2018 75D Model X with wobble 5-20mph

[DrEvil]

I have a 2018 75D Model X that seems to have developed a wobble in the last couple weeks - coincidentally after I took it to a service center just before the original warranty expired. When coasting between about 5 to 20mph the car jiggles or wobbles from side to side if somebody was standing on either side and rocking it. It doesn't really make a noise. This is in the low ride height which I've kept the vehicle in for it's 27K miles of use.
It doesn't sound like it's the shudder issue because it happens at a constant coast - not when under hard acceleration. The wobble disappears above 25mph or so and feels normal at highway speeds. I didn't notice it earlier since my wife recently started driving it more and she mentioned it to me and I didn't notice it until I was going those low speeds. I tested it on regular smooth residential streets and it's always the same wobble. It seems it's coming from the front axle.

Now I'm debating if I should plop the $4500 and get the extended warranty (I think you have up to 1 month after the original warranty expires). I plan to keep this vehicle until it dies, but all previous experiences at Buena Park and Costa Mesa have been poor to horrible thus far. Any ideas what this might be? The stop at the service center was to replace a key fob which took them 4 hours. They said the old one was corroded (indicating I dunked it in water) and charged me $200 - I didn't feel like fighting with them.

 

[Les236]

Are you sure there is no vibration at faster speeds? I had something similar, twice. I even videoed it at slow speeds to check it out. In my case turned out to be belt separation on the tires. First one of the front then one on the rear. At highway speeds there were some vibrations that caused my rear view mirror to shake slightly.

 

[DrEvil]

Are you sure there is no vibration at faster speeds? I had something similar, twice. I even videoed it at slow speeds to check it out. In my case turned out to be belt separation on the tires. First one of the front then one on the rear. At highway speeds there were some vibrations that caused my rear view mirror to shake slightly.

I'll find a smooth stretch of freeway (difficult proposition in Southern California) and check it out. The front 2 tires are getting close to being replaced so that may be the case.

 

[ngng]

What did they do when the car was in service? Where do you feel the vibration? Steering wheel? Pedals? Without knowing much more it sounds like a tire balance issue. More likely something is really worn. Have you inspected your tires?

 

[DrEvil]

What did they do when the car was in service? Where do you feel the vibration? Steering wheel? Pedals? Without knowing much more it sounds like a tire balance issue. More likely something is really worn. Have you inspected your tires?

The service was just a keyfob replacement as I had one that was not functioning most of the time even after changing the keyfob's battery and cleaning the contacting surfaces.

The vibration is felt in the body of the car. I don't feel it on the accelerator and I pretty much never use the brakes. I'll recheck it today so see if it pulls the wheel, but it seemed it only rocked the body side to side. I will do a thorough lookover of the tires. I usually check them every 2k miles for punctures or defects.

I'm running on the stock 20" wheels so I'm looking for the thread with tire recommendations. I know there are better options than the Continentals for similar price.

 

[ngng]

The service was just a keyfob replacement as I had one that was not functioning most of the time even after changing the keyfob's battery and cleaning the contacting surfaces.

The vibration is felt in the body of the car. I don't feel it on the accelerator and I pretty much never use the brakes. I'll recheck it today so see if it pulls the wheel, but it seemed it only rocked the body side to side. I will do a thorough lookover of the tires. I usually check them every 2k miles for punctures or defects.

I'm running on the stock 20" wheels so I'm looking for the thread with tire recommendations. I know there are better options than the Continentals for similar price.

Check your inside tire wear, if you can't get under the car use a portable light and record a video with your phone. I think your service visit is unrelated to your vibrations

 

[DrEvil]

Check your inside tire wear, if you can't get under the car use a portable light and record a video with your phone. I think your service visit is unrelated to your vibrations

I've got a frozen shoulder so crawling under and checking the inside would be difficult for me.

I did remember an important event - the service center did let some air out of my tires. I had inflated my tires to 45PSI when cold before going to the SC. The SC let air out and they're running between 40 to 42PSI when cold now. I didn't bother to reinflate them. I'll have to go check the wear patterns, maybe that simple pressure change is causing this since it is about a 4PSI difference when warm.

When I went back to the SC (they had a billing issue) and asked about the proper tire pressure they said anything above 38PSI is good. The door panel states 44PSI minimum, hence why I maintained 45PSI cold and the mobile tech who changed my battery 6 months ago agreed on 45PSI for the OEM Contis. Another reason why I don't trust the SC.

I'm hoping it's just the tires - easy fix then as opposed to suspension or bad CV/axles.

EDIT: So I just did a test drive down my street and check the tires. I don't see any bald spots or belts showing, no obvious bulges. Tread is about 4 or 3 in the front with the inside wearing a little more than the outside, maybe 1. The rears still have about 7. The steering wheel oscillates with the rotation of the tire (it jiggles to the left a bit with every wheel rotation) at 15mph. I will test it at highway speeds traffic permitting.

 

[jboy210]

I've got a frozen shoulder so crawling under and checking the inside would be difficult for me.

I did remember an important event - the service center did let some air out of my tires. I had inflated my tires to 45PSI when cold before going to the SC. The SC let air out and they're running between 40 to 42PSI when cold now. I didn't bother to reinflate them. I'll have to go check the wear patterns, maybe that simple pressure change is causing this since it is about a 4PSI difference when warm.

When I went back to the SC (they had a billing issue) and asked about the proper tire pressure they said anything above 38PSI is good. The door panel states 44PSI minimum, hence why I maintained 45PSI cold and the mobile tech who changed my battery 6 months ago agreed on 45PSI for the OEM Contis. Another reason why I don't trust the SC.

