2.0 / 2.5 Roadster / Roadster Sport Tire Thread

[strider]

I know absolutely nothing about tires. I'm going to have Roadster #1117, which is a non-sport, and has the standard tires, whatever they are. I want my tires to be safe, above all else, in both wet and dry weather. Should I just stick with the tires that are on the car, or should I be considering different tires? (This is for summer. I'll ask about winter tires when winter get closer.)

The AD07's have worked quite well through winter (rain) and so far through summer. I have ~6,500 miles on mine with little visible wear. However, the car understeers quite a bit if you push it - I think the narrower front tires on the non-Sport was a poor choice on Tesla's part and not a commentary on the AD07's. I'm eager to wear them out and replace them with Sport-size tires.

Sucks that the T1R's have been discontinued - that's what I was planning to install.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Tire sidewall deterioration -- a tire's silent killer

Thanks for that link.

Petrochemicals and silicone oils can also remove protective waxes and increase the rate of decay. Common automotive protectants and tire dressings can contain chemicals and/or silicone oils which dissolve protective waxes and can actually attack the sidewalls. In the event of failure, one of the first things tire manufacturers look for is evidence of the use of these types of products. If it is found it may be a cause for invalidating a warrant against manufacturing defects.

Can anyone say ArmorAll?

 

[daniel]

The standard tires (Yokohama AD07) are probably the best for the Roadster. The main reason why people search alternatives is that they wear out really fast.
I think I will do it like this: Use the standard tires, then change only the rears with new AD07 when the fronts are still good and finally when the rears are gone again changing to some other tires, maybe Toyo.

Stick with the stock tires until they wear out... Which (for the rears in particular) will probably come sooner than you want.
Search around the forum for options on replacement tires when the time comes.

Thanks for that advice. Just out of curiosity, how long can the standard tires be expected to last, and what's the cost of replacing them? I won't be racing or driving on a track. I will accelerate hard, for the fun of it, but I won't intentionally burn rubber.

 

[TEG]

I recall reading some people replacing their rear tires in the 5K-10K mile range.

Not sure about cost... Maybe $300 per tire plus labor?

Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD07

 

[kgb]

Just out of curiosity, how long can the standard tires be expected to last, and what's the cost of replacing them?

I wasn't burning rubber, but I was playing with my car to see what it can do (on occasion). At 3,000 mi, my rears were showing the wear bars, the fronts were still good. I replaced the rears with Toyo Proxes R888. It is now 3,000 mi again, and I can tell you that the wear bars are still not visible on the fronts or rears... and I even did a little autocross in the hopes of wearing out those annoyingly loud A048's up front!

 

[Doug_G]

I burned out my rear AD07's in 7000 km. They were bald. 4000 km later my Toyo Proxes T1r tires still have lots of life on them.

 

[Doug_G]

See if you notice any different in range too. People are reporting some reduced range having had their Roadsters for a while, and tend to attribute it to the battery pack or firmware changes, but tire changes could be a factor too. One of the "claims to fame" for the AD07 was low rolling resistance.

Analysis of my recent road trip indicates that switching to T1R's produces no noticeable effect on range.

 

[SByer]

Maybe it's the way I drive or something, but for all my cars (small, mid-'engined'?) I've generally gotten 2x out of the fronts as the rears - or, at least, close enough that I never had to worry about the fronts.

I started with the performance tires - got a year out of the rears (pushing it at the end). I'm at 14 months with the standard tires so far, and they have plenty of tread left on the rear. I'd really like something in-between - I'd like to see the TC light flash a bunch less at stoplight stomps. But then, hitting that quantization level of having to be replaced at an annual service is nice.

If you haven't had a small, rear-weighted sports car before, you will be surprised at how they eat rear tires.

 

[strider]

So I took a nice hard look at my tires and the left rear is showing some cupping on the inside. Right rear looks ok. With only 6,500 miles on my car I'm now concerned about Tesla's ability to properly align a car. I'm thinking of taking it to the dealer from which I bought my Corvette to have an alignment done - Although I expect Tesla would do it under warranty I've used this dealer for years and they've always done excellent work. They also sell Lotus so they should have the expertise to handle the Tesla.

I also found T1R's in Sport size here: Tires, Wheels, Rims, Custom, Chrome, Car Truck Suv Cheap Tires and ordered a set - Hopefully they actually ship. This site also claims to have them in Sport sizes: 1010TIRES.COM Tires and Wheels Absolute Authority. I won't need them for 6 months but they can be stored that long w/o a problem.

UPDATE 6/27: Turns out that website did not have the T1R's in stock. I think I'm just going to wait until I wear these tires out and go from there - hopefully we'll have a few more data points in this thread by then.

 

[smorgasbord]

Does anyone know the difference in weight between the non-sports wheel and the forged sport wheels?

For reference, the Chevy Volt was supposed to have forged 17" wheels weighing 7 kg, but another source cites the real weight as 8.1 kg. Apparently, regular wheels can weight as much as 11 kg.

Are there any concerns with mounting stickier tires on the heavier wheels?

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

So I took a nice hard look at my tires and the left rear is showing some cupping on the inside. Right rear looks ok. With only 6,500 miles on my car I'm now concerned about Tesla's ability to properly align a car. I'm thinking of taking it to the dealer from which I bought my Corvette to have an alignment done - Although I expect Tesla would do it under warranty I've used this dealer for years and they've always done excellent work. They also sell Lotus so they should have the expertise to handle the Tesla.

