(21 Plaid) Something is popping when my wheel turns or the car moves at low speeds.

[SDRick]

I took it to the service center yesterday and the technician knew it was the bash plate within seconds of hearing the noise in the parking lot. Unfortunately they did not attempt to re-torque because they noticed a small dent in it. That's unfortunate because I think that would have fixed the clicking. I think my bash plate (which really just looks like a metal bar) is serviceable even though there is a dent and a little separation in it.

Service did not know how long it would take to get the part but labor would only be $55

 

[n2mb_racing]

I took it to the service center yesterday and the technician knew it was the bash plate within seconds of hearing the noise in the parking lot. Unfortunately they did not attempt to re-torque because they noticed a small dent. That's unfortunate because I think that would have fixed the clicking. I think my bash plate (which really just looks like a metal bar) is serviceable even though there is a dent in it.

Service did not know how long it would take to get the part but labor would only be $55

And they think you've dented it and not that it came that way from the factory? Kinda crazy.

 

[SDRick]

I believe I dented it and I do remember a slight scrape at one point but forgot about it. The technician also noticed a small bubble in the left front tire. I do remember hitting a pothole not too long ago. Fortunately, Pirelli does cover for road hazard/defect for a short period after purchase (2/32 of use).

 

[KevinLinDMD]

Hello all. I found this section in the service manual today. Is this the bash plate that the SC is removing and retorquing?

If so, this looks to be a pretty simple DIY, right? Remove plastic panels and torque the bolts to spec according to this document.

 

[paulchou]

Hello all. I found this section in the service manual today. Is this the bash plate that the SC is removing and retorquing?

If so, this looks to be a pretty simple DIY, right? Remove plastic panels and torque the bolts to spec according to this document.

I believe so. I found the same section as well. Yeah it’s called the skid plate technically. My guess would be the front bolts are the trouble makers.

One good test would be before you remove any bolts - test them w your torque wrench to see if they are below the specified spec that’s given. There’s implication either way. It it’s below, then someone f***ed up consistently. The other scenario is that we might need to torque it higher than the specified torque, as the given torque spec is wrong.

 

[SDRick]

I believe this could be a DY I, but I had the service center successfully get rid of the noise. They removed the bar, cleaned it up/brightened up the surfaces "lubricated"and reinstalled the bar\skid plate.

What is interesting is one service center said because I had the small dent in the skid\bar it needed to be replaced. I got tired of waiting for the part (that I would've had to pay for), and I thought there was a pretty good chance the dent wasn't causing noise.. I tried another service center who thought along the same lines and...so far so good!

 

[KevinLinDMD]

I finally got around to getting my car up on ramps this past weekend. Took off the front aero shield (remove a few 10mm bolts and a few push pins) and it gives you complete access to the skid plate. There are 4 15mm bolts (torque spec = 70Nm) that connect to the front subframe and 2 15mm bolts (torque spec = 60Nm) that connect to the front body casting. There are 2 other bolts that connect to the side sills (hidden under some more plastic), but these have a torque spec of 30Nm and I can't imagine how these would be the culprits.

In my case, both 60Nm bolts were torqued to spec. No issues there. However, the 4 front subframe bolts (70Nm) were not torqued properly. I was able to tighten all 4 of them an extra 1/4 turn before hitting the 70Nm torque spec. Initial driving impressions, the creaking has gotten much much better. There are certain instances where you'll hear a couple quiet clicks, but much improved. If it gets worse, I may try to remove the skid plate completely and make sure there's no debris stuck between.

 

[SDRick]

Service center fixed mine by taking off the skid\bar cleaned and "lubricated" and re-torqued. All is fine now, no more clicks and pops!

One tech mentioned putting a layer of one-sided sticky automotive foam between the bar and frame and then re-torque but that is not what my service center ultimately did.

 

[KevinLinDMD]

I may try to do that if I ever feel the need to go back to retorque bolts. My guess is that it's 2 solid metal surfaces that rub against each other when the subframe flexes slightly. Having either lubrication or a layer of foam sounds like it would solve the issue.

 

[rpan25]

Well, 100 miles in and I started getting the clicking noise that's described on this thread. Can't complain much because the rest of the car has been pretty solid and thanks to this thread, it seems like an easy diagnosis and easy fix. Taking the car in to SC this Thursday. Let's see how it transpires.

 

[rpan25]

Well, 100 miles in and I started getting the clicking noise that's described on this thread. Can't complain much because the rest of the car has been pretty solid and thanks to this thread, it seems like an easy diagnosis and easy fix. Taking the car in to SC this Thursday. Let's see how it transpires.

For anyone interested, the SC just confirmed that they found debris between the bash plate and HV battery on my car as well. The debris was making contact with the battery and all that stuff moving about when the car is in motion to the extent that they believe the battery is compromised enough to not drive the car. They are replacing the HV battery for me in addition to cleaning out the debris and securing the bash plate.

 

[TexasYeeHaw]

I have the same clicking problem at 400 miles. Thanks to everyone who posted on this, I'm hopeful this thread will make it easy for me to get this fixed.

 

[patsfan038]

1400 miles in and I’m having this issue as well. Made an appointment for the first week of September

 

[JeffTutorialsY]

I am experiencing the exact same issue on my Model S LR at ~6,000 miles.

There's clicking when I turn at low speeds and gets louder when I turn onto an inclined surface.

I submitted a service request mentioning the front skid plate needing to be re-torqued.

Has anyone had this issue re-occur after getting it resolved?

 

[n2mb_racing]

I've got a different creaking over bumps at slow speeds that the SC can't / won't fix. Annoying.

 

[TexasYeeHaw]

I am experiencing the exact same issue on my Model S LR at ~6,000 miles.

There's clicking when I turn at low speeds and gets louder when I turn onto an inclined surface.

I submitted a service request mentioning the front skid plate needing to be re-torqued.

Has anyone had this issue re-occur after getting it resolved?

For some reason, it took two visits to fully resolve mine, but it was fixed after the second visit and hasn't returned yet.

 

[JeffTutorialsY]

For some reason, it took two visits to fully resolve mine, but it was fixed after the second visit and hasn't returned yet.

What did they do to fix yours?

They tried re-torquing my skid plate but it didn't help.

 

[SDRick]

What did they do to fix yours?

They tried re-torquing my skid plate but it didn't help.

Same thing happened to me. Re-torquing did not help.
I took it to a different service center, they removed it, cleaned it up, replaced and torqued to specs.
All is good again!

 

[JeffTutorialsY]

Same thing happened to me. Re-torquing did not help.
I took it to a different service center, they removed it, cleaned it up, replaced and torqued to specs.
All is good again!

Thanks. I'm going back to the same service center tomorrow and planning to ask for a more experienced tech to work on the car.

Hoping for the best!

 

[n2mb_racing]

Thanks. I'm going back to the same service center tomorrow and planning to ask for a more experienced tech to work on the car.

Hoping for the best!

Experienced tech at Tesla? They're all gone. Driven away.