Aero cover removal range impact and passenger door rattle

[Navola]

Moderator comment - thread renamed from "Range and rattle"

I am new to Tesla, just got myself a lovely long range model 3. Considering taking the wheel caps off, will that noticably reduce range? I am a high mileage driver.
Also have annoying occasional rattle from passenger door when sound on with deep bass and a noise from back over unsmooth roads, light rattling

 

[Jason71]

5% loss max probably more like 2% based on highway range tests I have seen.
If you are doing it do it quickly before the aero caps damage the surface of the Alloys. Which they will.

 

[SR-Plus]

In regards to the range impact, it depends on the speed you’re travelling. Take a look at this website which shows you a comparison chart.

Teslike.com

 

[AndrewGR]

Service Centres seem to be able to sort out most rattles. In my case there was a missing clip on the shelf behind the back seat which was the cause. Had to take a technician for a drive whilst he clambered around in the back to get it located!

 

[NewbieT]

There was a part of the door coming loose inside the door at one point. Tesla know what that is often & can fix. Log a ticket.

 

[speedyranger74]

Also check the position of seat belt.

 

[Bantam]

I had an annoying rattle coming from the rear when travelling over uneven roads. After a couple of failed attempts at finding the offending rattle finally tracked it down to a lose rear boot Lid locking mechanism. Reported it via the app (uploaded a link to a clip of me wobbling the mechanism) a ranger came out and swapped out with no questions asked. Maybe worth checking this is not the issue.

 

[Alistairuk]

Also check the position of seat belt.

Second this - every time I have my mother in the car because of where she puts the passenger seat when she gets out I get the rattle… Try moving the seat slightly and making sure the seatbelt isn’t sitting in the one exact spot where it vibrates against the seat!

 

[Adopado]

A very light rattle on rough tarmac can (surprisingly) be from the windows. Usually the front. If you experience this try lowering the window to see if it stops. A solution that many of us use is to wipe some Gummi Pfledge rubber treatment on the seals once every couple of months. You would never think something like that would cure a rattle but it does!

 

[SpareHeadOne]

Moderator comment - thread renamed from "Range and rattle"

I am new to Tesla, just got myself a lovely long range model 3. Considering taking the wheel caps off, will that noticably reduce range? I am a high mileage driver.
Also have annoying occasional rattle from passenger door when sound on with deep bass and a noise from back over unsmooth roads, light rattling

I've just taken them off mine and the car reports a range of 295 miles at 90% instead of 300 (after I changed the wheels in settings). I imagine that may increase a bit a motorway speeds, but I've not done any long runs yet so I can't me sure.

Incidentally, after watching some YouTube videos of people struggling taking the covers off by pulling at opposite sides of them (as you might expect), I have found the trick is to start by pulling one section (hand through one of the holes and tug firmly near the rim), then without pulling that too far away from the wheel do the same one hole to the right or left. Second one is usually a bit stiffer, but once it comes free the whole cover just seems to pop straight off.

In fact the first time I did it, I fell over because it came off so quickly when I was expecting a fight.

 

[Adopado]

I've just taken them off mine and the car reports a range of 295 miles at 90% instead of 300 (after I changed the wheels in settings).

If most driving is 50mph or less with a good bit of urban I doubt you would notice any difference. If you spend most of your driving life on motorways then it's likely to be more significant. So, as usual ... "it depends" ..

 

[Alistairuk]

In fact the first time I did it, I fell over because it came off so quickly when I was expecting a fight.

Same - although I managed to fall over in front of all the neighbours - that'll teach me to point out that there's alloys underneath when showing them the new car!

I've found it easier to start where the air valve is and pull one "spoke" at a time.

 

[SpareHeadOne]

If most driving is 50mph or less with a good bit of urban I doubt you would notice any difference. If you spend most of your driving life on motorways then it's likely to be more significant. So, as usual ... "it depends" ..

Yeah, that's the way it's worked out recently because most of the major roads I use have work going on and 50mph limits for a lot of the drive; it's rare for my average speed to come out more than 35mph for any of my drives at the moment.

Then again, it is nice to look at TeslaMate and see 182 Wh/mi for a 5 mile trip.

From memory, consumption in the energy graph tends to be about 275 Wh/mi with the cruise set at 70 and taking the aero covers off doesn't seem to have changed that significantly (maybe 277 Wh/mi).

So currently my plan is to leave them off except when I'm going a long journey (more than 200 miles each way), because I may as well have whatever range help I can get in those situations.