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Another front suspension control arm failure
- Thread starter RDoc
- Start date
Who can fix this kind of thing outside of Tesla? I think this is what I'm experiencing right now too.
Tiger
Active Member
How many miles?
Tiger
Active Member
Good to know. Seems like 100k km or 60k miles would be a good spot to have them all replaced.
The real question is how often do most other manufacturers recommend replacing control arms? This seems like a critical/safety part that should be one of the last things to fail on a vehicle. In some areas, Tesla shines (eg brake pads rarely need replacing), but in others they quietly fix issues without wanting to stand behind their products. I'm sure the latest control arms are much beefier and better designed.
Tiger
Active Member
Found this on a bmw forum control arms/bushings, at what mileage?
Tesla Time to replace upper-control arm ball joints
Guess mine are shot, lots of pulling.
Aggmeister2010
Active Member
Control Arms aren't a consumable like brakes or tires. They should last a LONG time. Heavier cars wear through them faster than others, but they're then replaced because of worn bushings.....not because of a safety design fault. Those are replaced under a Recall, something Tesla has always wrongly fought against doing for this.
SneepeZ
Member
When updating to the newest lower forelinks 1420341-00-C and 1420346-00-C is everyone also replacing the lower control arms beside them or is that overkill? I have the crap forelinks referenced in SB-17-31-001 but they haven't given me trouble yet but I'm going to replace them as a precaution.
Aggmeister2010
Active Member
IIRC, the lower control arm also has a weak point around the outer ball joint. So it should be replaced. There's also a new design for that part that's lighter and stronger, which is nice.
Raroia
Member
Can anybody identify this as 1041575/70-00-B or the -A revision? Looks like -A to me but I just want to be sure. 2017 S 75D.
@SneepeZ On my 2013 P85 every single control arm, front and back, both sides of the car, had at least one torn/flaking/leaking/damaged bushing or bearing. All 4 front lower arms had torn inner bushings. So I replaced everything.
(Okay, out of all the arms, the passenger side FUCA still seemed okay. But everything else had something clearly worn out, including driver's side FUCA. I wasn't going to leave in one old arm while replacing all the rest.)
On older and higher mileage cars I think it's worth replacing those lower arms all in one go, rather than piecemealing and realigning each time. YMMV though!
Gtech
Active Member
Seems that you have A since the ball joint is pressed in from the top, also B has letters in the middle.
SneepeZ
Member
I just tried to request the nuts, washers, and bolts to replace the front fore links and lower control arms myself and the Tesla service center is claiming they don't sell them over the counter. They want me to go through a body shop WTH!!!! More reason to hate these greedy SCs.
Aggmeister2010
Active Member
That's bizarre, and inaccurate. Is there another SC around you could call? They definitely sell these over the counter...their own parts catalog confirms it:
I had similar experience to original poster. I am driving a 2017 Tesla Model S at 35k miles under warranty. As I was backing out of my parking spot and cranking my wheel, I head a pop and grinding noise in the front driver side wheel well. I got out for inspection, sounded like I ran over large plastic bottle and was pivoting on it, but observed nothing on the ground and couldn't see anything wrong. I got back in and proceeded forward only for the grinding to resume. I got out to observe again and found that my wheel has caught the back end of my wheel well cover and ripped it off and pulled it forward, still inside the wheel well. A firm tug removed the cover from the well. I still couldn't see the control arm, but I did observe that the wheel was set way back in the rear of the wheel well. I called Tesla Roadside and they came to pick up the vehicle.
Tesla later determined that "outside influence" was at play due to very minor scuff marks under the sides of my bumpers and some small knicks to my battery pack, saying that it would not be covered by my active warranty. The control arm had completely broken off and they wanted to say I was in an accident. I think this is outrageous as there has been a well documented history of control arms failures for this model Tesla. They've lowered the prices on their cars recently, so I guess they are going to cut costs and do anything they can to not fulfill their warranty obligations.
What are my options? I've looked to BBB, but it's very apparent there that Tesla does not care. Submit my complaint to NHTSA? Sue? I've spoken with the service manager, they don't seem to care and says it's out of their hands since I've already paid.
Tesla later determined that "outside influence" was at play due to very minor scuff marks under the sides of my bumpers and some small knicks to my battery pack, saying that it would not be covered by my active warranty. The control arm had completely broken off and they wanted to say I was in an accident. I think this is outrageous as there has been a well documented history of control arms failures for this model Tesla. They've lowered the prices on their cars recently, so I guess they are going to cut costs and do anything they can to not fulfill their warranty obligations.
What are my options? I've looked to BBB, but it's very apparent there that Tesla does not care. Submit my complaint to NHTSA? Sue? I've spoken with the service manager, they don't seem to care and says it's out of their hands since I've already paid.
Attachments
SneepeZ
Member
Part #7 is the bolt I really need since Tesla engineers couldn't figure out that flipping the bolt around so it's not blocked by the battery pack when attempting the removal would be a good idea. Appreciate the diagram. Maybe if I request them by the actual part numbers they'll be more helpful. They gave me a link to Tesla certified collision centers to order the parts through them. When I called the collision centers they all said they have a contract with Tesla not to sell parts to the public unless they're doing the repairs themselves. Great system they have in place!
Aggmeister2010
Active Member
Oh yeah, you really need to present the SC with part numbers or they tend to shoo you away. What that collision center told you is not correct either, but I'm sure they don't want to be in the business of fulfilling small $10 orders so they just try to trick you into having them do all of the labor too.
The parts catalog is online and free for vehicle owners - here it is:
@SneepeZ I've encountered that too. I believe it stems from them being understaffed and overworked for the number of Tesla cars out there these days. I don't think corporate gives them any real incentive to fill parts orders when they are fully loaded with service work.
Try another service center, you can probably find one that is more open and helpful. I had to do that to get all the parts for my control arm refresh.
Also check the parts they give you carefully. Some of their parts staff are sloppy and just grab whatever's in the bin even when it's obviously labeled wrong if you take a few seconds to evaluate it. One SC even had tiny little trim bolts mislabeled as the biggest control arm bolts on the car. Another SC had a more plausible looking bolt for that same part number except it was clearly too short.
Also @Aggmeister2010 is right, you really need to look up all the part numbers yourself in my experience, or they'll just ignore the order. They won't spend time on it aside from routine maintenance stuff like air filters. Honestly I don't think I'd trust their parts staff to select the right parts anyways, based on how much they struggle just to accurately fill an order where I gave all the numbers.
It's interesting how vastly different this experience is from a dealer parts department. Car dealers mark up all parts prices like crazy in my experience, I really appreciate that Tesla doesn't, but I guess that markup pays for the dealer staff time to actually help you.
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