By all means, take it somewhere that you've had good work done. However, I would like to point out that few dealers actually have alignment equipment on site, and thus they usually just send your car somewhere else. It might save you some time and money to just call your Corvette/Lotus dealer and see whether they have alignment equipment or send such work off-site, and if so where they send it.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Does anyone know the difference in weight between the non-sports wheel and the forged sport wheels?

Yes. As of April 2, 2009:

40.8 kilos for 4 cast wheels
30.8 kilos for 4 forged wheels
10 kilos in savings for all 4 wheels

Note that Tesla has made at least 4 different kinds of wheels - at least that's how many I saw at the Tesla Store in Seattle this week - so those "cast" versus "forged" quotes could be slightly different with the Roadster 2.5 standard and Sport.

I've seen everything from 8.0 lbs per wheel to over 22 lbs per wheel. Unfortunately, there are no (known) after-market wheels that fit the 5-bolt 110 mm diameter pattern used by the Tesla Roadster.

 

[Odenator]

Will the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 fit the Roadster?

 

[strider]

By all means, take it somewhere that you've had good work done. However, I would like to point out that few dealers actually have alignment equipment on site, and thus they usually just send your car somewhere else. It might save you some time and money to just call your Corvette/Lotus dealer and see whether they have alignment equipment or send such work off-site, and if so where they send it.

Thanks, yeah this is a large dealership (Jeep, Chevy, VW, Nissan, Lotus, Chrysler) and they do it themselves on-site - I asked them that before giving them my Corvette years ago.

 

[strider]

Will the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 fit the Roadster?

tirerack.com shows fitment for the rear but not the fronts. Fronts seem to be limited to Toyo, Yokohama, Continental...

 

[kgb]

UPDATE: Had my vehicle almost 10 months, it has almost 7,000 miles on it. The A048's made it just barely over 3,000 mi, the Toyo R888's made it just slightly longer than that. I have wear bars on my rears, the fronts still have enough tread on them. I swear I am not burning rubber. I asked my service tech about it, he says that because regen goes through the rears too, that adds to wear. Plus, I believe it was earlier in this thread (or elsewhere on this forum) there was a comparison of the various driving surfaces and how they affect tire wear. Here in Houston we basically have either concrete or pot holes, both of which put the maximum wear on the tires. I am shopping for my 3rd set of rears already. :cursing:

 

[Doug_G]

Comparison of AD07 and T1R

I have recently completed 7,000 km on Toyo Proxes T1R, a tire with a nominal treadwear of 280. I also drove the same distance previously on the stock Yokohama Neova AD07, which has a treadwear of 100. (Note - comparing treadwear rating from different companies is not necessarily reliable.) I don't think my driving style has changed, and I haven't changed my daily routes either. Results:

Cornering
AD07 - Not the ultimate in sticky, but have lots of grip.
T1R - Somewhat less grip, especially on cornering, although I'd say you can more easily feel when they are approaching the limit.

Acceleration
AD07 - Fairly sticky
T1R - Given cornering performance probably not quite as good, but I have not noticed the TC coming on any more often during acceleration. I haven't been to a drag strip so I don't have quantitative data.

Tire Wear
AD07 - at 7000 km rears bald (oops!), fronts had lots of wear left
T1R - at 7000 km rears showing wear bars, fronts have lots left

Range (rolling resistance)
AD07 - car performed in accordance with Tesla's efficiency spreadsheet
T1R - car performed in accordance with Tesla's efficiency spreadsheet; i.e. no detectable difference

Road Noise (note: verified by comparing two Roadsters with different tires a few minutes apart)
AD07 - pretty noisy
T1R - significantly quieter

Conclusion: T1R is probably a better choice of "street" tire, but AD07 is clearly better if you are into performance driving. T1R has modestly longer treadwear; I'd estimate 25% more lifetime on your rears. No apparent difference on driving range (rolling resistance). T1R is significantly quieter for highway driving.

I suspect if you really want to do performance driving, it would be a better idea to get a second set of rims and put AD048's on them. Daily drive on the T1R and switch to the super-stickies when you need them.

 

[dhrivnak]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ExtremeContact+DWS After 4500 miles the Roadster rear tires were beginning to show wear bars and at a repalcement cost of $325 each I was in shock. I hated the thought negating all the energy savings of driving an electric just to pour the same amount of cost and carbon into tires. I ended up going with Continental ExtremeContact DWS. It is still an ultra high performance tire that has 3X the tread wear. Neither I nor the roving ranger who visited shortly after the new tires could see or feel any problems with the new tires. The tires even supposed to be good for snow, at least when new. I'll let you know if 10,000 miles if it was a good option. So far there have been no visible issues with the traction control as it seems to behave similar to the stock tires.

 

[Doug_G]

T1R Rears Discontinued

From page 1:

Toyo Proxes T1R

*DISCONTINUED* Front 195/50/R16 84V part# 245740 *DISCONTINUED*
Rear 225/45/R17 94Y RD part# 245600

Well now the rears are also discontinued. Grrr...

My local shop suggested:

225/45R17 TOYO BW SU PROXES R1R 91W part# 170130.

But these are "R" compound tires with a 140 wear rating, versus 280. Might as well go back to AD07...???

 

[Doug_G]

Yokohama changing too?

I just tried to look up Neova AD07 tires on the Yokohama web site, and it looks like they're replacing the AD07's with new Neova AD08's.

"Built for speed, faster and more durable than before."

Advan Neova AD08 Performance Tires | Yokohama Tire Corp.

Treadwear 180.

Talk about a moving target...