drharris

I have a new sport due in a week or two. I am reading confusing data regarding the vehicle height adjustment. Is there a manual height adjustment for this model and if so where is it and how many heights can be set?

I can't remember, when I test drove it, seeing any at all but the lexus site says there is a 3 way adjustment. Perhaps only on the l and all wheel drive models and not the sport?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i believe the sport has air suspension right? if so, i would imagine there is a height high button on the shift plate area, which will allow you to raise up the car a bit if you want, but that's about it

hope i am not mixing up ls460 packages

stanatl

I have a Sport package model that I got in December. There are three (3) air suspension settings - comfort/normal/sport and a height button. There are two height settings - normal and high. I believe that the high setting only raises the car less than an inch.

OPSBD

The height setting only works if you load the car down with people and/or personal belongings, then by using the option the car will raise back to stock height. It does nothing if weight is not added.

You could buy a height controller (when it's available for the 2010) from Prestigious Society which would allow to control the height of your Lexus.

copy and paste from PS.....

Prestigious Society Air Suspension Controller for Lexus
The Prestigious Society Air Suspension Controller is a "plug and play" control module that allows users to control and adjust of the factory equipped air suspension system. The controller integrates with the factory air suspension system and allows users to adjust the vehicle ride height at his or her finger tips. The state of the art controller has an illuminated LCD panel to display the settings of your air suspension system. It has two raising modes and eight lowering modes to either raise or lower the vehicle. The controller also conveniently provides up to five memory settings so one can easily select a pre-set ride height upon setting up the controller.

daryll40

The last reply was excellent and confirmed my suspicion that the HEIGHT switch does nothing (when not loaded up).

Frankly I think the comfort/normal/sport switch is a dummy switch too. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my car. But I think both of those switches are a joke at worst and seriously overrated at best.

jstjohnz

I have to disagree re the height switch. The air suspension always works to keep the vehicle at the target level, regardless of load. There are 3 target levels: LOW, NORMAL, and HIGH. If the height switch is off, the target height is NORMAL below a certain speed threshold, and LOW above that threshold.

If HEIGHT HIGH is enabled, the target height is HIGH if below the speed threshold, and NORMAL if above the speed threshold. The difference between target levels is about 20mm. It can take a couple of minutes to shift levels.

The purpose of dropping the height at speed is to improve stability and aerodynamics.

If you sit in the car, and use a tape measure or something similar to measure ground-to-door sill distance, you will see that the car does rise a bit less than an inch, in about a minute or two, when you flip the height switch to HIGH.

The COMFORT/NORMAL/SPORT switch controls the damping mode of the air suspension. There is a graph in the New Car Features Manual that shows the range for each of the modes, but there's really no explanation as to exactly what is being graphed. On cars with the VGRS option, this switch affects the VGRS settings as well. From the graph it appears that the difference between NORMAL and SPORT is more pronounced than the difference between NORMAL and COMFORT.

I highly recommend the New Car Features Manual if you really want to get a thorough explanation of how the car works.

Please keep in mind that the info quoted is from a 2007 manual, there may have been some changes in 2010, but I assume the basic operation is pretty much the same.

OPSBD

Sir,

I'm pretty sure the information I provided is correct and pertains only to the "2010 LS sport or L version". There was never any mention of earlier models. If the height high option is not active no adjustments are made during operation or speed of the vehicle. If the height high is active, level of the car will be maintained regardless of the number of occupants and luggage weight. This information was taken from my 460L owner's manual.


Thank You!

jstjohnz

The owners manuals for 2007 and 2010 appear to be identical with regard to their description of the air suspension and the height button. I didn't find anything in the 2010 manual that referred specifically to a difference with regard to the operation of the HEIGHT switch in the sport version, perhaps you can tell me where you see this.

I would have to say that the extremely brief description given in the owner's manual isn't entirely clear. This is what I found in the owner's manuals:
---------------------------
Vehicle height adjustment
The vehicle’s height is maintained at the selected level regardless of the
number of occupants and luggage weight.

Turn the HEIGHT HIGH switch on.
The indicator light comes on.
Press the switch once more to
cancel the high mode.
----------------------------

While this could be interpreted to tie the auto height maintain function to the height switch, that isn't the case. Auto height is always functioning, the height switch just changes the target height. This is supported by this entry from the 2010 manual:

---------------------------
When the vehicle height is lowered, such as when entering
or loading the vehicle, OR high mode is selected,
the compressor may operate and a whirring sound may
be heard. This does not indicate a malfunction.
--------------------------

Again, if you have found something different, let me know, as I am going strictly from the documentation with regard to the 2010 model.

The NCF manual for 2010 lists the suspension changes and they are related to some of the suspension hardware itself, but the description of the operation of the system is unchanged from 2007.

OPSBD

You said......

......There are 3 target levels: LOW, NORMAL, and HIGH. If the height switch is off, the target height is NORMAL below a certain speed threshold, and LOW above that threshold.....

I hope your right but I've been told different and cannot find that information in the 2010 manual? Also, cannot find where the level is speed controlled.

Thanks for your help!

jstjohnz

The detailed explanation is in a manual called New Car Features. I happened to find a good deal on one for the 2007 LS460 on Ebay, I think it was about $25. It goes into a lot of detail about the workings of the various features on the car. It's a bit thicker than the owners manual, and it's 8.5x11 pages, so it's a lot of info.

I don't think the owner's manual specifically mentions dropping the ride height at speed, just some generic comment about adjusting height to driving conditions, but this has been a standard feature of the Lexus air suspension for quite a while, I know my 2001 LS430 works the same way.

The height changes are small and gradual, I doubt you'd ever notice them. As far as sport/comfort modes go, some people seem to think there's a night and day difference, some really can't tell. On a straight and level road there probably isn't much effective difference, but it should be more noticeable when taking curves, etc. It does look like they have changed the various damping curves for 2010, in addition to some physical changes to the suspension hardware, so I'm assuming the differences will be more pronounced in the new cars.

stanatl

I don't know about the height switch but I can tell you that on my LS Sport there is a distinct difference between the three suspension settings. In the "sport" setting there is much less sway when going through curves and the difference between that setting and the "comfort" setting is significant.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i also believe with the air suspension, it automatically adjust the height if you have more occupants in the car, regardless of whether you are at normal or height high. the switch induces extra height adjustment to the car on top of occupants (or lack of)

one thing for sure is when i had my ls460l, either it's just me or fully loaded (heavy 3 in the back), the rear doesn't drop at all like other spring loaded cars. and i was always on "normal"

flipside909

There are only 2 preset heights available. NORMAL and HEIGHT HIGH.

The 3 way adjustment is for the suspension dampening. NORMAL, SPORT and COMFORT.

drharris

I agree totally. When I tested the 2010 sport there was very much difference between the three settings!

drharris

With the air suspension, is there an inflatable air bag in place of the standard suspension coil spring? If so does the bag have a "coil over" type of geometry, that is, does it have a doughnut shape with a shock in the center? I have been trying to imagine the suspension components and how they interact.