What a service to the Phaeton community, You are both to be congratulated on such a quality post, Just plain wonderful and what has come to be expected from you all.
#1
How to Adapt (Adjust, Calibrate) Phaeton Suspension & Ride HeightThis is a rather lengthy post that describes how to adapt (calibrate) the level control system on a Phaeton. It consolidates together all that we have learned from several rather lengthy discussions about this topic. Much of the credit for what is written here goes to David Cowan, who pioneered investigation into this topic in the fall of 2004.
The most common reason why a Phaeton owner wants to re-adapt the suspension controller on a Phaeton is to lower the car by 10 mm to its original design ride height. Phaetons that are sold in the North American Region (NAR) have the suspension set in such a way that the body of the car is 10 mm higher above the axles than Phaetons sold in the rest of the world. There is a good reason for this – the wheel stops that are commonly used in NAR parking lots are much higher than the EC standard for a wheel stop. If VW shipped Phaetons to North America with the standard European ride height settings, owners would be complaining about the front bumper of the car getting smashed up on curb stops. The photos below, showing the relationship of my Phaeton – which is calibrated to European ride height specifications – to a standard cement wheel stop will show you exactly we are talking about.
Phaeton with North American Suspension Settings
Phaeton with European Suspension Settings
Why VW sets North American Phaetons 10 mm higher than European ones
This is my Phaeton, after I recalibrated it to European specifications.
Another reason why VW sets North American Phaetons 10 mm higher than European ones
Have you every seen a roadway transition like this in your neighbourhood? You won’t find this kind of civil engineering incompetence in Germany.General Overview of the Process
Many Phaeton owners want to see their car sit a little lower over the wheels, because the car looks a bit nicer that way. This “how to do it” post does not discuss how to slam the Phaeton down like a low-rider you might see cruising through South-Central LA on a Friday night – it only describes how to change standard North American suspension settings to standard European suspension settings, or, if you need to do it, how to re-adapt the suspension on the Phaeton without changing anything at all.
First, an explanation about adaptation involves is in order. Some controllers in a Phaeton need to be adapted (calibrated might be a better word, but VW uses the term ‘adapted’) to the individual vehicle, and some do not need to be adapted. If you install a battery management controller, or a navigation system controller, it’s just “plug and play” – every one of these controllers works the same way in every Phaeton, and no adaptation to the individual car is needed. But, other controllers need to be adapted to the individual characteristics of each chassis. A good example of this is the Tire Pressure Monitoring Controller. When we change tire pressures, we have to put this controller through a learning cycle so that it learns what the pressures are on our individual Phaeton. This learning cycle is, in fact, a driver initiated adaptation cycle. We adapt the TPMS controller to precisely match how we have configured our vehicle.
Similarly, a suspension controller needs to be adapted to every individual Phaeton, because not every car body is exactly the same weight. Such an adaptation normally only needs to be done once. Phaeton suspension controllers are adapted to the car when the car is built in Dresden. If there are problems later on, or if the controller breaks and is replaced with a new one, the Phaeton technician at your dealership will adapt the new controller to your car. It is not a difficult process, but the instructions need to be followed carefully.
Before we adapt the controller, though, we first have to tell it how high we want the body to sit above the wheels of the car. This is a slightly different process than adaptation. We tell the controller how high we want the body to sit by coding the controller, then, after we have coded it, we adapt the controller to the car to ensure that it is accurately doing what we have coded it to do.
A analogy that will help explain the difference between coding and adaptation is that of an old-fashioned television set, the kind that has a rotary dial on it that you turn to change channels. Turning the big dial step by step, to switch from channel 2 to channel 3 and so on, can be considered to be ‘coding’. Adjusting the fine tuning dial so that you got perfect reception on channel 2 or channel 3 (after you have changed the channel) can be considered ‘adaptation’.
OK, now you understand the basics, so let’s begin the coding and adaptation process. To do this work, you will need the following tools:
1) A diagnostic scan tool. This could be a VAG-COM, a VAS 5051, VAS 5052, or similar.
2) A measuring tape or ruler that is calibrated in millimetres. A carpenter’s level is the best thing to use, because it is sturdy and easy to read.
