FatherTo1

Seriously, just ignore my ramblings because the car seemed to drive "just like before" while coming home from Costco. With the LS fully laden with a full trunk and two cases of water behind the driver's seat it glided down the road very stably in Comfort. What the heck is wrong with me? My Height High measurements are similar to comotiger's, except I can't explain the variations at each corner. Too bad I never bothered to measure the height before to establish a baseline.

comotiger

Maybe we should start a new thread on suspension height! For you, the rears and RF rose 13/16" to 1", with the LF rising only 7/16". Are we seeing variations because of the parking spots? I am also parked in a flat slab garage. I took the measurements and no one was inside the vehicle. I should go back and check mckellyb's readings for the two suspension settings. I leave the car at Normal height. I don't like the jacked up look unless it is absolutely needed for parking, negotiating steep driveways, or driving in the snow.

SW17LS

Believe me, I know what you're going through. I was convinced something was wrong with my air suspension too...but its working perfectly.

aw001

Take a deeeep breath. My psychiatrist friend will make lots of money off all of you...

All joking aside, i suppose that is why all of us are here, talking car.

mckellyb

Yeah, no worries on your suspension, mate. 1/4" is better than a couple of mine before I started messing with it, and to get it within a tenth took a couple of hours.

While you wanted to be kind to him, being he seemed a friendly sort, I'd put money on him not having insurance, and possibly a suspended license. That kid needs to have some time on the bus to think about it.

You letting him slide means he knows he can get away with it. I'd wager the number is false, email is false, everything...faked.

Also, Comfort to Normal means, at least on my car, merely the floatiness goes away (and I like the floatiness), but daily, I switch mine from Comfort to one of the other two settings because of road imperfections I know are coming up. I've been driving this commute for 7 years, I know it pretty well. There are a few bridge transitions where, when going back to pavement, there's a gentle, but significant, drop off. I'll rock the switch to Sport as I'm going off the bridge, so it's floaty as I go off, but max damping as the suspension compresses. I get bunches of extension but because the dampers are 'stiff' by the time gravity catches up, the car doesn't crash down on the bump stops. It's difficult to explain, but very neat to be able to do.

You may not be able to feel it, but I've found the road must be just the correct amount of beat up to notice, and even then, I need to flick back-and-forth to feel it.

The rocker switch changes strut damping effectively immediately. I've seen how quick the actuators are, and how far they need to turn to go from '1' to '17'. It's plenty quick over a shorter rotational distance than you'd expect. That, and it's not going from '1' to '17', it's going from 6-9 to 13-14.

I think the only system which is quicker is GM's Magneride, which I've also had.

Not enough variability programmed into GM's system, IMO. Also, to change damping was a six-touch on-screen process which could be done only when stopped.

Nope, GM, you got that horribly wrong. The damper tech is amazing, but not fully realized. A rheostat on the console would have been perfect, just like both that car's and our car's seat temperature control.

Oh, and there's a LOT more damping available in the LS's system, having had mine stuck on maximum for the first 8 months, or so, I owned it.

It was flinty, but it also handled remarkably well (while on smooth pavement). There is no free ride.

comotiger

Hi McKelly, can you comment on the readings in my car? They are pretty close across the front and rear, so no issues there. I am curious about the increase in height on High. The rears did not rise as much as the fronts. What about your car?

Here are my car's measurements. Michelins 245/45R19s, 33 psi
Normal: LF and RF 29", LR and RR 28 7/8"
High: LF and RF 29 13/16", LR and RR 29 5/16"
I never measured these heights before. I assumed that the suspension would rise the same amount front and rear. I am surprised the front (13/16") rises almost twice as high as the rear (7/16").

FatherTo1

Thank you, mckellyb and others, for the assurance that everything is alright. With each passing day the car feels more and more "back to normal". The pleasant numb floatiness has returned in Comfort mode and I don't notice the jittery ride that I felt over the weekend in Normal mode. I am a happy camper again.

You do make an interesting point about the kid. It could very well be that his insurance expired last month. Not to defend him but I believe he is simply ignoring my emails. His email is legit because he was attempting to send his current policy declaration page to his email, but had trouble accessing his email. I suggested he use my phone and he was able to log into his Outlook account and he let me download his declaration page from his email (on my phone).

