Hi all

I understand that the air suspension would need to be put in "tight tolerance" mode when an alignment is performed so the air suspension won't self adjust during the alignment adjustment which causes inaccurate settings.

I also understand that there are 2 ways to set the air suspension to "tight tolerance" mode: via the scan tool or manually.

Does anyone know if the scan tool is a proprietary tool that only Land Rover Dealerships have?

Can't I just lock the air suspension to access mode instead of "tight tolerance" mode if the goal is to prevent the air suspension from self adjusting?

For those with air suspension who have had alignment done at Independent shops, how did they handle it?

Finally, based on the tires wear attached below, do you think I actually need alignment?






Thanks!

 

No, you'll have to set the suspension to tight tolerance mode. Locking in access height won't work. Your tires appear to be wearing evenly - is your car pulling to one side or is the steering wheel off center when going straight?

Enabling tight tolerance mode is very simple. To enable it you must:

1. Turn the engine on
2. Set the vehicle to normal height if it isn't already
3. Open the driver's door
4. Depress the brake three times
5. Close the driver's door within 10 seconds of the first brake depress
6. You will then hear a chime letting you know the car is in tight tolerance mode.

To deactivate tight tolerance mode, you can either drive over 5 mph or shut off the engine.

 

Got it.

No, the vehicle tracks straight and the tires seem to be wearing evenly to me. Thanks for confirming that. So maybe I don't have to do the alignment after all then.

So you have to leave the engine running for the entire time while the alignment is being performed since the tolerance mode is disabled by driving off or shutting the engine off?

 

Yes, which is unfortunate. If the alignment machine isn't up to spec, the vibrations from the engine can mess with the lasers on the machine. My tire shop that I regularly go to was fighting the vibrations, but was able to get it within spec no problem. Dealer was able to get it even closer.

 

Ah I see. I suppose the dealers can use their scan tool to get the vehicle in tight tolerance mode without having to keep the engine running and vibrating.

Thanks!

 

Note: you DEFINITELY do not want to align it in access height. It needs to be in whatever your “base" normal height is. When you lower or raise the suspension -- it can change the wheel camber. It would not be possible to do an alignment properly in access height.

So for example, when I installed my bigger tires and 1.5” lift rods, I had the car re-aligned to the new “normal” just to be sure. My tire wear over the 28,000 miles I’ve had the car has been perfectly even. Which is alot more than I can say about the all of the LR3 and LR4’s I had that never once wore tires evenly.