Alarming rhythmic sound from front left at speeds over about 90km/h

[chrisbc]

Earlier this week I bought a slightly used (7,000km) 2023 Model 3 performance and the next day noticed a sound that starts as I’m accelerating past about 90km/hr. It doesn’t always happen, maybe 50% of the time and seemingly randomly.

If if ease off the pedal it stops, and if I accelerate then the sound cycles faster and gets more alarming. I recorded it and uploaded it to YouTube:

My fiest thought was that it made the same sound as putting a baseball card in my bike wheel as a kid to make a “chop chop” sound.

had the summer tires swapped for winter ones today at Kal-Tire and they thought the sound would stop after. It hasn’t - any thoughts on what it might be? I guess I should schedule an appointment with the nearest Tesla service centre?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[buckets0fun]

Could be axle related.
Could be drive unit
Could be the front tire bolts on the dust shield deciding to come out and get beat to a pulp by the disc/wheel bearing

 

[Technokrat]

Any reason you are not showing this to Tesla? Sounds pretty serious to me

 

[XPsionic]

First of all, bring it to a shop immediately, something's very wrong.

Could be axle related.
Could be drive unit
Could be the front tire bolts on the dust shield deciding to come out and get beat to a pulp by the disc/wheel bearing

I agree with buckets. Other plausible problems that I could think of, maybe loose underbody panel(s) or wheel well panels. If you want the internet to help diagnose, take a bunch of photos as best you can of under the car and the wheel wells. Does the sound come from the front or rear?

Do you feel vibrations through the steering wheel or seats when this happens?

 

[buckets0fun]

Could be axle related.
Could be drive unit
Could be the front tire bolts on the dust shield deciding to come out and get beat to a pulp by the disc/wheel bearing

Torx bolts. Not tire bolts. … my fat fingers

I’d submit this video and any photos you can take of where you think the sound is coming from, via the service menu within your tesla app.

Chances are they’ll review in a day or so and schedule an immediate visit to address this

 

[chrisbc]

Thank you for all the replies… I’ve only had the car a few days and was able to book a service appointment last night through the app. The earliest available date was Jan 25 and I’ll post an update here… ugh!

 

[chrisbc]

PS I haven’t noticed any vibrations through the seat or steering wheel, and it’s coming from the front left corner of the car. Basically it sounds like a stick is caught in the wheel, but of course there’s nothing visible and it only starts to happen at 90 - 93 km/hr. Below that, there’s absolutely no sound at all and it drives perfectly normally As soon as the issue starts, it vanishes once the speed drops by about 5 km/hr or so. I may add photos if time but since the local Kal Tire just swapped the tires I figured they would have noticed if something was visibly amiss.

 

[buckets0fun]

Sounding a bit like a driveunit pooped the bed.

 

[P3dStealth]

Did they swap only the tires or they swapped the wheels and tires?

 

[chrisbc]

Did they swap only the tires or they swapped the wheels and tires?

Just the tires, summer to winter.

 

[P3dStealth]

Just the tires, summer to winter.

You could have a bent wheel. If you have OEM 20in they bend often.

If you have the 19 you could have a balance weight hitting the caliper. If you have 18in they don't fit performance models.

 

[chrisbc]

Sounding a bit like a driveunit pooped the bed.

Good to know, thanks - I’ll let you know what Tesla finds!

You could have a bent wheel. If you have OEM 20in they bend often.

If you have the 19 you could have a balance weight hitting the caliper. If you have 18in they don't fit performance models.

Yes, I have the OEM 20”. Ok, that’s good to know, thanks I may have Kal Tire take a look since I’ll be there tomorrow anyway (they forgot their jack pads on the car)

 

[buckets0fun]

There’s plenty of clearance on 19 and 20 for model3 performance calipers to any amount of weight.

The clue here for this is the noise disappearing with your speed changes. As this is the ‘rpm of motor’ like an ICE car. If it was a wheel issue it would always show, the brake calipers don’t move outward towards the wheel barrel as you change speed or at a certain speed they ‘deploy’ into the wheel barrel.

Axle would likely show constantly as well and not fluctuate to zero with such a small delta.