Roadway Clearance Reports

Todd Burch said:

I'm anxious to hear how those who have their cars have been doing with regard to ground clearance issues.

Have you safely cleared speed bumps without raising the suspension?
Have you had trouble raising the suspension for steep driveways? Have you had to raise the suspension much at all?
Have you been able to raise the suspension on the fly without backing up traffic behind you?

Please share any other firsthand experience tidbits you may have. Thanks!

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Also bumpy railroad tracks.

No issues ... it was my concern too ...

I keep it set at Normal height ... I feel Low would be a big problem.

That being said: I am still VERY cautious with parking stops, speed bumps and the occasional whacked out train track crossing.

steve841 said:

No issues ... it was my concern too ...

I keep it set at Normal height ... I feel Low would be a big problem.

That being said: I am still VERY cautious with parking stops, speed bumps and the occasional whacked out train track crossing.

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this. +1. was very concerned, have had friends and family watching at key points in driveways and parking lots.. but no issues. i take it slow, but no bottoming on my driveway, yay. and speed bumps are fine. also potholes and whatnot.. not been an issue. VERY good suspension. i watched the delivery guy take it out of the warehouse the other day and asked him to bump the suspension to high--it's a lot higher. so.. not gonna be an issue. nother little worry gone...

that said: the whole parking space concrete stop thing... never. going. to. park. over. one. of. those. they are super close to the bottom of the front skirt. just not gonna chance it.

fwiw.

dtich said:

that said: the whole parking space concrete stop thing... never. going. to. park. over. one. of. those. they are super close to the bottom of the front skirt. just not gonna chance it.

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What about the rear skirt? I always back in because it's so much safer.

jerry33 said:

What about the rear skirt? I always back in because it's so much safer.

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yep, think that's higher, probably ok.

jerry33 said:

I always back in because it's so much safer.

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+1 ...

I always try to back in but clearance has been fine in all of the driveways and speed bumps I have gone over.
I don't park over curbs or parking blocks since the nose is pretty low.

Zextraterrestrial said:

I always try to back in but clearance has been fine in all of the driveways and speed bumps I have gone over.
I don't park over curbs or parking blocks since the nose is pretty low.

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Years ago, I had an Eagle Vision (Dodge Intrepid/Chrysler Concorde clone) and with its longitudinally mounted FWD setup, the whole engine and tranny sat ahead of the front axle. This gave the car a fairly long snout ahead of the wheels, and sloped ramps were a real problem with that car. It's hard to tell from pictures, but Model S seems to have a lot of car ahead of the front wheels too. Any owners having issues with sharp parking lot ramps?

The only place we've ever had any issue at all is with our driveway. There's quite an initial ramp up from the street, and a lot of cars scrape on it. If we leave the Model S suspension at its normal setting, it may not scrape at all, or may just barely scrape, depending on the angle. So my wife is getting in the habit of raising the suspension before coming up the driveway.

I keep checking the car in the garage because some people have reported their car dropping when parked, but I have not seen that. It stays high even if we leave the car parked a few days, and we can back down the driveway with no scraping. Then of course the car automatically lowers itself as our speed increases.

We have never scraped anywhere else. We have been driving it for months and have gone over speed bumps, in parking garages, etc.

I've only encountered one speed bump so far in 2k+ miles that the car bottomed out while crossing over, one of the fairly wide bumps on the exit to a roundabout in a parking lot. I may have hit it at a slight angle, which likely didn't help. I've just gotten in the habit of taking the long way around the parking lot (one we visit frequently), as the time / inconvenience of having to manually adjust the suspension is more annoying than the detour to avoid the speed bumps.

dflye said:

I've only encountered one speed bump so far in 2k+ miles that the car bottomed out while crossing over, one of the fairly wide bumps on the exit to a roundabout in a parking lot. I may have hit it at a slight angle, which likely didn't help. I've just gotten in the habit of taking the long way around the parking lot (one we visit frequently), as the time / inconvenience of having to manually adjust the suspension is more annoying than the detour to avoid the speed bumps.

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My Audi A8 found every bump on the road. The front spoiler was destined to be sacrificed rubbing against bumps. ;-)

I have to raise the car up when backing into my driveway (the nose will bottom out both ways if I do not).
I also have to raise it at my daughter's school when entering and exiting, and my son's school when exiting.

Lots of stupid road/entrance designs around here

Speed bumps have not been a problem so far, but I have raised it on occasion when I felt cautious.
As for parking lots, I raise it every time when driving forward in. Wish I could make it quicker and easier to raise...

ddenboer said:

Wish I could make it quicker and easier to raise...

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Sounds like they should make that an option for one of the steering wheel controls.

mknox said:

Sounds like they should make that an option for one of the steering wheel controls.

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+1 That gets my vote.

mknox said:

Sounds like they should make that an option for one of the steering wheel controls.

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Brilliant idea. I hope Tesla is listening?????????????????????

+1 here too. Perhaps my biggest wishlist item

cheers

I would love to see location awareness for suspension height. The driveways and bumps I go over don't move much... I would also like the ability to set "very high" while slowing. Waiting for 10mph does not give much time to lift without a stop and wait.

mknox said:

Sounds like they should make that an option for one of the steering wheel controls.

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yes +1. i even asked my rep about this when i picked up the car.. hope they're adding it.

i would also like to see a drop down menu on the 17" screen for favorites. i.e., it would look like the little squares that let you select upper or lower pane for the apps, i think a favorites button in the menu at the very top, which could take say 6 or 8 favorites, that could be screen layouts (1 for your main, e.g. nav on top, media bottom; and another for an alt, nav on bottom, energy on top, etc), or system screen locations, like the panoramic sunroof screen, or the driving panel where the lights controls are... etc. i would VERY MUCH appreciate this. just a little finger swipe and i'm in the config i want to be in. would be good.