Adjustable ride height ramifications (tires and half shaft wear)

[Dazureus]

I have a '16 Model X that has gone through a few half shaft warranty replacements and 3 sets of summer and 2 sets of winter tires. When I first purchased it, I drove at normal height with the automatic lowering set for highways speeds. The OEM tires didn't last a year with excessive wear on the insides tread of the rear tires. The camber difference from normal to low was enough to cause pretty bad tire wear (down to the belt before I realized it). As mentioned, I've had the half shafts replaced twice. The last time, Tesla suggested setting the suspension height to low all the time as it's probably the height that induces the least amount of angle between the motor and wheels. In the Model X, setting the suspension to High and Very High will automatically lower to Low after 100 ft. Setting to Medium and Low will remain in that position unless automatic lowering is enabled. Setting to Very Low will raise back to Low after driving is completed. I believe the Model X has about 2.7" of overall travel from Very Low to Very High. Newer vehicles have active dampening.

I guess my point of this thread is to gather thoughts and opinions on how excessive tire wear and half shaft wear may or may not be mitigated on the Cybertruck, considering it's larger range of adjustable suspension travel. From some settings screen shots, we've seen that there's a High, Medium, Low, and Entry height but pretty much everything is unknown right now. Do you think Tesla will carry over automatic lowering to Medium or Low after certain distances or, considering the truck target demographic, will they allow any ride height for any distance? Are we going to see excessive wear on tires due to negative camber at lower suspension settings? Are we going to see early half shaft replacements if we drive too much on High or Medium? Will there be active dampening? I'm not a suspension guy, so what are your thoughts?

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[Balthezor]

I've driven Range Rovers for years with air suspension. Usually after going faster than 40mph, it goes to the standard, which is usually medium height. Low height is for access and high setting is for offroad. But Medium is good for everything. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[BayouCityBob]

Tire wear is a problem for adjustable height suspensions due to the shifting camber angle. I have a Rivian R1S and it has this issues as well. The tires are optimized for a particular ride height (standard in the Rivian) and if you drive a lot in a different ride height you will get more wear on the inside or outside of the tires. My guess is that CT will be at neutral with lowest setting to optimize range.

 

[Dazureus]

Tire wear is a problem for adjustable height suspensions due to the shifting camber angle. I have a Rivian R1S and it has this issues as well. The tires are optimized for a particular ride height (standard in the Rivian) and if you drive a lot in a different ride height you will get more wear on the inside or outside of the tires. My guess is that CT will be at neutral with lowest setting to optimize range.

Yeah, you can get a wheel alignment to set the camber at whatever ride height you're going to drive at most to mitigate the camber wear when lowering, which is why I'm wondering if there will be distance limits on High ride settings. People get trucks and modify suspension ride heights for either offroad/towing performance or looks. Hopefully there will be enough camber adjustment range for those that want to ride around most of the time in High, but if they use a similar auto ride lowering scheme the Model X has, you can't do that.

I'm hoping the neutral half shaft position is at least at Medium ride height. My Model X in low is barely high than my Model Y.

 

[Diehard]

I know for most, this is a cool feature they want bad but in my list of features, adjustable suspension both on Rivian and CT is on the Con column. I was hoping dual motor came without it but it does not look that way.

 

[Dazureus]

We haven't seen pictures of the Cybertruck front motor axial alignment with the outer CV joints yet. If we had that, then we could possibly gain confidence on the suspension/drive engineering as well as lay to rest any suspicions of SbW. From what I've read, the Model X has increased half shaft wear because they attempted an SUV ride height on the Model S chassis, which pushed the drive motor higher up out of axial alignment vs the Model S, which leads to more wear on the CV joints. Since they're designing the Cybertruck from the ground up, I'm hoping they sorted that out. Rivian, Volvo, and Landcruiser use GKN half shafts, that have some kind of "Ballspline" design that is supposed to allow for increased half shaft angles.

 

[ED_SFO]

I think the combination of ride height adjustment and rear wheel steer will eat up these expensive tires extremely quickly. I remember back in auto class, camber doesn't kill tires fast, it's the wrong toe in or toe out specs. I'm no where near the front of the line so definitely something I'll be paying attention to on this forum.

 

[cvalue13]

be distance limits on High ride settings.

distance limits?

they'll be mph-limited, which may as well be the same thing

in 'high' they wont let the truck go more than 30-35mph (unless in an offroad setting), before it auto-adjusts back to at least medium

and at 'hwy' speeds (typically around 45mph or so, it will auto adjust from medium to an 'aero' setting

so it comes down to under what conditions can a person selct between 'low' and 'medium,' or is 'medium' also speed limited.

which means:

(1) if you do a lot of 'around town' driving (ie averaging below ~45mph), and you leave it in 'medium' or 'low' setting, to what height is CT camber adjusted for neutral, or

(2) if you do a lot of hwy driving, you had better have camber neutral adjusted to ~ the aero height, and know that when you're off highway and put the truck on low but especially medium, you'll be chewing through rubber

 

[lowtek]

I have a '16 Model X that has gone through a few half shaft warranty replacements and 3 sets of summer and 2 sets of winter tires.

Similar issue with my Raven S. However, the updates to the Palladium refresh seem to have resolved it, at least with mine, no issues yet (fingers crossed). I primarily drive it in low.

 

[Dazureus]

distance limits?

they'll be mph-limited, which may as well be the same thing

I guess the Model X does have speed limits as well as a speed over-ride, but I haven't messed with it since I don't want to have to replace my out of warranty half shafts again.

I'm guessing the Cybertruck will operate similarly, as you described. Thing about the Model X/S suspension is that there was little camber adjustment in the rear until it started to affect toe, so there were some aftermarket camber arms made. I think this fixed on the Raven update, but like you said, people will have to determine what they'll mostly drive in, and adjust camber accordingly. I'm not sure if people are aware of this since adjustable height suspensions aren't super common.

 

[Dazureus]

I primarily drive it in low

Yeah, driving in low reduces the angle of the half shaft between the motor CV and wheel CV, reducing the pressure on the internal CV bearings and likelihood of bearing raceway spalling. This is what makes me wonder if they either redesigned the CV/half shafts to account for more suspension travel or designed the half shafts so the Medium height is optimal for reduced wear and high will have speed limits. Even if it's the later, it's not so much the speed, but the torque on the CV bearings that exacerbate the spalling. Again, I'm not a suspension guy and I know there are lots of lifted trucks out there that should experience the same issues, but I'm guessing they don't have the same instant torque strain that an electric motor provides.

 

[Bill W.]

Tesla seems to be one of the few automotive companies that actually reacts to service center data and customer experience. Based upon the potential issues that the Model-X has shown with adjustable ride height with dual motors, their design team most likely took this into consideration when designing the CT suspension.

This forum should really flourish once these trucks are on/off road and accumulate miles. The topics will be a combo of modifications, observations, and probably a few nit-picks. Buckle up for an interesting ride!

 

[cvalue13]

I'm not sure if people are aware of this since adjustable height suspensions aren't super common.

people still think they'll be able to set the truck to max height permanently AND the truck will be low maintenance

 

[charliemagpie]

As opposed to a fixed low, I am hoping (not essential) to be able to tweak a tad to level out the RV.

 

[SparkChaser]

Hey the Citroen we had was just a lever that let you set the height.

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