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18" OEM Tire replacement choices?

insaneoctane

Active Member
Apr 6, 2016
3,369
5,184
Southern California
Looking to hear from anyone who has replaced their 18" tires.
  1. Which brand and model did you choose?
  2. which size? (standard or changed to...)
  3. Cost and shop?
  4. why did you pick these?
  5. Can you compare Wh/mi to OEM?
  6. Can you compare noise to OEM?
Thanks for spending the effort to reply. My replacements are due soon and I'm looking for choices!
 

DWdrum

Member
May 14, 2019
75
38
Auburn, CA
We just did. Went with Tsportline Tesla Model 3 Aftermarket Wheels for the wheels only. Tires we bought locally. Made and designed for the M3. PERFECT fit. Actually made the car quieter. Costs are on the website. Cost for Tires ( Michelin all season) with mounting, balancing, take of TPMS from Tesla and remount on these were about $1,200
 

SammichLover

Banned
Dec 8, 2018
2,618
1,541
Yup
I put on 18" Michelin PS4S. Not the Tesla specific PS4, with the acoustic foam. They were IIRC $900 for the full set shipped from Tirerack, plus $80 to mount by a local shop. They already have nearly as many miles as got from the original MXM4, about 18K now, and are only just past 1/2 way to 2/32" and I drove the original set down to near grooveless on the rears. Also they have a lot better grip. I don't notice a noise different but in another thread it was pointed out that you really have to do immediate A - B testing side-by-side to notice the subtle difference with this switch.

My best guess on range difference is %3 lower but a wide error bar on that, of +/-3% because I didn't do rigorous checking. I'm just going off trying to compare like trips and overall efficiency, which can be tricky even when you're dealing with 5-digit accumulation of miles. Numbers crunched in various ways are pointing to roughly 3% though, with a few outliers each way, so I've got confidence in that much (of the range being between 0% different and 6% lower with the 18" PS4S tires, with those extremes being fairly unlikely in a bell curve looking way).

Note, these PS4S tires do not have the same very wide tread design that the Tesla OEM 20" tires do. That's probably a big part of why they don't cost much in range. Also I mounted on Aeros, and run the caps usually, so I'm not gaining drag on the rims.
 
Last edited:

Couchking

Member
Jun 2, 2019
26
26
Allentown, PA
I went with 245/45/18 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+'s on my P3D with TSportline 18" wheels. They have a higher load rating of 100Y, which I figured would work out better for a car in this weight class. I've only had them for about ~700 miles at this point, but I've noticed no major difference in handling or noise (daily drive, no track use yet) compared to the OEM 20" PS4s. The tires were about $800 from Costco. I also looked at the Continental DWS06 which I've had on prior vehicles with an excellent track record, however I ultimately went with the Michelin's because Costco carries them with their phenomenal warranty.
6aR4xAu.jpg

oO3EVBx.jpg
 

SammichLover

Banned
Dec 8, 2018
2,618
1,541
Yup
I put on 18" Michelin PS4S. Not the Tesla specific PS4, with the acoustic foam. They were IIRC $900 for the full set shipped from Tirerack, plus $80 to mount by a local shop. They already have nearly as many miles as got from the original MXM4, about 18K now, and are only just past 1/2 way to 2/32" and I drove the original set down to near grooveless on the rears. Also they have a lot better grip. I don't notice a noise different but in another thread it was pointed out that you really have to do immediate A - B testing side-by-side to notice the subtle difference with this switch.

My best guess on range difference is %3 lower but a wide error bar on that, of +/-3% because I didn't do rigorous checking. I'm just going off trying to compare like trips and overall efficiency, which can be tricky even when you're dealing with 5-digit accumulation of miles. Numbers crunched in various ways are pointing to roughly 3% though, with a few outliers each way, so I've got confidence in that much (of the range being between 0% different and 6% lower with the 18" PS4S tires, with those extremes being fairly unlikely in a bell curve looking way).

Note, these PS4S tires do not have the same very wide tread design that the Tesla OEM 20" tires do. That's probably a big part of why they don't cost much in range. Also I mounted on Aeros, and run the caps usually, so I'm not gaining drag on the rims.
Oops, left out that I got these tires in the standard 235/45R18 size.
 

