Recent content by W8MM

Not a surprise, the folks at ServiceHelpNA pushed me off to my local Tesla service center. That's kind of where I started. Deja vu? Catch 22? We'll see.

I e-mailed a specific request to [email protected] and I'll see what happens.

I have made some laboratory-grade radar pass-through measurements on a new AP2 Model S in the dealer showroom. The new tech windshield has no measurable loss of radar signals, while the original metal coated type is a radar disaster. The service techs at the Tesla store only know that the...

I had an "almost" lock-out issue a month or so ago when parking at our local play house for a night of theatrical entertainment. The car refused to unlock and wouldn't auto-present the handles nor respond when pushing on the handles to pop them out. I tried putting the fob at the base of the...

We've experienced this, too. No fun when trying to get in the car :mad: It's some sort of radio frequency issue involving, perhaps, cell phone sites. Our 2010 Porsche Panamera also had one of these issues (since fixed) that seemed to happen in the same places. Porsche engineering tried to...

I'm quite sure that Audi's and other "Blind Spot" warning systems use two wide-bandwidth FMCW microwave radars operating in the 24.150 GHz ISM band. They are concealed behind the rear bumper covers and are pointed at an outward angle from each rear corner of the vehicle. They are all...

Well, I'm not a wild-eyed daredevil. I drove my Panamera Turbo across central New York to Boston in a blizzard right after Christmas 2011. The car was equipped with the same Pirelli Sotto Zero Serie II winter tires that Tesla provides on their winter tire/wheel set. I drove between 55 and 70...

Nice find! This forum has a wealth of great knowledge coursing through it. I don't know how else I might have run across "Ferritic Nitro-Carburizing, or FNC" for brake rotors.

For getting under way, RWD and rear weight bias are a good combination. Not only is there more mass concentrated over the drive wheels (like FWD w/front weight bias), but the suspension's weight transfer onto the drive wheels under acceleration (squat) helps even more when starting from rest...

@Doug_G Maybe you're used to relatively flat terrain. Where I live, we have serious grades to mount. I gave up on RWD when my BMW 750iL with real winter tires couldn't get up my driveway. I tried to back up and take a run at it, but after a few deteriorating cycles, I ended up in my front...

I agree with your observations. Traction control only makes the best of what traction is possible. In a 50/50 Front/Rear weight balance car, only 50% of the available traction is available to one set of wheels. In an AWD car, 100% of the wheel traction is available. Front-wheel-drive cars...

Bingo -- we have a winner! I'm an RF engineer and agree completely. After I looked at our car closely, the fact that the metallic coating is absent only in the area covered by the plastic mirror area cover is important. The only place for RF transponder signals to pass through the windshield...

Ours switches on and off with demand. The only problem is it can't keep up with demand. We have a Roadster 1.5 -- the price of being early adopters.

I'm very interested in your observation. How can you tell where the coating boundaries are located? Do you need a flashlight or just sunlight? I've had a long conversation about the windshield coating with Tesla, mainly to do with radar detectors. They assured me there would be no windshield...

Our HPWC showed up today! Model S VIN 01380 delivered 09 Jan 2013.