3) A perfectly level surface that you can park the Phaeton on, while leaving the engine running for some time (about half an hour or so).
4) Other miscellaneous useful stuff: A printed copy of these instructions, a pencil and paper, a bar stool or small ladder you can put your scan tool on, and perhaps a credit card to help you measure with precision.
Find a nice, level, well ventilated, friendly, social place to do your work.
The platform that comes with a Hunter VAG 1944B Wheel Alignment Tool is perfect for this purpose.
CodingThe suspension controller is controller 34. The normal coding for this controller in Europe is 0015500, and the normal coding for this controller in North America is 0017700. Each increment of one digit in the location where the 5’s and 7’s are is equal to a 5 mm increase in body ride height above the axles. A European Phaeton has a normal axle centerline to lower edge of fender distance of 407 and 401 mm, front and rear, and a North American Phaeton has a normal distance of 417 and 411 mm. If you change the coding of the suspension controller from xxx77xx to xxx55xx (the x representing digits you don’t pay attention to, and should not change), then you will eliminate the 10 mm upward adjustment on the NAR Phaetons.
So, using your diagnostic scan tool, change the coding of the controller, save your work, and close the controller. Now, because you have changed the coding, you must re-adapt the controller – otherwise, you will see a message in the Y24 display (the screen between the speedometer and the tachometer) telling you that you have suspension problems. In fact, this message will appear immediately as soon as you change the coding – don’t worry about it, it will go away once you have completed the adaptation.
Suspension Controller Opened
Change the coding from xxx77xx to xxx55xx – no security code is needed or wanted for this step.
Don’t forget to save the work after you do this.Adaptation
Put the car on a level surface. Make sure that the tire pressures are correctly set on all 4 tires. Get whatever you need out of the car, because you cannot open any doors or lids during the adaptation process (if you do open a door or lid, it aborts the adaptation). Roll the driver window down all the way. Plug the cable from the diagnostic scan tool into the OBD (on board diagnostic) connector, which is just inboard of the parking brake foot pedal. Run the cable out the open driver door window, and plug it into your diagnostic scan tool (now you know why it helps to have a bar stool to put the scan tool on).
Start the engine, and leave the car idling, in Park. Get out, and close all the doors.
Open the suspension controller (address 34), and enter the security code that is needed to give you access to the adaptation section of the controller. The security code is 31564 – this is the same for a Touareg or a Phaeton. Be aware that once you have entered the security code, you have initiated the adaptation procedure. You then have to fully complete the adaptation cycle – if you back out before the end (channel 5), your car will display a fault message, and the suspension system will be in ‘limp home’ mode.
Enter the Security Code
Once you have entered the security code, go to adaptation, and select channel 1. The Phaeton will then move up and down a little bit, and eventually, ask you to enter a measurement. Measure the exact distance between the axle centerline and the bottom edge of the front left fender, and enter that value. Repeat this process for adaptation channels 2, 3, and 4, which correspond to the front right, rear left, and rear right wheels.
Go to channel 1, wait for the car to move up and down, then enter the observed measurement
Normally you have to wait about 1 minute until the car stops moving up and down, rarely longer than 2 minutes.When the word WAIT disappears, and ENTER appears, enter your measurement.
VAG-COM software will occasionally 'hang' on adaptation channel 1. If the word 'wait' has not been replaced with 'enter' after 5 minutes, just dismiss the yellow guidance balloon (click on the X in the corner of the balloon), then enter your measurement, and click test, then click save.How to make your measurements
Keep the ruler level, use a credit card to line up with the center of the axle. It helps to mark the desired measurements (401 mm and 407 mm) on the ruler with a felt pen.
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Once you have entered the measurements for all 4 wheels in channels 1 to 4, you then have to go to channel 5, and enter a one (1) to save your work. Entering the 1 tells the controller that you want it to write the values to memory. If you don’t do this, you won’t successfully complete the adaptation.After you have entered and saved the 1 to channel five, close the controller. Then get in the car, back it up about 15 feet, then drive it forward about 15 feet, so you are back in the original position again. Leave the engine running, and without hooking up the scan tool, take the 4 measurements again. You should find that the measurements are within 5 mm of the nominal distances – that is to say, 401 front and 407 rear if you have coded the controller with 5’s, and 411 front and 417 rear if you have coded the controller with 7’s.
