What Mode and Height is Your Default?

[CaptRat]

AP, auto, stiff, high regen for city driving.

Conseve, auto, stiff, high regen for highway with no traffic when on trips or headed to park at the airport.

Sport, low, stiff high regen occasionally for fun.

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[iansriv]

+1 on this.

I guess I need to experiment with the other settings. Unless I'm going Off Road, I never think about adjusting the setting from AP, Auto, Soft, High Regen. If it ain't broke....

Same. AP, auto, soft ride, standard regen. I'm trying to wear the tyres down. Actually I want to "stress" the suspension as much as possible early on to ensure any issues.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I'm surprised at how many people are on stiff suspension. I set it and forget it.

Last update made the suspension too wallowy in soft mode. Stiff is now actually closer to the previous soft mode IMO.

 

[txtravwill]

AP soft here with auto and high Regen. Wished Regen was even stronger at times. Also I wish we could make the lower speed under say 45 default back up to high.

 

[Neuneleven]

Last update made the suspension too wallowy in soft mode. Stiff is now actually closer to the previous soft mode IMO.

Agree with you on that. Previously was on soft, but since latest update, we ride in stiff regardless of the height, which is usually standard and low if on the highway.

 

[mikehmb]

All purpose, standard, high regen. I do have a question regarding high regen, does it produce more wear on the tires (I have the 21s)?

Only if you’re binary with the throttle. If you modulate the throttle, it won’t have any meaningful impact on tire wear beyond what you’d get on a standard ICE using friction brakes.

 

[Doctorjorts]

I'm surprised at how many people are on stiff suspension. I set it and forget it.

AP, Auto, Soft; High Regen is my only non-default setting.

Someone above said auto height hurts treadwear? I'm 22,000 miles in and have very consistent even wear on all tires. Although, I'm sure it's true, because steering wheel angle changes slightly when going from standard to low, which only makes sense if toe changes.

Wait - can somebody unpack this for me? Why would higher ride height affect the tread wear?

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Wait - can somebody unpack this for me? Why would higher ride height affect the tread wear?

Changing camber (iirc).

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

All purpose, auto, standard, standard.

Have never changed them. Keep saying one of these days I'm going to try sport, but my daily commute basically lives in gridlock traffic for 50+ miles a day. No time or energy to try something else. ?

 

[JGard18]

Changing camber (iirc).

Not quite, it changes the toe. Camber has a minimal effect on wear if everything else is aligned well. excessive toe will fuck shit up in a hurry, though

 

[Doctorjorts]

Changing camber (iirc).

Well, ok. I had to google camber - I understand geometry and physics but have very little knowledge of cars and Motorsport. While I can see why altering the suspension height would cause the tire to wear in a different place comparing high to low suspension, I’m still not sure why a higher suspension would produce greater wear than low suspension, unless the most neutral camber in the R1S is at the lowest setting?

I have 21s on my R1S, so if this is true I’m going to be using sport mode a lot more frequently… Would love to put off replacing these hard-to-replace tires as long as possible.

 

[Doctorjorts]

Not quite, it changes the toe. Camber has a minimal effect on wear if everything else is aligned well. excessive toe will fuck shit up in a hurry, though

Wait what’s toe!?? I need an explainer for me and the rest of the 21”-tire-having folks for how to extend the life of these suckers.

 

[JGard18]

Wait what’s toe!?? I need an explainer for me and the rest of the 21”-tire-having folks for how to extend the life of these suckers.

Toe is how much a set of wheels points in or out. They're never just straight ahead. All cars have some toe, usually "in" towards the vehicle from the front for stability purposes. The more you lower the Rivian, the more the front wheels toe in, causing a lot more wear than usual. But yeah, just google what suspension/wheel toe is, there will be good explanations out there. But whenever you get an alignment, that is THE main thing getting adjusted. Most modern cars don't allow the shops to adjust much anything else.

 

[John S]

For my daily commute I am currently using Sport, Low (instead of lowest- seems to improve ride) and Soft. Would probably prefer something between soft and firm, but firm is just a bit too jarring in spots on my commute to be used all the time.

*R1S Quad

 

[cjust2006]

Wait what’s toe!?? I need an explainer for me and the rest of the 21”-tire-having folks for how to extend the life of these suckers.

JGard18 explained well. To allow for lots of suspension travel, and prevent the tire rubbing the inside of the fender well, and control certain handling characteristics in lower/sportier situations, certain geometries have to change as heights vary. This means components have to be shaped specifically to force these changes.

Camber, where the tops of the tires tilt slightly in/out, tend to tilt inward at lower heights to clear the fenders in tight turns, as well as improve handling to counteract the vehicle's lean when cornering.

Toe, I'll just quote JGard18.

Our trucks are aligned at the standard ride height. When the truck lowers, camber changes slightly which doesn't hurt tread wear much. BUT, toe also changes which is the biggest culprit. It is very very slight, but still...

If you drive in a perfectly straight line, your steering wheel should be perfectly straight. When you change ride heights, up or down, you'll notice the steering wheel being very slightly turned to (likely) the right by just a degree or so. This can only really be explained by toe changing (only in the front of the truck, btw).

All that to say, I use all purpose, auto height, and have 22k miles on my AT tires and still have an easy 10k more to go. Being between standard and low ride heights seems to have had little to no effect on real wear. And I'm not exactly easy on the throttle.

Yes, it can cause faster wear. Unless alignment is already bad, however, I think driving habits have a greater impact.

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