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Lowering Module.... Silly?

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lolachampcar

Well-Known Member
Nov 26, 2012
6,469
9,368
WPB Florida
In a previous life I did a few ECU reprogramming tools for aftermarket tuners. I was also asked and then generated several lowering modules for air and hydraulic suspension cars. The theory was simple in that I either offset the voltage delivered from the potentiometers (MB) or duty cycle of the sine wave (VAG) of the wheel height sensors. One side of the car was typically rising (voltage or positive duty cycle) while the other side was falling. I also sniffed the CAN bus for vehicle speed so as to remove excessive user programmed lowering when the car was lowering even more at speed. I basically backed out my input over a predetermined speed range to keep from making abrupt changes.

These modules were (actually still are) used to drop cars down on their wheels to improve looks and performance or raise the car to allow larger wheels. Think clown's feet on a Bentley and you'll have the picture.

My question is silly but do you think lowering will be an item of interest for Model S owners? I'm leaving my car alone but thought I would run it up the flag poll.
 
I don't think this would be of significant interest...

Then again, neither are current systems for ICEs. It is just a small % of owners. The larger the build, the larger the # of people interested...

It will be some time before it is profitable...
 
I don't think this would be of significant interest...

Then again, neither are current systems for ICEs. It is just a small % of owners. The larger the build, the larger the # of people interested...

It will be some time before it is profitable...

Agreed. In addition, the vast majority of Model S owners are older and aren't as interested in looks for looks sake.

With that being said, I am interested based on how well it works :)
 
Personally, I'm not all that interested in modifying my model S beyond adding the CCI and better floor mats. I would like the ability to raise the car at higher speeds when I know I'm approaching an obstacle. There is a street I must go down occasionally with a rain gutter at the end. It requires me to raise the Model S. As it stands I have to drive abnormally slow in approaching it, or sit there for 5 seconds, waiting for the suspension to respond.

With that said, Dr. Taras' thread shows that there are indeed those who are interested, and we all know there is big money that can be made in the customization market. Based on the reaction of others when I talk about the performance aspects of the Model S, I think there's a customer segment that Tesla hasn't seen yet - the 20-to-30 year olds who pour every dollar they make into their transportation means. :)
 
Reprogramming might not even be necessary. I had an A8 and while some would program the PCM to get it lower, there was also an option to get longer leveling rods which would trick the car into thinking it was slightly higher than it was so that every mode ended up being about a half inch lower. Subtle stuff like that works, especially with the larger wheels.
 
MS does have ball end arms so it should be easy to get some model airplane hardware to build adjustable links. The issue with those are that they do not return to standard settings as the car lowers with speed. I intentionally "sniffed" CAN bus traffic for wheel speed so I could remove the offset as speed increased (on MB) as MB, like Tesla, lowered with speed. The last thing I wanted was to have the car sitting on the compression stops going down the highway.

With respect to recalibration, I suspect Tesla is using the same Bosch module that MB used and, like MB, may very well have limits on the calibration range. In addition, I asked Tesla for access to the ride height adjustment routines when I was diagnosing the camber spread across my car (.6 diff from left to right). They would not give me access so we do not have a way to play with calibration (unlike MB who provide Start Diagnostics). If you could lower it with calibration you would still face the too low at speed problem.