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I've had my 2010 LS460L for over 10 months now, 5 of those with the Data Systems Controller, and wanted a place to share everything I've noticed regarding the air suspension. I've yet to come across a single thread which seemed to address many of the questions I found elsewhere, or questions that were asked but never answered.
I will update this post with any additional information I find, or that anyone else provides, so that it is easily found without having to go through many pages down the road.
Automatic Height Adjustment - Air-equipped LS460's will automatically lower themselves at highway speed in order to increase aerodynamic efficiency. From what I've seen by monitoring the 'Valve' screen on the air controller is that the conditions for this to trigger are as follows:
>65mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically lowers
<60mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically raises
With this in mind, your suspension is constantly raising and lowering itself if you make regular highway trips. I mention this because I've heard concern about overuse of the compressor with an air controller leading to failure. I don't believe this is the case because the vehicle runs the compressor quite a bit on it's own from the factory. Repeated use from full Height High to Super Low mode could result in failure, but normal use should not have any adverse effect.
Height High - Pressing this button raises the car roughly 1-1.25". Ironically enough, the automatic lowering of the suspension is roughly the same distance. I made note of this for this reason: If using the aftermarket controller and already riding at a lowered state, it is likely that you do not want the vehicle to lower itself even further resulting in dangerously diminished ground clearance while traveling at high speed. If you are riding lowered and do not wish to first raise the car before traveling in excess of 65 miles per hour, you can quickly press the 'Height High' button to negate the auto-lowering.
Air Strut Failure - From research it seems that the most common component of the air strut to fail is the damping and not the bag itself. This is good in that a failure of the bag would result in the compressor constantly running, eventually failing, which leaves the vehicle undriveable. The damper failing however only results in bouncing at that corner meaning the vehicle can be carefully driven until the repair can be made. ***DISCLAIMER*** Driving your vehicle with broken suspension components is never recommended and can be extremely dangerous for you and others on the road. I take no responsibility for the outcome of choosing to drive on broken suspension, but wanted to point out that continued driving will not result in damage to the compressor in most cases. Driving under these conditions will put extra stress on items such as control arm bushings and is likely to result in premature failure of those components so prolonged use under these conditions is not recommended, but you won't necessarily be "stranded".
Control Arm Bushings - Lowering the LS460, either with a controller or as it occurs naturally, drastically modifies the control arm angles when static. This results in even further deviation of angle when being used on the road which can quickly cause old bushings to deteriorate at a rate faster than normal. Consider the age and mileage on these suspension components before lowering your vehicle, it will require replacement far sooner than otherwise. Also, to prevent undue wear on these bushings, or if they're on their way out and you want just a little more life before needing to replace, set your suspension to 'Sport' mode to limit the degree of movement/twisting of these bushings.
AWD Drivetrain Vibration - The vibration is not necessarily air suspension dependent, but the use of my controller helped to highlight the known issue of vibrations when slowing between 60-45. The vibrations get noticeably worse when the vehicle is lowered, highlighting that the issue is caused by driveshaft angle for the front wheels and not some "magical fluid change". There is an active TSB out there for these driveshafts, as well as one for changing fluids. If anyone has links to those I will hyperlink them here.
I've had my 2010 LS460L for over 10 months now, 5 of those with the Data Systems Controller, and wanted a place to share everything I've noticed regarding the air suspension. I've yet to come across a single thread which seemed to address many of the questions I found elsewhere, or questions that were asked but never answered.
I will update this post with any additional information I find, or that anyone else provides, so that it is easily found without having to go through many pages down the road.
Automatic Height Adjustment - Air-equipped LS460's will automatically lower themselves at highway speed in order to increase aerodynamic efficiency. From what I've seen by monitoring the 'Valve' screen on the air controller is that the conditions for this to trigger are as follows:
>65mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically lowers
<60mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically raises
With this in mind, your suspension is constantly raising and lowering itself if you make regular highway trips. I mention this because I've heard concern about overuse of the compressor with an air controller leading to failure. I don't believe this is the case because the vehicle runs the compressor quite a bit on it's own from the factory. Repeated use from full Height High to Super Low mode could result in failure, but normal use should not have any adverse effect.
Height High - Pressing this button raises the car roughly 1-1.25". Ironically enough, the automatic lowering of the suspension is roughly the same distance. I made note of this for this reason: If using the aftermarket controller and already riding at a lowered state, it is likely that you do not want the vehicle to lower itself even further resulting in dangerously diminished ground clearance while traveling at high speed. If you are riding lowered and do not wish to first raise the car before traveling in excess of 65 miles per hour, you can quickly press the 'Height High' button to negate the auto-lowering.
Air Strut Failure - From research it seems that the most common component of the air strut to fail is the damping and not the bag itself. This is good in that a failure of the bag would result in the compressor constantly running, eventually failing, which leaves the vehicle undriveable. The damper failing however only results in bouncing at that corner meaning the vehicle can be carefully driven until the repair can be made. ***DISCLAIMER*** Driving your vehicle with broken suspension components is never recommended and can be extremely dangerous for you and others on the road. I take no responsibility for the outcome of choosing to drive on broken suspension, but wanted to point out that continued driving will not result in damage to the compressor in most cases. Driving under these conditions will put extra stress on items such as control arm bushings and is likely to result in premature failure of those components so prolonged use under these conditions is not recommended, but you won't necessarily be "stranded".
