Hi all

Following the last posts about the suspension bring soft after diff replacement and vibration at m/way speeds this past weekend, my 2013 SDV8 drove beautifully this morning, almost as good as the 15 plate I drove last week, then coming him tonight it went back to a low ride height and the sift ride and banging over bumps was back.

Its as if its dropping to something close to access whilst I'm driving along, the nose feels like I'm driving into the ground and other cars that pass are no longer lower than the RR. I stopped and tried dropping it to access and it barely dropped any height and driving off slowly to raise it felt like I had no suspension at all.

When I got home I pulled onto my drive and parked next to our Nissan Juke, see the picture, now that's not right. Height switch said normal height and no error messages on the dash.

Why is it lowering itself like this?

Current height from road to bottom of wheel arch is 820mm front and 840mm rear, car is in normal according to the switch, how does the compare to other vehicles please?

I'm riding on 21" wheels if that matters?

I'm stuck, cant really drive it, cant sell it like this and dealer cant fix it, LR say speak to dealer and dealer says they think it drives fine, I hope some pictures will help my case?

Carlos can you take picture of the car on a side profile when you say it has dropped but it thinks its in normal ride height?

Here's a few more pictures.

Carlos I've not got my car yet so not a lot of help, but given you now have measurements, I would just drop by the nearest Land Rover dealer & measure another RR.

I'm sure someone on here will be along with measurements shortly

This is more a question than anything else, it is nothing to do with the wiring of the deployable side steps, I had a feeling if deployed the car went into access mode but I might be talking a load of b s, just see they are down in one of the pictures

Hope you get sorted soon & start enjoying your RR  Paul
L405 now sold

Hi Carlos, you may have found another reason for the ride issues. It sounds like you have a problem in the suspension, either ECU related, valves, wiring, connectors or sensors. Considering the erratic behaviour, I would say wiring and connectors need to be looked at first to ensure all is hunkydory there before going for big money items . MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Hi Carl,

As we both know your experience is a mirror of mine with my first 405. Ride quality completely rubbish.
After 18 months no solution was found on this 63 plate.

The replacement (405x2) is now one month on and the ride quality is so much better.
One aspect (of many) that I focussed upon with 405x1, was tyres, pressures and each of the ride (on/off road) and exit heights.

Fitting replacement ECU made no difference, but the ride heights were out of spec and so adjusted. It made no difference.

Ride height should be measured from the bottom of the rim to the highest centre point of wheel arch on an absolutely level surface all 4 wheels. Do this at least 3 times over a few days, one after a journey, one cold and one after at least 48 hours standing. Note measurements per wheel and then compare.

My tyres were barely visible after 3 days, so deep had they receded into the arches.
At times, height adjusted West-East rather than North-South. (Which I presented photos of to the dealer).

Your wheels look ok to me for access height viz. ratio tyre to wheel arch, but looks like it's parked on a slight incline.

Do your headlights shudder on variable road surfaces? It's an indication of sensors incorrectly responding or misreading and does not show as a fault.

I so disliked the old 405 ride that I used the 2003 L322, as it was far more comfortable.

Now the 405 is back in favour.

My dealer had no solution, your dealer has no solution (so far) and LR were of no help at all.

My view remains that there is one or a series of faults that the vehicle is blind to. Computer says NO syndrome!!! What disappoints is the seeming unwillingness or inability of the dealers and LR to accept responsibility and fix it.

Hi mate, am waiting for a call back. Despite knowing I take it on a driving holiday around the lake district this coming Friday they said they were full but could squeeze me in just to have a quick look on Thursday afternoon, so any faults found could not be sorted before i go away. They are talking amongst themselves again.

The picture of the front wheel is with the car in normal ride height not access, it has been driving like that, and feels like crap. I cant seem to raise it any higher and now have a picture of it in off-road height, as below, now that doesnt seem high enough for off-road in my eyes, rear possibly but fronts, surely not?

Dealer had a drive, it wasn't low like I've experienced so wasn't vibrating as much bit he did understand my feedback about it being soft and floaty. I thought, great, until he started wittering on that he drove another early one like that and couldn't fix it, and that reported improvements may not be possible because model year changes are not always compatible. He's going to ring LR and then ring me in a few days, I wont hold my breath.

The car is a pile of dog s*it, wish Id never come back to the brand.

Carlos,

Go back to LR on here - see my post under LR

Got to be worth another try

Best of luck

Paul Paul
L405 now sold

Just measured my 15.5 parked on flat in normal height and it's 840mm for both front and rear.

Hi again,

Land Rover have a specific procedure to check and adjust vehicle height.

For each rim size, all height measurements are from bottom of rim and from hub centre.

I initially measured from the ground, thus including tyre. It was pointed out that tyres are too variable and can distort accuracy eg 10 mm tread when new, hot tyres expand, variable or inaccurate pressures.

I only have to hand the measurements for L322 18'', 19'' and 20'', but 405 measurements should be somewhere available from other members. The LR stated figures are +/- 2mm.

On 405x1 there was never a constant measurement, but this is what I logged:-.

From rim NSF varied 702-697, from bottom of tyres 797-780
NSR 696-676, 795-775
OSF 687-677, 796-778
OSR 696-687, 810-775
All cold tyres at access height.

The pattern of variance changed little at normal road height. It was a huge surprise to me and corrected by the dealer, but the ride quality did not change and driving over even cats eyes felt like a substantial pothole. So I concluded it was not the reason.

I even tried to book a test run at MIRA with an engineer, but they would not play ball.

I had tried for a long time for a solution and would still like to know what was wrong.

Carl, my patience expired but I admire your tenacity and hope a resolution is not far away.

I don't expect them to fix it so am preparing to sell up, even my missus who was against the sale is thinking I should get shot, and to be honest, if I do, that will be me done with LR vehicles full stop, and any friend or colleague who asks will be given my feedback.