[archiboy]

Someone smarter than me might be able to help me understand. When set to All Purpose drive mode the R1T wants to constantly go back to Standard ride height. Admittedly I'm an old fart and appreciate the running boards on my F150 for getting in and out fo the vehicle. I've tried to get into the habit of lowing the truck when I reach my destination for ease of my wife and I both to get in and out. I'm wondering if driving on the low height is prone to cause uneven tire wear. I'm not sure if the suspension system is raising and lowering the vehicle so the weight is evenly distributed on the width of the tire.

TIA for any insight.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Someone smarter than me might be able to help me understand. When set to All Purpose drive mode the R1T wants to constantly go back to Standard ride height. Admittedly I'm an old fart and appreciate the running boards on my F150 for getting in and out fo the vehicle. I've tried to get into the habit of lowing the truck when I reach my destination for ease of my wife and I both to get in and out. I'm wondering if driving on the low height is prone to cause uneven tire wear. I'm not sure if the suspension system is raising and lowering the vehicle so the weight is evenly distributed on the width of the tire.

TIA for any insight.

On a Tesla, lowering the car would cause camber which would cause increased and uneven tire wear.

However, I don't think it would be as big of an issue on the Rivian where the truck is built for articulation. In one of the suspension deep dives, it's even noted that the way the suspension was designed allowed for a larger range of camber upon height adjustment.

That's just my expectation, hard to say for sure until someone accumulates ten thousand miles or so on their car.

 

[sciencegeek]

I would be surprised if ride height affected tire wear. It's a true all-wheel drive vehicle with pretty even weight distribution, so unless you load up the bed with bricks every time there should not be much difference between front and back, and certainly not due to ride height. If you always drive in Conserve mode you'll probably get more wear in front because that's front wheel drive only.

 

[ColeAK]

With an upper/lowe control arm type independent suspension. Yes lowering it creates negative camber (more contact inside) and raising creates positive camber (more contact outside). Probably not enough to matter but it could in the long run. Does the truck raise to “normal” over a certain speed like other vehicles that have adjustable height? Or is there an easy entry/exit feature that just lowers it when you put it in park?

 

[EaglesPDX]

Probably not enough to matter but it could in the long run

Which setting on the Rivian is ideal for tire wear? In the road tests it mentions economy which is FWD and lowering unit for less air resistance. That would be my default for everyday but not if it meant uneven tire wear.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Which setting on the Rivian is ideal for tire wear? In the road tests it mentions economy which is FWD and lowering unit for less air resistance. That would be my default for everyday but not if it meant uneven tire wear.

Get an alignment done in whatever mode you’ll use most on the street. Problem solved (Or at least reduced.)

 

[EaglesPDX]

Get an alignment done in whatever mode you’ll use most on the street. Problem solved (Or at least reduced.)

I'd probably only use the AWD and change height when using the launch ramp in Summer and when I hit snow in Winter. Short duration on the ramp and with snow on the ground, even with a camber angle the tire would not see the pavement. Wonder if the ride height changes on the truck provide a note on the camber based on stock tires and wheels?

 

[archiboy]

@ColeAK thx that's what I thought was happening. I appreciate your response and confirmation.

@Commador & @Eagles ... it seems that setting ride height and expecting it to stay there is currently not an option. The truck will re-level itself while driving. It frequently will re level when you come to a stop in traffic. I actually had the equilibrium sensation of being on a boat once last week.

It would be really nice if future OTA releases would include stuff like "always set height to low when putting the vehicle in park" or "geofence ride heights so the truck knows to raise itself at a steep driveway"

 

[EaglesPDX]

. The truck will re-level itself while driving.

Hmm...when Kyle Conner of OutofSpec did the his near 300 mile 70 mph run, he said it was set on eco mode which was FWD only and a lower height. He made no mention of the truck changing height during the drive. If that is happening, perhaps it is an error or the setting being used is supposed to re-level?

 

[ColeAK]

@ColeAK thx that's what I thought was happening. I appreciate your response and confirmation.

@Commador & @Eagles ... it seems that setting ride height and expecting it to stay there is currently not an option. The truck will re-level itself while driving. It frequently will re level when you come to a stop in traffic. I actually had the equilibrium sensation of being on a boat once last week.

It would be really nice if future OTA releases would include stuff like "always set height to low when putting the vehicle in park" or "geofence ride heights so the truck knows to raise itself at a steep driveway"

Lowering on park is a common feature for trucks with adjustable suspension. On my LX570 it is called easy entry/exit. If activated when I put it in park it goes to the lowest setting. I’m pretty sure Rover, jeep, Mercedes all have a similar feature.