If the measurements are outside of that range, or, if they are inside of that range but you want to make them more accurate, repeat the adaptation process again, starting with the entry of the security code. It’s not uncommon to need to complete two adaptation cycles to get things perfect. Once you are within 2 mm of nominal, stop, because that is about as close as you can reasonably expect to get.
Experience has taught us that it is kind of pointless to try to go through more than 3 adaptation cycles in one day. If you don’t get the results you want after 3 cycles, put the car in the garage and try again the next day.
Background Information
You can increase the Phaeton ride height up to 20 mm above the nominal European settings – for example, if you had to drive the Dempster highway to the Arctic ocean, this might be worth considering, you would enter 9’s as coding values – but it seems that you cannot code the controller with a number that is lower than 5. You can try, but the controller won’t accept it. My guess is that you need to have a different security code (that we don’t know about) to enter values lower than the European norm.
Some people have managed to get the car to sit quite low on the axles by ‘fibbing’ to the controller during the adaptation process. In other words, they take the measurement, and if the measurement is, for example, 401 mm, they enter 406 mm. This tells the car that it is 5 mm higher than it thinks it is, and the car responds by sitting 5 mm lower when the adaptation cycle is finished. Personally, I don’t think this is a good idea. If you lower the car the ‘proper’ way – by coding – then do a truthful adaptation, the car knows exactly where it is at all times, so far as limits of suspension travel are concerned. If you fib to the car when you do the adaptation, then it will think it still has (for example) 30 mm of downward or upward shock absorber travel before it hits the physical limit of travel, when in actual fact it has only 25mm of downward travel, and 35 mm of upward travel. This will result in less than optimum suspension performance at all times.
Personal Responsibility
If you have read this far, you should have figured out that VW set the Phaetons 10 mm higher than the European ones for good reason – because of higher curbs and wheel stops here in North America.
If you want to lower your car to the European ride height, by all means, go ahead – but understand that you must be prepared to take personal responsibility for not bashing up the front chin spoiler of your Phaeton on curb stops. You will also have to be more careful than normal when climbing or descending steep transitions between public roads and some private entrances, such as gas stations or underground parking facilities.
Note added February, 2006: VW of America has released a Technical Bulletin (TB) mandating a small change to the method that the front underbody cover on W12 Phaetons only attaches to the right wheelwell cover. This is to reduce the risk of damage to the transmission oil cooler if a driver carelessly fouls the front underbody of the Phaeton against a curb. If you have a W12, and are planning to lower the ride height, it would be a good idea to have this TB carried out before you make any adjustments. Further details can be found here: TB 00-06-02 - W12 (only!) Underbody Cover Attachment Modification.
If for some unfortunate reason, you screw up the whole coding and adaptation process, just take your Phaeton to your VW dealer, and ask them to do a suspension adaptation for you. You can ask them to use 5’s for the coding, rather than 7’s – the worst they can do is say ‘no’. It will probably cost you about an hour’s labour to have a suspension adaptation done. Although it only takes about half an hour to do the adaptation itself, it takes about an hour in total to get the car inside, hook up the scan tool, do the work, check the work, and take the car for a test drive.
Check your Wheel Alignment after you make the changes
Obviously, if you change the height at which the body rides above the wheels, you will also change the wheel alignment (camber, caster, toe, and thrust angle) of your Phaeton. This is a mathematical fact, there is no escaping it. When your Phaeton was built in Dresden, the wheels were aligned after the suspension was coded and adapted. So, if you lower the car, it makes a great deal of sense to drive it over to your dealer and have them check the wheel alignment, to make sure everything is still within specification.
I had my dealer check the wheel alignment on my Phaeton after I lowered it, and they discovered that although everything still remained within the allowable range (the green arc), the car was not as close to the optimum ‘perfect’ alignment after I lowered it. One of the measurements was at the very far end of the allowable range. It only took the Phaeton tech at my dealer 90 minutes to do all the checking and fine-tune my Phaeton back to perfection. An hour and a half of labour is not much to pay in return for getting perfect handling, optimum safety, and maximum life from your tires. So, I do strongly encourage you to have your wheel alignment checked after you lower (or raise) your Phaeton. It makes sense to tell the dealer that you have lowered the car – otherwise, they might ‘do you a favour’ and raise it back up to the NAR spec while they are aligning it. Checking ride height is part of the alignment check.