I'm hoping it's just the tires - easy fix then as opposed to suspension or bad CV/axles.

EDIT: So I just did a test drive down my street and check the tires. I don't see any bald spots or belts showing, no obvious bulges. Tread is about 4 or 3 in the front with the inside wearing a little more than the outside, maybe 1. The rears still have about 7. The steering wheel oscillates with the rotation of the tire (it jiggles to the left a bit with every wheel rotation) at 15mph. I will test it at highway speeds traffic permitting.

How much wear do the front tire have? Turn the wheel to one side will give you a better view of the entire thread. If you can't get down there and measure it, you might want to have a shop or friend do it. You can use a penny or tire gauge to check and give you a constant visual reference across the tread width. Check several spots.

Also, does the amount of vibration change if you accelerate slow versus fast?

 

[DrEvil]

How much wear do the front tire have? Turn the wheel to one side will give you a better view of the entire thread. If you can't get down there and measure it, you might want to have a shop or friend do it. You can use a penny or tire gauge to check and give you a constant visual reference across the tread width. Check several spots.

Also, does the amount of vibration change if you accelerate slow versus fast?

Sorry for not seeing this reply earlier. I have 3/32 evenly on the fronts and 7/32s on the back - I found this weird as most people say the rears wear out faster on pre-Ravens. I rolled the car multiple times and checked all 4 tires all around and don't see any bald spots, belt failures or bulges. I'm getting all 4 tires replaced today with Pirelli A/S Verdes to see if that fixes the issue.

The body rolling is a wobble from side to side almost as if driving during an earthquake. It promptly disappears above 30mph. I couldn't really find much oscillation/vibration at 50-70mph. Should be interesting to see if the new tires change this.

One thing I did notice when inspecting my tires was that the trim around the front right wheel well is loose. I never had any collision an never had any body work so either Tesla needed to get access to it when they did the keyfob replacement or maybe they messed up something in the garage while I waited - that might explain why it took them 4 hours to replace the key when they initially told me about 30 min.

 

[henderrj]

When the radial bands separate, it is internal, you cannot see it. It also makes possible a blowout. You really don't want to have that when you're going down the freeway at 70 or 80 mph!

There is a constituency which advocates changing only the, usually, rear tires on a rear wheel drive car and leaving the same set on the front, as they last much longer, rather than rotating tires. There's a decent argument that rotating tires increases the potential for radial band separation.

 

[DrEvil]

RESOLUTION: Just put on a brand new set of Pirelli Scorpion A/S Plus 3 all around and the problem is gone. So it was either the foam separating or one/some of the bands separating. I inpected the stock Continentals and couldn't see or feel anything wrong with them on the exterior - I didn't bother to check the foam.

 

[ngng]

RESOLUTION: Just put on a brand new set of Pirelli Scorpion A/S Plus 3 all around and the problem is gone. So it was either the foam separating or one/some of the bands separating. I inpected the stock Continentals and couldn't see or feel anything wrong with them on the exterior - I didn't bother to check the foam.

My guess is uneven tire wear. Unless you know what to look for it's hard to catch the inner toe wear because it's on the inside edge of the tire. It's also pretty unusual for anything to separate on the tire from street driving. My guess is whatever was previously happening is going to reappear in the future.

 

[henderrj]

My guess is uneven tire wear. Unless you know what to look for it's hard to catch the inner toe wear because it's on the inside edge of the tire. It's also pretty unusual for anything to separate on the tire from street driving. My guess is whatever was previously happening is going to reappear in the future.

I've had this happen to me a few times. Every time it was separation of the bands in the radial tire. I've heard it happened to many, many people that I know. I read about it all the time. I'm not sure why you say that it's unusual for separation to happen on a radial tire. Maybe not common, but I wouldn't think unusual at all. I'm sure the issue is solved.

 

[ngng]

I've had this happen to me a few times. Every time it was separation of the bands in the radial tire. I've heard it happened to many, many people that I know. I read about it all the time. I'm not sure why you say that it's unusual for separation to happen on a radial tire. Maybe not common, but I wouldn't think unusual at all. I'm sure the issue is solved.

Not saying it can't happen, but it's typically a result of improper tire pressure or overdriving a tire. I've seen other failures but have never seen it happen to myself, friends, or on any of the cars that have come through the shop. But we are also pretty religious about tire pressures.

 

[mkhalasi85]

I am glad I came across this thread because I am dealing with this exact same issue right now. The threads for my tires seem fine but I'am having a 'wobble' during low speeds. I'll have to do a more detailed inspection for all 4 tires.

 

[DCGOO]

Now I'm debating if I should plop the $4500 and get the extended warranty (I think you have up to 1 month after the original warranty expires). I plan to keep this vehicle until it dies, but all previous experiences at Buena Park and Costa Mesa have been poor to horrible thus far. Any ideas what this might be? The stop at the service center was to replace a key fob which took them 4 hours. They said the old one was corroded (indicating I dunked it in water) and charged me $200 - I didn't feel like fighting with them.

WRT your example, getting the keys set up properly in the legacy Model X, is a total crap shoot, regardless of the Service Center. Sometimes it is quick, sometimes it takes days. With my 2018, one of the fobs failed. Easy warranty fix, right? No chance. My local service center burned through three complete replacement sets of fobs, and took two days. When. I went to pick it up, both of the new keys were identically named, making tying the fob to a driver profile, useless. So back through the programming again. Eventually getting it working, after they did a full software reset on the vehicle (they did ask me before blowing everything away), but what a nightmare.