Kentucky3

Member
Mar 15, 2018
418
279
Louisville, KY
I went with 245/45/18 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+'s on my P3D with TSportline 18" wheels. They have a higher load rating of 100Y, which I figured would work out better for a car in this weight class. I've only had them for about ~700 miles at this point, but I've noticed no major difference in handling or noise (daily drive, no track use yet) compared to the OEM 20" PS4s. The tires were about $800 from Costco. I also looked at the Continental DWS06 which I've had on prior vehicles with an excellent track record, however I ultimately went with the Michelin's because Costco carries them with their phenomenal warranty.
6aR4xAu.jpg

oO3EVBx.jpg
Any discernible difference in wh/mi? I've got 36k on my OEMs and I'm tire shopping now.
 

miimura

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2013
5,989
5,567
Los Altos, CA
Looking to hear from anyone who has replaced their 18" tires.
  1. Which brand and model did you choose?
  2. which size? (standard or changed to...)
  3. Cost and shop?
  4. why did you pick these?
  5. Can you compare Wh/mi to OEM?
  6. Can you compare noise to OEM?
Thanks for spending the effort to reply. My replacements are due soon and I'm looking for choices!
If you want to put something other than the OEM tires on the car, you should have an idea about what you want to improve. These are just some of the considerations:
  • Cost (initial or cost/mile)
  • Dry Grip
  • Wet Grip
  • Snow/Ice Grip
  • Tread Life
  • Rolling Resistance
  • Noise
There are obvious choices if you want to reduce replacement Cost or increase Grip at the expense of other things like Tread Life or Rolling Resistance. You can also slightly decrease Cost per mile and increase Treadlife without any clear compromise in other attributes. IMHO, there is no tire that is obviously better than the OEM 18's across all parameters.

Below, (+) indicates better than Tesla OEM, (-) indicates worse.

Roughly equivalent:
Michelin Primacy Tour AS (Volvo OEM)
+ Cost (-$60 each)
+ Tread Life (540 vs 500 OEM)
- Noise (no acoustic treatment)

Compromise:
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (Tesla)
++ Dry Grip
-- Tread Life (320 vs 500)
- Cost / mile (-$50 each, but much shorter life)

Continental ExtremeContact DWS-06
++ Cost (-$100 each)
+ Tread Life (560 vs 500)
+ Grip
- Noise
-- Rolling Resistance

These are just some examples I pulled from Tire Rack in the same size.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: David3 and Ken43

SammichLover

Banned
Dec 8, 2018
2,618
1,541
Yup
Compromise:
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (Tesla)
++ Dry Grip
-- Tread Life (320 vs 500)
- Cost / mile (-$50 each, but much shorter life)
This isn’t a good assumption. Higher TW tires can wear faster under conditions that are better suited for lower TW number. Basically if you’re driving the higher TW tire above lateral G that it’s intended for you’ll eat them much faster.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: mswlogo

miimura

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2013
5,989
5,567
Los Altos, CA
This isn’t a good assumption. Higher TW tires can wear faster under conditions that are better suited for lower TW number. Basically if you’re driving the higher TW tire above lateral G that it’s intended for you’ll eat them much faster.
Are you saying that if you drive hard, the 320 rated tire could last as long as the 500 rated tire?? I don't think so. I think if you drive hard, any tire will wear faster and the life will still be approximately proportional to the TW rating.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: SammichLover

TMThree

Active Member
Mar 28, 2019
1,116
1,602
USA
I have the Yokohama Avid GTs. They have a 780 wear rating and perform better in wet and dry than the Michelin's that came with the car.

The drawback is that there is a slight bit more road noise and a 10 to 15 Wh loss because they're not high efficiency tires. That said, some of the drawbacks could be because I went from 18" to 19" (aftermarket) rims. My new rims weigh about the same as the OEM.

If t hey end up wearing longer than the OEMs, I think the Wh loss is acceptable, and the increase in tire noise is not significant enough to bother me. I'll need to drive the car a few more weeks to confirm if there is more loss with this setup over oem (without aero caps)
 

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