You can find more information about Phaeton wheel alignment procedures at this post: Tyre Wear, Information about Phaeton Wheel Alignment
Michael & David
Modified by PanEuropean at 12:30 AM 3-31-2008
#2
What a service to the Phaeton community, You are both to be congratulated on such a quality post, Just plain wonderful and what has come to be expected from you all.
#3
Quote, originally posted by GripperDon » What a service to the Phaeton community, You are both to be congratulated on such a quality post, Just plain wonderful and what has come to be expected from you all. Agreed! Any chance of you moving over to the Passat forum, Michael?
#4
To give credit where credit is due - David did all the work and all the research, I just did the writeup.Michael
#5
Thanks Michael and David. ( I assume David from Auburn Hills GTG)Excellent write up.
#6
Quote, originally posted by jmdpjd1 » I assume David from Auburn Hills GTG... Correct - Dr. David. But I understand his 12 year old had a hand in the process, too...
#7
Wow - what a great post, even though on this side of the Atlantic I am unlikely to use it it was a pleasure to read.
William
Modified by culverwood at 9:44 AM 6-24-2005
#8
Good and informative post. Keep us posted in the Touareg forum if you find coding that will allow us to do this. I used the fibbing method and my suspension is horrible. I've tried to get it back to normal (factory height) but every measuement I take after an adaptation cycle is off.
#9
Caribmon:If you are having difficulty getting the controller "back to normal" after it has been fibbed to, try this:
1) Open the suspension controller.
2) Check for fault codes, clear if necessary, check again. A persistent "Incorrect basic settings or adaptation" fault is OK, just make sure there are no other persistent faults.
3) Close the controller.
4) Open it again, enter the security code, go to adaptation channel 00 (zero), and enter a 0 (zero) as the new value - even though the existing value will be zero. Entering a zero as a new value in channel 00 of ANY controller resets the controller to default settings.
5) Turn the truck off, lock it up, leave it alone for an hour (go have lunch).
6) Come back after lunch, start the truck, drive it a short distance (around the block is sufficient), then try doing a basic, simple, truthful adaptation once again, see what kind of luck you have.
I have encountered Phaeton suspension controllers that also have become somewhat confused and recalcitrant after being fibbed to too many times. The above procedure has helped get things back to normal.Michael
#10
Quote, originally posted by blueabdjetta » Help, we are trying to lower a Phaeton (05) and this method is not working. It will not hold the settings or even lower down... any suggestions? Jeremy:
The instructions given above should work, many of us have done this without problems. If you are encountering problems, I suggest you check the following things (in this order):
1) Make sure you are using the most recent version of VAG-COM, which is 504.1. You can download this from the Ross-Tech website.
2) Check to see that you are using either a fully licensed version of VAG-COM (if you have a third party cable), or, that you are using a Ross-Tech cable. I don't think anyone has tried doing this project with an unlicenced (shareware) version of VAG-COM. Of course, you can also use a VAS 5051 or 5052, if you have one available, but VAG-COM provides better guidance prompts for this task.
3) Don't try to slam the car down to the ground on your first attempt. Change the coding from 77 (the North American default) to 55 (the European default), then re-adapt the car. By the way - keep the engine running when you are doing the work, otherwise, you'll drain the battery.
4) Download the file I have attached to the bottom of this post, and put it into the "User" folder within the VAG-COM program. Normally this folder will be found at the following path: C: /Program Files/VAG-COM/Labels/User. The file attached below is more up to date than the file that was distributed with the last release of VAG-COM. It will be included in the next update of VAG-COM, which will probably come out in October.
Let us know how you make out with these suggestions.
Michael
Modified by PanEuropean at 7:47 PM 9-23-2005
#11
Odd that this post came back from the archive today because I just tried this on my Touareg today.At first, it wasn't allowing me to make any changes from the xxx55xx setting. This is because I tried using the Porsche setting (xxxxx1x) on the module. Apparently, the Porsche setting doesn't allow for lowering or raising.
