Motortrend Article on Conserve Mode Causing Tire Wear: A Good Read for Rivian Owners

Rivian Mom · 2025-05-15T14:45:12+00:00

I've been using my phone's hotspot for months, and my Rivian connects to it automatically to run TuneIn and Spotify through the built-in apps on the main display. To be clear, this wasn’t Bluetooth streaming but actual phone data, and the apps worked perfectly without any issues. In Monday for the first time, I saw a Connect+ message pop up, even though the truck was linked to my phone’s data. I can still stream from my phone using Bluetooth, but the sound quality and user experience weren’t as good. This issue started between over-the-air software updates, though it might be tied to a specific date in the system. I tried a soft reset, but nothing changed. Has anyone heard if Rivian changed their policy on this? I remember Connect+ used to mention it provided "data" for streaming apps, suggesting you could use your own data instead. Now, it seems like you need Connect+ just to access the apps at all. I was surprised they allowed phone hotspots to work before, so this might be a deliberate change. I’m okay with paying for Connect+ if this isn’t just a temporary glitch. Any insights would be appreciated.

Rivian Mom

Active Wheeler

Feb 16, 2025

This won't be the first time I've seen an article talk about Converse Mode and the effect it has on tires. For me, I only use Conserve Mode on my R1S on long trips. I don't feel it rides as well or feels as secure as All Terrain mode. So far I have no problems with tire wear.

I came across this article that I found interesting as it pointed out the change in the tire angle as the culprit. This is exactly the problem that my tire shop pointed out sometime back when I noticed the inside edge tire wear after they took off the winter tires on my friends Tesla Model Y, which gets about 15K miles per set of tires. She told me the Model Y alignment was slightly angled in to give it better handling.

I know someone would find this article quite interesting that was why I thought to share it; I will be more conscious of only using Conserve mode when I really need the extra range to get to the next charging station. I believe this is a marketing problem and it'd be better if Rivian could rebrand Conserve Mode to reserve, stretch, or something else that discourages full time usage of the mode.

Below is the link to the article.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/rivian-r1t-r1s-tire-wear-conserve-mode-opinion/

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