Motortrend article on Conserve Mode causing tire wear

[Gully]

The problem with the article is that conserve mode does not lower the vehicle greatly when it’s not going at highway speeds. On Auto my truck in Conserve is most often at the medium-low height, very similar to All-Purpose. When the trucks first came out this wasn’t true as auto wasn’t a choice.

I hav 20k on my truck and drove it across country and back (6k+) in Conserve mode and still have something like 5/32. Not great but not awful.

edit: most of the time not on trips I kept it in Sport.

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[technerd]

I'm surprised people use conserve so often, I hate the way it drives, but I guess I've never been a fan of FWD cars. Plus the lack of power just leaves me dissatisfied. I've only used it times when I needed to really stretch the miles.

 

[eemri]

Something that the article omits (I believe) and something I didn't see any comments address (again, I might have missed it), is that in conserve, your FWD car also means that all regenerative braking happens through the front tires. So coupled with two tires doing all the accelerating, they're also taking all the decelerating load. In other modes, the load and acceleration/deceleration duty is split a little better across the four tires.

 

[Aardvark]

Like others have stated in this thread, I've found the sweet spot for me.
- I use conserve mode in standard ride height, not low or very low.
- I only use it on road trips and only after getting on the Insterstate or major highway. I come out of conserve a few miles before my exit.
- In cold weather, I monitor the battery, and 4 motor temps. Even if on the interstate, I don't enter conserve until the traction battery temp is at least above 50 degrees, preferably closer to 70 deg.

 

[lefkonj]

When I picked up my R1S 18 months ago was told specifically that conserve was meant for long highway drives and not to switch back to all-purpose unless at a stop. I wish people didn't have to make crap titles to get clicks. Title should be 'Rivian owners have to think about drive modes' or something instead of the click bait they always do.

 

[OUTAGAS]

Am I the unicorn? I have 40,000 miles on my original 21" Pirellis, and am installing new ones next week. I accelerate quickly, drift occasionally, launch weekly, kneel when I park, and keep the truck in All Purpose Auto 80% of the time. I don't use Conserve when I'm driving in town (which is largely interstate driving in Columbia, SC), but when I'm going out of town on a long trip, I always put it in Conserve just before engaging cruise control at 75 mph.

I rotate the four tires at 10,000-mile intervals and the tread is a hair above the wear bars everywhere except the inside of the front tires, which are already into the wear bars--so it's time. I am very happy with the OEM Pirellis. I would actually like to see an option in Settings to automatically engage Conserve mode when cruise control is enabled.

 

[CrazyOne]

I use AP with standard height all the time. While pulling into a relatively new driveway, I noticed that fronts were marking the driveway, but rears were not. I have had alignment done. I have to see how the wear is. I doubt the problem is resolved.

 

[Blakejakely]

This article is frustrating, it doesn't mention you can go into conserve at regular ride height to avoid cambering and uneven wear. It also doesn't mention anything about driver behavior and torque. If you're accelerating a ton from stop with any FWD heavy truck you're going to get front tire wear, that's why you switch to 2WD once you're at highway speeds. Just like any other truck, albeit those trucks usually have less torque.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

It isn’t just conserve, but combination of it and lower ride height (and additional-camber that comes with it). If conserve in standard height, wear would not be as bad.

 

[CoastalR1T]

I used Conserve mode for close to the 1st year. Noticeable wear but nowhere near what the report indicates. I ended up changing out the front set of 20 inch Pirellis (sp?) at about 27k miles. I also did not rotate them, so that's my fault.

Once I did get the new pair of shoes on, I started to drive only in all-purpose and have noticed standard wear across front and rear, with only one rotation. Currently creeping up on 55000 miles.

Looking at new rubber in Sept all around, but I'm not squeezing all of the tire wear I could.

 

[Steve A.]

It isn’t just conserve, but combination of it and lower ride height (and additional-camber that comes with it). If conserve in standard height, wear would not be as bad.

Again, I have ~30k miles in Sport mode on lowest ride height and max regen 99.99% of the time w/ even wear across all 4 tires w/ rotations @11k and 22k.

Ride height has not been a factor.

Not nearly enough has been mentuioned about underinflation being a major factor though.

 

[goldburger]

Motor Trend forgot to mention that you can change the suspension height in conserve mode. Once you change it to Normal height from Auto, it sticks so that next time you use conserve, it stays in Normal height.

Also, they say that the dual motor doesn’t have a conserve mode, but on long stretches of highway where most people will use conserve on the quad, the dual motor will also be FWD.

Ya I was surprised the article focussed entirely on ride height considering this is literally the solution to the problem. I thought the tire wear was due to regen being focussed on the front tires, which it mostly is in AP anyway.

 

[CO-rayman]

We drive in All Purpose locked into standard height 95% of the time. We only use auto height, and sometimes Conserve, on long road trips. We got 28,000 miles on the first set of tires, and when we switched them out, the wear on the inside edge was still noticeably worse. That said, I think we only rotated them once. Planning to rotate the new set every 7,000 miles or so and hopefully squeeze more miles out of them.

Sounds like you need an alignment.

 

[RoverZac]

The biggest determining factor is your height. I drive 70% on Conserve because of the long distances I drive, but at Standard height. I rotate on schedule, and this set of Nokians is just under 80% and even wear at 16,000 miles. When I'm around the house or in the rain, I use All- Purpose.

 

[Wayne]

We use conserve on long trips. I set the height to Standard, not Auto. I think this keeps the vehicle st standard height and eliminates the camber issue.

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