Then once I changed back to the VW setting (xxxxx2x), I was able to change the coding from xxx55xx (the standard Touareg coding) to xxx11xx (20 mm lower). But I was confused because the car didn't lower itself.
Only after a few minutes did I realize that this is a two part procedure. First you change the coding to what you want the car height to become. That only changes the adaptation values that the car expects to see. You still need to do the adaptation in which you measure and report the observed values so the car can make the necessary adjustments to the level.
As for the difference between the ride with this procedure and the procedure I came up with over a year ago, I can't tell the difference at this point.
#12
Hi Jim:Thanks for adding your observations to this collection of info.
I suspect you will find that there is a bit of a difference in ride between doing it the 'correct' way (coding, then adaptation with truthful values), and doing it the 'original' way (leaving the coding alone, and fibbing on the adaptation values)... though how that difference will manifest itself, I don't know. The reason for the difference between the two methods is that if you do it the correct way, the vehicle will know what the limits of travel are in both directions. If you fudge the adaptation values, the vehicle will think that the limits of travel are greater or less than they actually are.
Michael
#13
we were able to fuge the values to lower the car 10mm but it wouldn't change the coding from 77 to 55. And we have version 506.1 on the vag. so were stuck at how to go lower than that. the numbers just wouldn't change lower than that. the coding would just return to its normal value when you hit ok to change it .
#14
Jeremy:Please email me a copy of a VAG-COM Autoscan for the Phaeton you are working on, this will allow me to have a look at the suspension controller version. I have never heard of a controller not changing from 77 to 55 before. My first thought is that perhaps you are doing something wrong (not following the directions), however, I would like to have a closer look at the specification for the controller. You can get my email address by clicking on my username at the left side of the screen.
Michael
#15
For the record - here is a photo of a Phaeton with 17 inch wheels that has been set to the factory default setting (55) for Europe. It is a European car, no-one changed anything, it came this way.I know there has been some discussion about whether 17 inch wheels look good on the Phaeton or not - personally, I think that if the suspension is correctly set (meaning, 55), the 17 inch wheels look just as good as the 18 inch wheels.
Michael
European Phaeton with 17 inch wheels
Modified by PanEuropean at 12:22 AM 3-31-2008
#16
Quote, originally posted by PanEuropean » I know there has been some discussion about whether 17 inch wheels look good on the Phaeton or not - personally, I think that if the suspension is correctly set (meaning, 55), the 17 inch wheels look just as good as the 18 inch wheels.
Michael
This might have to do with the fact that the tire on the 17" wheel fills the well just as completely as the one on the 18" wheel due to its different aspect ratio. I slightly prefer the look of the larger wheel, however, because the eye is drawn to the wheel itself. The tire tends to blend into the background. I may be contradicting myself here!A quick question. I haven't lowered my car because of two concerns. The first is that I may come into contact with the parking lot 'stops' (or whatever they're called) or scrape the road surface under certain circumstances. The second is the effect on ride quality. Is in fact ride quality affected much if the recommended procedure is used to lower the height?
#17
Quote, originally posted by blueabdjetta » we were able to fuge the values to lower the car 10mm but it wouldn't change the coding from 77 to 55. And we have version 506.1 on the vag. so were stuck at how to go lower than that. the numbers just wouldn't change lower than that. the coding would just return to its normal value when you hit ok to change it . I have had some email exchanges with the person who is attempting to do the recoding and adaptation on this vehicle. It appears that the suspension controller (#34) on this vehicle is newer than the suspension controllers on all of our other Phaetons. If you have a look at the VAG-COM Controller Lists from Phaetons post, you will see that the part number and software version of most of the Phaeton suspension controllers shown there is as follows:
Address 34: Level Control
Controller: 3D0 907 553 B
Component: LUFTFDR.-CDC- 3C1V0 1101
Coding: 0015500The information for the suspension controller in the subject car (a 2005 Phaeton) is as follows:
Address 34: Level Control
Controller: 3D0 907 553 C
Component: LUFTFDR.-CDC- 3C3V0 1121
Coding: 0007722Note that the controller suffix is C, and the software revision level is 1121. I am not aware of any change in coding or functionality as a result of this increment in controller PN, however, it is possible that things might be a bit different.