What would happen if there was serious damage to my car and the other driver was uninsured (illegal in California)? In such an event, I imagine he would be responsible for his own property damage and any medical expenses and my "uninsured motorist" coverage would kick in to repair my car (minus deductible out of my own pocket?). Would there be any additional repercussions to an uninsured motorist? Would my insurance company report him to police? Or would he be allowed to continue driving uninsured?

Shad034

The cleanest way to go about it would be to file with your insurance company and they'll sort it out. You would be out your deductible, but after they investigate (and assuming they find him at fault) they would subrogate the claim to his insurance, assuming he has any. They would get your deductible back for you and the expenses they put out on your behalf. Of course that is assuming he responds to the insurance company and actually admits fault. He could ignore them too, or he could give an alternate view of the facts (wasn't me, didnt do it, dont know what you're talking about) and in the absence of evidence of who is at fault, the insurance company would probably end up eating it and you would be out your deductible.

If they did get ahold of him but he had no insurance, they would probably sue him to reclaim whatever they could. The fact that you do not have a police report for the accident kinda complicates things as there is no official documentation that any of this even happened. It is quite literally your word against his, as there are no witnesses. If you've got pictures of the scene, that would definitely be helpful to prove the occurrence, at least in an argument between the two insurance companies. As far as a police action goes for him driving without insurance, hard to say. I'd guess probably nothing, because an officer did not witness the crime. The state can't charge you with a criminal act without any evidence, and your testimony is only as good as his is. While they COULD pursue it if they wanted to, I'm going to guess it would be seen as just a waste of resources.

That all being said, and this just occurred to me, was his name on that insurance card he gave you? The one for a different car? If so, he was probalby covered for that car as well in terms of liability. If you're driving someone elses car, your insurance is the one that covers your liability, not the car's insurance. This is why you can drive rentals and friends cars under your own insurance. Now if he didnt have insurance on that car, his policy might deny damages to that vehicle, but that's not your problem in this case. Besides, it doesn't look like he bothers to fix damage to that truck anyways.

FatherTo1

Ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation, Shad. It would be my word, along with front and rear dashcam video that shows him as the driver, the impact, and of both of us as we pulled into the parking lot and exited our vehicles. Good to know he wouldn't be able to simply ignore responsibility completely if my insurance did pursue him. I am just thankful it wasn't a serious accident and that none of my loved ones were in the car with me. Hopefully there won't be another accident in my future and, if there is, then this experience and thread has taught me a few things.

Shad034

You have dashcam of the whole thing? Yeah, you probably win on that one. Especially since it was a rear collision. You're not allowed to run into things and not be at fault.

Ultimately I think you would be in good shape with regard to being found not at fault if you wanted to pursue it via insurance. You could file with his and probably win even if he doesn't respond since you have video of the event. You could file with yours and let them go do the arguing.

Depends on whether you want to chase it down or not. Kid needs a lesson, no doubt, but do you want to put forth the effort to teach it?

mckellyb

Sorry, my computer seems to be sending things into the ether, not Ethernet.

Values look just fine. I never could figure out why the nose rises more than the tail, other than maybe trunk liftover height, but I mean, half an inch?

I do believe the rear wheel wells are lower on the body than are the fronts...not unusual, but it's challenging to spot most of the time. Front and rear travel may not be the same distance, either. Probably aren't, actually.

comotiger

Thanks, McKellyB. It's good to know that my height readings are nominal. I know you were reading suspension readings in Techstream, so it would be difficult to compare those directly to mine which show the fender heights. Do I understand correctly that your suspension readings also showed a 0.5 inch difference in height increase between front and rear when switching to High mode? I wonder what's the logic behind that.

Shad034

there's typically a small bias to the rear with suspension to account for cargo carrying capacity of the trunk. Nose is already weighted with the engine, put some luggage in the trunk and it will still be level.

comotiger

Thanks, Shad. But the vehicle was loaded the same way in both the Normal and High modes (empty trunk). Why did the rear rise less than the front when switched to High mode?

mckellyb

Comotiger, yep, still a difference, though I attempted to fix it with the Techstream with it in 'normal'. On high, it's definitely lower by about half an inch.

I have the measurements on the other computer...I'll post 'em, probably Tuesday, if I forget, today.