After you or an alignment shop installs our control arms and lowering links you will want to align the wheels immediately. We recommend the following steps:
1. Set your Tesla’s height to the height you plan to drive most frequently. Usually that would be the Standard or Low position on your monitor. The height of the vehicle will change the geometry of the suspension, especially the camber. So it’s important to have the height set first before alignment is performed.
2. Have the alignment shop set your rear camber and toe to our recommended settings below. Notice that our settings fall within Tesla’s own spec. However, our settings will provide the best all around tire wear and performance for your Tesla and keep your alignment geometry to ensure less rolling resistance for increased range. The front settings can be adjusted to the factory specs with attention on reducing negative camber.
The full range of Tesla’s wheel/tire alignment specs for the Model S and X are below:
| TESLA S – Air Suspension | TESLA X |
|---|---|
| Front Camber: -0.3° to -1.2° | Front Camber: -0.3° to -1.2° |
| Front Caster: 3.5° to 4.5° | Front Caster: 3.7° to 4.7° |
| Front Toe: -0.20° to 0.10° | Front Toe: -0.15° to 0.15° |
| Total Front Toe: -0.40° to 0.20° | Total Front Toe: -0.30° to 0.30° |
| Steer Ahead: -0.05° to 0.05° | Steer Ahead: -0.05° to 0.05° |
| Rear Camber: -0.75° to -2.75° We recommend -0.75° to -0.85° |
Rear Camber: -0.5° to -2.5° We recommend -0.50° to -0.65° |
| Rear Toe: 0.05° to 0.35° We recommend 0.10° to 0.15° |
Rear Toe: 0.05° to 0.35° We recommend 0.10° to 0.15° |
| Total Rear Toe: 0.10° to 0.70° | Total Rear Toe: 0.10° to 0.70° |
| Thrust Angle: -0.20° to 0.20° | Thrust Angle: -0.10° to 0.10° |
If I set my alignment optimally for being in the LOW position on an early P85 lowered 1″ with links, how many degrees will Camber and Toes settings change when raised to NORMAL? Thank you for this posting.
Great question! You can expect camber to change by about 0.4° and toe to change by about -0.04° when changing from the low to standard ride heights. Thanks!
@donverse What would be the most negative camber to run without wearing tires?
Reason I ask is I did have alignment set for .85 in the rear and it seems like a little more negative camber would be better. When the suspension is up to high/very hgih when parked in my driveway it looks like it has positive camber. Also, i will run quite a bit in normal and it looks a little awkward there too. Thanks for any help.
That’s a good question. You could align to -1.0 in the standard ride height if you have 21″ wheels and maybe push it to -1.25. With 19″ wheels you can probably close to -1.5 in standard.
Thanks! So based on above comments, -1.0 in standard = ~ -1.40 in low, right? Is -1.40 a setting that will burn rear tires? Thank you.
Yeah, approximately -1.4. You’d be right on the edge so please keep an eye on it.
PS – I’m running 21″ wheels.