Are there any regular forum members here who own a 2005 Phaeton who have changed the suspension settings? I would be curious to know what the part number of your controller is.
Michael
Modified by PanEuropean at 3:45 PM 9-27-2005
#18
now it won't let us raise the car .... anyone have any suggestions for us to get the car raised up a little bit.
#19
Have you considered installing a replacement controller?Michael
#21
Hey Michael, I'm the one trying to raise up the Phaeton. I called VW techline and they told me to go to the dealer and use the 5052 and use the guided functions option. I found out there is a time out on these controllers. I had to leave the car locked overnight to put the security code in. It worked fine then, but I accidently saved a wrong value and needed to do the process over again and of coarse I'm locked out again. So now I'm waiting again. I had to wait only 5 min. before, but now it seems like I'll need to wait an hour or 2. Do you think there's another way around this? Thanks for your help Michael.
#22
I have never encountered a time-out function on ANY Volkswagen controller, except for situations where an incorrect security code has been entered - for example, when adapting a new key to an engine ECU.I have a feeling that you guys wore this poor controller right out, and what you put it through is probably prohibited by some kind of international law - either the Geneva Conventions, or one of the UN resolutions about cruel and unusual punishment.
My suggestion to you, at this stage of the game, is that you leave the car alone overnight (since that seemed to work for you before), then use the VAS 5052 to code and adapt the controller back to manufacturer recommended specifications tomorrow, following the Guided Functions prompts exactly.
Michael
#23
A few posts higher up in this thread, almost exactly one month ago, I wrote "I am not aware of any change in coding or functionality as a result of this increment in controller PN, however, it is possible that things might be a bit different." Well, it turns out that the newer controllers (C suffix with software revision level 1121) are functionally very different from the controllers on the 2004 Phaetons.The recoding process described above will not work on a 2005 or later Phaeton.
The following shows the part number, part number suffix, software revision level and coding for the suspension controller in a typical 2004 Phaeton:
Address 34: Level Control
Controller: 3D0 907 553 B
Component: LUFTFDR.-CDC- 3C1V0 1101
Coding: 0015500This shows the same information for a typical 2005 Phaeton:
Address 34: Level Control
Controller: 3D0 907 553 C
Component: LUFTFDR.-CDC- 3C3V0 1121
Coding: 0007722The first indication we had of a possible problem was the series of posts by blueabdjetta and vwgotech, above, telling of the problems they were having trying to recode a 2005 Phaeton. At the Birmingham, AL get-together this past week, David and I attempted to recode and re-adapt Robert's 2005 Phaeton, and no matter what we did, the controller would not accept any change to the coding of 0007722. Between the two of us, David and I have recoded and re-adapted about 30 Phaetons, so it is unlikely that we were doing anything wrong (e.g. leaving a door or lid open during the adaptation process).
This change to the part number suffix, software revision level, and coding protocol on the 2005 Phaetons is universal and not specific to North America. I have just looked over some scans made of 2005 Phaetons at the Dresden, Germany Phaeton Owner Get-Together held in April 2005, and I see that Phaetons produced for the German market also have the newer controller, newer software, and newer coding protocol. Below is data from a 2005 V6 TDI, produced for the German market:
Address 34: Level Control
Controller: 3D0 907 553 C
Component: LUFTFDR.-CDC- 3C3V0 1122
Coding: 0005521As you can see, this car has the same newer part number and suffix, essentially the same software load, and the same change in coding protocol as the 2005 NAR Phaetons. So, at least we know that VW of A is not out to make life difficult for owners - the change is universal.
I am sure that there is some way to recode the newer controllers, but, we will have to find this out on our own. VW Dresden's unspoken (but well understood, worldwide) policy on vehicle modifications goes like this: "We won't tell you how to make a change that we would not allow a dealer to make, but, if you figure it out on your own, we will then tell you - off the record - about any safety or functionality consequences that you should be aware of if you plan to go ahead and change things." I think everyone will agree that this is a pretty reasonable stance on their part. So, now we need to figure out a way to recode 2005 Phaeton suspension controllers.
