driftmeister

Hi Everyone

Sorry for bringing up an old thread.

Had my Cayenne S for almost a year and been playing with the air suspension depending on my mood and also traffic conditions. One question i always had in my mind is the Low / Normal mode with the Sport setting, whether will it have any effect on the wear & tear longevity of the air suspension. I just changed the front pair (there goes my new set of rims i was planning) due to a leak on one of the struts after i bought it. I always prefer the Sport settings (think i have the sport exhaust valve too) and don't mind the gas mileage since we bought it for the fun of having this functions available to us. I have owned JDM Skylines before so to have a coil-over setup with very stiff suspension is pretty a normal experienced as i daily drive them too. Since the Cayenne is DD for now, i wish you all can advice whether it's okay to keep it at Low ride height with Sport/Normal settings all the time. One thing i notice is the rear seem to be more bouncy especially on Normal setting Low ride height ( shock not so new)

Petza914

Actually, if you're driving fast, putting it in sport mode will save wear on the air suspension. In Normal mode, the car drops to sport height at whatever that certain speed is, like 75 mph, but then returns to normal height by itself each time you cross the lower speed threshold, maybe like 40-50 mph. In sport mode it stays at thr low height all the time so saves that up and down cycling. Plus, you also get the 1st gear start off instead of second. I wish sport mode would also keep the Tach above 2,000 rpm all the time, to prevent LSPI and lugging the motor, but it won't, so I'm constantly having to click the minus button or run in full manual mode.

Galion

I am on my third Cayenne since 2008, always PASM in sport mode and low A/S setting, never had an issue.

driftmeister

Thanks for the prompt feedback. I also notice when in Comfort, after like driving over the 160 km/h...it will show that the suspension is on the wrong mode. Which i think it will set itself to be Normal.
Im gonna give it a try to maintain Sport for a couple of days to get that permanent sporty handling & lived with it.Just concern it won't have any terrible wear on the tyres...hehe

driftmeister

That's comforting to hear..thanks for the feedback.

Petza914

I drive in Normal mode so little I'm going to do my next alignment with the vehicle set at sport mode height.

dc1225

it does. I live in chicago and one time I got 12.7 mpg on regular mode with avg speed of 11mph. Every chance I get on the highway though.

for me my car drives smoother in sport mode vs regular mode.

one time I floored it on the highway and saw bunch of black smoke on my rear view mirror. I hope I didn’t mess up anything. Haven’t floored it since.

Mrturbo16

My 16CTT also goes back to the middle suspension height if I set it in sport mode, I found myself avoiding the sport for that reason. I thought that there must be something wrong with it, but I see I am not the only one.

Petza914

When does it do that, when you restart it or while driving it?

Mine does it when I restart it, but if it's in sport, never changes height until I shut it off and restart it. That one up and back down is many fewer than the constant up and down that it would do if set in normal mode by achieving the speed that makes it drop, then slowing to the speed that then makes it raise, then drop again, etc.

Honestly, I really dont worry about it too much because you can hear it making constant adjustments based on incline and load when you're driving it in any mode.

Mrturbo16

It does it when is already started and I change modes on the fly, I guess I will try changing to sport, lowering it and turning it off. Doesn’t it revert back to normal when it starts again?

Petza914

Yes, each time you restart the car, it starts in Normal mode. What you may not know is that it will lower itself at a certain speed on the highway even if you don't select Sport mode just to lower the center of gravity and make it more stable at higher speeds. Then when you return to normal speed, it will raise itself back up to the Normal level, again, even if you don't do anything. Pushing the button to put it into Sport mode and Sport height keeps it there all the time until you restart the car so less up and down if you're speed is fluctuating frequently. If you rarely drive over 75, then it may not matter and stays at Normal height all the time.

tmckenna

I haven't noticed much automatic height switching. Especially from a lower setting to higher. After I come off the beach sometimes I forget to take my car out of offroad 1 height and once I hit 50mph itll go down to normal mode. I don't think I've ever had my car go up a height setting (besides loading mode over 10mph)

Petza914

It's happening without you being conscious of it because you're still doing 40 mph when it happens. By the time you get to the stop sign at the end of the off ramp it's already at Normal height.

tmckenna

Youre saying the car goes up from the low height setting over a certain speed?

Petza914

No, the car goes down from a higher height (Normal) over a certain speed and then goes back up to normal height below a certain speed.