Control Arm Bushings - Lowering the LS460, either with a controller or as it occurs naturally, drastically modifies the control arm angles when static. This results in even further deviation of angle when being used on the road which can quickly cause old bushings to deteriorate at a rate faster than normal. Consider the age and mileage on these suspension components before lowering your vehicle, it will require replacement far sooner than otherwise. Also, to prevent undue wear on these bushings, or if they're on their way out and you want just a little more life before needing to replace, set your suspension to 'Sport' mode to limit the degree of movement/twisting of these bushings.
AWD Drivetrain Vibration - The vibration is not necessarily air suspension dependent, but the use of my controller helped to highlight the known issue of vibrations when slowing between 60-45. The vibrations get noticeably worse when the vehicle is lowered, highlighting that the issue is caused by driveshaft angle for the front wheels and not some "magical fluid change". There is an active TSB out there for these driveshafts, as well as one for changing fluids. If anyone has links to those I will hyperlink them here.
Would this also cause the excessive inside tire wear issues that some experience?
Yes, some negative camber is always the result of lowering a vehicle without getting an alignment afterward. More negative camber is introduced the lower you go, resulting on most contact being on the inner half of the tire and ultimately uneven tread wear. Upgraded hardware is necessary to make these camber adjustments if you want to drop your vehicle below a point that the OEM equipment cannot adjust for.
The above is true for lowering any vehicle, air or strut/spring.
I've had my 2010 LS460L for over 10 months now, 5 of those with the Data Systems Controller, and wanted a place to share everything I've noticed regarding the air suspension. I've yet to come across a single thread which seemed to address many of the questions I found elsewhere, or questions that were asked but never answered.
I will update this post with any additional information I find, or that anyone else provides, so that it is easily found without having to go through many pages down the road.
Automatic Height Adjustment - Air-equipped LS460's will automatically lower themselves at highway speed in order to increase aerodynamic efficiency. From what I've seen by monitoring the 'Valve' screen on the air controller is that the conditions for this to trigger are as follows:
>65mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically lowers
<60mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically raises
With this in mind, your suspension is constantly raising and lowering itself if you make regular highway trips. I mention this because I've heard concern about overuse of the compressor with an air controller leading to failure. I don't believe this is the case because the vehicle runs the compressor quite a bit on it's own from the factory. Repeated use from full Height High to Super Low mode could result in failure, but normal use should not have any adverse effect.
Height High - Pressing this button raises the car roughly 1-1.25". Ironically enough, the automatic lowering of the suspension is roughly the same distance. I made note of this for this reason: If using the aftermarket controller and already riding at a lowered state, it is likely that you do not want the vehicle to lower itself even further resulting in dangerously diminished ground clearance while traveling at high speed. If you are riding lowered and do not wish to first raise the car before traveling in excess of 65 miles per hour, you can quickly press the 'Height High' button to negate the auto-lowering.
Automatic Height Adjustment - Air-equipped LS460's will automatically lower themselves at highway speed in order to increase aerodynamic efficiency. From what I've seen by monitoring the 'Valve' screen on the air controller is that the conditions for this to trigger are as follows:
>65mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically lowers
<60mph for more than 10 seconds - vehicle automatically raises
There's no mention of this anywhere in my 2013's owner's manual. Can anyone show me documentation of this?
With my first LS, a 1991 LS400, I would have to get to 80+ MPH and sustain it for a while; then the dash indicator would show that the car was lowering. I could then keep it lowered until I got down to 77-ish and it would automatically raise again.
Thanks, what are you referring to on the valve controller screen?
The DataSystems Air Controller has a mode in which you can monitor the valves at each corner.
It will flash an up or down arrow at either of the front corners individually, and the back in conjunction, when the car is lowering/raising. It's really handy for keeping an eye on what the suspension is doing and how long it takes to recognize that you've changed the height settings. Pressing the 'Height High' button engages the compressor automatically though, raising the car as soon as you push the button.
Originally Posted by Scrutator
There's no mention of this anywhere in my 2013's owner's manual. Can anyone show me documentation of this?
I believe I searched for the answer myself for a while as well and never found it. Hence why I'm sharing it here
Also, when did they do away with the light on the dash to tell you when the car was raising/lowering itself if it was available on the old LS400?
Thanks, rick3242. Seems like Lexus has left out information on a significant feature of air-suspension-equipped vehicles, assuming that the DataSystems controller doesn't affect it in this way. Why would Lexus not mention it? Seems odd to say the least. Guess I'll have to pick the brain of my local Lexus service manager whom I've known for over 20 years. I'm hoping that he can confirm this.
It's been known that the vehicle lowers itself at speed, that much is common knowledge. The conditions to trigger it, however, is what I was unable to find both in the manual and via online resources (including CL).
To test this yourself: Measure all 4 corners, ground to fender, through the center of the wheel. Write down those measurements. Take vehicle out on highway up to 66-70 and sustain it for a minute or so to let the car fully lower. Now, without putting yourself or anyone else in danger... brake quickly, pull off the road, and as soon as you come to a stop put it in park and turn the car off immediately. Get back out and measure all 4 corners, they should each be roughly 1-1.25" lower than before assuming that you turned off the car before the compressor began to fill the bags again.
11-03-17, 09:31 AM
Air Suspension Nuances