Note that the adaptation process remains unchanged - in other words, the actual calibration of the controller (what VW calls 'adaptation') is the same for either the B or the C suffix controller. The only difference is that we cannot change the coding of the C suffix controller, following the same procedure that works for the A or B suffix controller.
Michael
#24
Michael,
Did you try recoding either of the last two digits back to 1 or 0 on the 2005?
#25
I did not, but another Phaeton owner did, and that did not have any effect. Personally, I don't think it is a good idea to change any coding numbers 'on spec' - because there is no limit to what the consequences could be. For example, on the 2004 Phaetons, one of the digits in the suspension controller determines how the level system for the xenon headlights is controlled. If an owner changed that number, he or she would see no immediate effect on how the suspension controller worked, but they would have set up an unsafe operating condition.Michael
A post-script: I looked over my records of work done at the Dresden GTG in the springtime, and note that we had the same problem with a 2005 German Phaeton, which was coded with the 1 in the right-most place. That suggests that behaviour of the new controller is the same regardless of country coding.
Modified by PanEuropean at 3:41 PM 10-29-2005
#26
At the dealer yesterday, we were unable to get anywhere with lowering my 2005 Phaeton V8. When we went to ch 34, it said the code was 7722. I expected to see 0017710 or whatever it is. Not even close. Tried to change the 77 to 55, just to see, and rejected. Everything we tried was rejected. PanEuro touched on the difficulties of lowering a 2005 in my "bumper hole plug" post, but I didn't want to continue it there. Any thoughts or experience with this?
thanksMerged with existing topic to maintain continuity - Michael
Modified by PanEuropean at 10:11 AM 11-5-2005
#27
I had the same problem. For some reason VW changed the coding capabilities on the newer Phaetons. I installed a lowering controll module from http://www.tunershop.com on mine and it works great.
#28
There is an interesting post in the Car Lounge Forum (another part of Vortex) discussing the ride height of a 2006 Golf. They are discussing the possibility that the North American ride height may be higher than the European ride height in order to ensure that the car complies with side impact protection standards. The discussion is here: 2006 US-spec GTI.Michael
#29
I asked the staff in Dresden if the procedure for changing the coding of the suspension controller was different between the 'old' controllers with the B suffix, and the newer controllers with the C suffix.The answer is yes, both the coding and the process of changing the coding is different. It is not possible to simply change the '77' to a '55' following the same procedures that we established for the original B suffix controller.
According to the mutually understood rules of courtesy that govern disclosure of internal technical information to us (owners) by VW AG, I didn't ask how to change the coding on the new controller, and the VW engineers didn't volunteer the information. The unwritten but well understood rules are that we have to figure out how to do this on our own. Once we figure it out, then the engineers will advise us if there are any special safety or operational considerations that have to be thought about before we make any changes.
My personal guess (just a guess) is that it is now necessary to enter a security code before we can change the 77 to a 55. I am also guessing that the procedure will be pretty much the same, other than needing to enter the security code before changing the coding of the controller.
So, now we have something new we can work on - how to figure out what the security code of the new C suffix controller is.
Michael
#30
Quote, originally posted by PanEuropean » My personal guess (just a guess) is that it is now necessary to enter a security code before we can change the 77 to a 55. I am also guessing that the procedure will be pretty much the same, other than needing to enter the security code before changing the coding of the controller. If it is a security access, that is necessary to change/alter the coding, we should easily find that one. The point behind that, if a dealer changes the control module because of any reason, they need to know the sec. access! Therefor I doubt that they would do it that way, too simple.
#31
I received the following inquiry by email from new forum member SQC (Stephan), asking for further information about lowering the Phaeton:Can you give me some tips on lowering my Phaeton?
I guess it has now been close to a year since this topic was active, and although many of us who are long term forum members could probably do a suspension adaptation in our sleep, it would probably be a good idea to provide a quick literature review and recap of this whole process to bring new forum members up to speed on the topic. So, here's the overview:
1) The topic of lowering the NAR specification Phaeton was extensively discussed here on the forum between January and June of 2005.
2) The conclusion that most of us came to was that it is only necessary to lower the vehicle 10 mm (about a third of an inch) from the NAR ride height specification to the ROW ride height specification in order to achieve a substantial improvement in appearance of the car - that is to say, to achieve a symmetrical gap between the outer edge of the tires and the circular arc of the wheel openings in the quarter panels.