 

[RITVT]

Volvo Air suspension will lower in park as well. As for wear, when the vehicle is in the lowest or highest setting, you could in theory see more wear in those "maxxed out" positions. Others here have noted that the ride is firmer in the lowest setting, so if you are always running in the lowest (stiffest) setting, and you are "feeling" more of the road and imperfections, I would imagine that the tires might be taking more impact, and thus theoretically seeing more wear. This is pure speculation on my part.

 

[archiboy]

Hmm...when Kyle Conner of OutofSpec did the his near 300 mile 70 mph run, he said it was set on eco mode which was FWD only and a lower height. He made no mention of the truck changing height during the drive. If that is happening, perhaps it is an error or the setting being used is supposed to re-level?

Candidly I haven't run in Eco mode - except for about .1 of a mile to see what it felt like. And I'm not thrilled with that as a work around. Eco mode limits several other issues (I'm pretty sure that includes acceleration). IMO Eco mode is for when I'm trekking and realize I've only got 100 miles of range to make it 105 miles to a charger. I'm not thrilled with paying $90k for a truck that I need to leave in Eco mode so it stays on the low setting for the suspension. I appreciate the suggestion - but I'm thinking an OTA should be in store to address the issue. Entry/Exit would be one part of the equation (Tesla does this too - They added it after lots of users created a driver profile called "Entry/Exit"). OTA updates are an amazing feature and something I'm sure 20 years from now drivers will wonder how we ever got along without it. As we all migrate to driving a cluster of CPUs with 4 wheels and leave the legacy ICE vehicles for nostalgia I'm confident OTA updates will become an industry standard.

 

[RITVT]

I thought "sport mode" stayed on the lowest setting? Is this not correct?

 

[Wing]

Not only camber. Lowering ride height would increase camber and increase toe out I believe.

Toe kills tires. So yes it will affect it, how much is anyone's guess.

 

[sciencegeek]

My guess: small compared to other factors. I'm sure I can make those tires disappear (all of them) within 10,000 miles. No uneven wear required to ruin them.

 

[StevieD]

Someone smarter than me might be able to help me understand. When set to All Purpose drive mode the R1T wants to constantly go back to Standard ride height. Admittedly I'm an old fart and appreciate the running boards on my F150 for getting in and out fo the vehicle. I've tried to get into the habit of lowing the truck when I reach my destination for ease of my wife and I both to get in and out. I'm wondering if driving on the low height is prone to cause uneven tire wear. I'm not sure if the suspension system is raising and lowering the vehicle so the weight is evenly distributed on the width of the tire.

TIA for any insight.

My current 2019 RAM has air shocks with 4 ride adjustments - Entry/Exit // Aero // Normal // Off Road1. I drive with it in the lower Aero mode and use the entry/exit mode occasionally to get into the vehicle (normally using key FOB). Very seldom do I use normal mode. After 40,000plus driving and 60,000plus including towing, I haven’t had any tire problems. Hope for the same with R1T. Like you, I really enjoy my retractable running boards.

 

[dilmorecg]

I have this concern too and have been waiting for someone to bring it up. I expect it to be less of an issue on the A/T tires than the 22" tires since there is more rubber. I have a performance SUV thats designed to have negative camber and was only getting ~12k miles out of a set of tires because of camber wear. I am wondering if they have the geometry set up so it minimizes camber and toe "movement" when going up and down. If not, I wonder what setting Rivian does their initial alignment in.

 

[ColeAK]

When my wife had a Cayenne turbo went through her first set of tires in ~8k miles, at $2400 a set. That was before the first oil change.

 

[Birdyland]

I'm not sure about your question, but they definitely have some ride height kinks to work out.

We have the AT tires and they are being destroyed. In conserve mode, the ride hight causes tire rub when you go over a large bump or dip as it rides at the lowest setting. Service has been informed. Seems to be causing an alignment issue as well. We have 2600 miles on our R1T after 3 weeks.

The truck is a little hard to get in and out of at any hight. There really needs to be handles on the front pillar. The (very comfortable) bucket seats - the wings are so tall, I figure they are going to have a high replacement rate. I'm sure as the user reports roll in, and they improve the software, they can add a feature to lower when in park.

 

[Hopper]

I too was thinking this morning that it would be great to have a selectable option to have the suspension go to ”Lowest” when in Park.