would be useful.

Pick your poison: tire wear or acceleration shudder. For me, aerodynamics are a distant third place consideration.

(I'm no tire expert; this isn't advice.)

 

[Yinn]

I owned an AP1 MX, and the car did experience uneven tire wear on Low settings. Over 20,000 miles it was about a 2/32 difference from the inside vs the outside of the tires. Inside hit 4/32 when outside was 6/32. On my mid 2017 AP2 MX, same driving habits and settings over 20,000 miles. It's a nice and consistent across the board at 7/32. As someone said; they're setting them up differently from the factory nowadays. It's all about the alignment.

 

[Peteski]

My Feb 2018 X was delivered set to always low and I've run it like that for the last 5K miles and wear is dead even across both front and rear tyres, suggesting optimum camber angles were set at low on my car or I was just lucky with the factory tolerances. I'm sure if I ran standard ride height on my car I would see more wear on the outside of all 4 tyres. If I ran in very low I would see inside edge wear. Low is working well for my factory setup.

So my advice, as in other similar threads, is to monitor your tread wear closely and either adjust ride height to compensate for any uneven wear or speak to your SC about alignment at your preferred ride height. There is probably enough variation in factory set camber angles to see all manner of different wear patterns and previous threads have supported that sort of inconsistency across individual cars. The factory tolerance could easily be +/- 0.5 degree on camber settings, which would make all the difference for cars on opposite sides of that tolerance.