3) If the NAR Phaeton is lowered by 10 mm to ROW specification by following the correct 'mil spec' process (in other words, by first changing coding on the suspension controller, then re-adapting the controller), there are no undesirable consequences to safety, handling, function, etc. - the lowered NAR Phaeton exactly conforms to ROW VW specifications.
4) Owners who lower their NAR vehicles to ROW ride height must assume responsibility for being extra careful about avoiding any kind of collision between the lower front area of the car and the very tall concrete wheel stops that are commonly used in North America. If the front of the car impacts a concrete wheel stop, considerable damage to mechanical components (radiators, heat exchangers, liquid hoses, etc.) can result. The cost of repairing this damage will be to the owner's account, and is not covered by the VW warranty. VW raised the ride height of the NAR Phaetons specifically because of the higher wheel stops used in North America, if we choose to lower it again, we must be aware of the need for great caution when approaching parking lot wheel stops. This is generally not a problem for owners who are the 'sole drivers' of their Phaetons, however, if you often have your car parked by valets, you might want to think twice about making this change.
5) It is highly recommended that you have the wheel alignment of your Phaeton re-checked to make sure it is still within tolerances after you lower your car. When the Phaetons are built, suspension height is set first, then the wheel alignment is done. If suspension height is changed, wheel alignment geometry will also change.
6) The adjustments needed to lower the NAR Phaeton to ROW ride height can be carried out either by the owner of the vehicle, if the owner has a diagnostic scan tool (VAS 5052, VAG-COM), or by a VW dealer. Some VW dealers may decline to make the change due to fear of liability issues.
7) A 10 mm drop (from NAR spec to ROW spec) seems to be all that is necessary to make the car look good - dropping it 10 mm makes it look like it has been dropped about 30 mm - and none of us recommend lowering it any further than the ROW specification, lest problems with ride comfort, stability control, component clearance, and controller function arise.
8) Model year 2005 and later Phaetons that are equipped with a later production version of the suspension controller do not permit the coding to be changed from 77 to 55. None of us have found a mil-spec workaround for this problem yet.
The discussion above (on this thread) explains how to make the adjustment. There are other discussions in the archive about lowering the car, I have posted some links to them below. When reading them, keep in mind that the procedures shown above in this thread are the most up to date and definitive instructions for carrying out the adjustment in accordance with VW ROW specifications.
Other (older) discussions of this topic:
Lowering the Car 1 (Discussion about adjusting default suspension height)
Lowering the Car 2 (More discussion about the same subject)
Lowering the Car 3 (Still another discussion about the same subject)Michael
#32
Important New InformationVW of America has released a Technical Bulletin (TB) mandating a small change to the method that the front underbody cover on W12 Phaetons only attaches to the right wheelwell cover. This is to reduce the risk of damage to the transmission oil cooler if a driver carelessly fouls the front underbody of the Phaeton against a curb. If you have a W12, and are planning to lower the ride height, it would be a good idea to have this TB carried out before you make any adjustments. Further details can be found here: TB 00-06-02 - W12 (only!) Underbody Cover Attachment Modification.
#33
I adjusted my Phaeton to European ride height today and everything went smoothly thanks to this thread!I think this sentence from the first post in this thread under the picture of the car on the alignment rack is incorrect. I believe the 401 and 407 mm should be reversed as the front is 407 and the rear is 401.
Quote, originally posted by PanEuropean » ...A European Phaeton has a normal axle centerline to lower edge of fender distance of 401 and 407 mm, front and rear, and a North American Phaeton has a normal distance of 411 and 417 mm. See this thread, I've quoted from it below.
Quote, originally posted by PanEuropean » ...The original design specification called for a measurement of 407 mm from axle centerline to the bottom of the fender lip on the front axle, and 401 mm on the rear axle.
#34
Could not find anything in search... what are the options out there besides VAG ???
#35
Tunershop and others have black box modules that plug in to the wiring in the trunk. They are said to include a cabin-mounted on/off switch. Price is about $1,500 for the unit. The campany has English (UK), American and German websites. Good luck!
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