I live up in the Bay Area and commute from the East Bay to the peninsula. The temp is dropping a little bit here, but never below 55 at night (car overnights on the peninsula, and garage at home). I feel like my tire PSI in all my tires keeps dropping about 5 PSI every 3-4 mos. I've never had this issue with my previous car and lived in the Midwest where temps went from 100 to 30 in 5 mos and the TPMS sensors never went off. Is this an issue with the factory Tesla tires?
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Anyone else have to refill their tires every few mos?
- Thread starter Atreyu
- Start date
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Yeah this is basic physics.
Tire air pressure changes about 1 psi for every 10 degrees of temperature. In any tire, on any car.
There's nothing magic or different about Teslas here.
Legally AFAIK a car maker doesn't have to trigger a TPMS light unless you're 25% too low.
Which means if you're supposed to be at 40 psi, when it's 100 degrees... and it drops to 30 degrees you might be at 33 psi.
That's still "in spec" as far as requiring a light to turn on- but you probably don't want to drive that way.
Sounds like your previous cars only had an on/off for TPMS instead of telling you the actual pressure so you never realized this was happening before?
Tire air pressure changes about 1 psi for every 10 degrees of temperature. In any tire, on any car.
There's nothing magic or different about Teslas here.
Legally AFAIK a car maker doesn't have to trigger a TPMS light unless you're 25% too low.
Which means if you're supposed to be at 40 psi, when it's 100 degrees... and it drops to 30 degrees you might be at 33 psi.
That's still "in spec" as far as requiring a light to turn on- but you probably don't want to drive that way.
Sounds like your previous cars only had an on/off for TPMS instead of telling you the actual pressure so you never realized this was happening before?
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It was a G35. I understand how and why the tires change pressure, but it just seems like my car does it more often than my wife's 2015 Jeep.
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I have had to put air in my tires once, pretty much every fall / winter, for as long as I have been driving, and I stared driving at 16 and I am 54. I have also lived in southern california my entire life (various cities though).
If you never had to put air in your tires before, either you were taking it to a dealer and they were doing it for you during a yearly visit, or something else like that.
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As others noted .. there are two variables here. Pressure will change with ambient temperature (and, for that matter, when the tires warm up from driving). And also all tires leak slowly (no seal is perfect), but the rate will vary based on the cold tire pressure and the weight of the car. Higher pressure will mean faster leaking, and higher weight will "flex" the tire slightly more causing any leaky seal points to minutely open on each wheel rotation.
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UncertainTimes
Active Member
Less volume in the Tesla tires hence more change in pressure per change in volume. Whereas the Jeep tires will experience less change in pressure per change in volume.
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Shelburne
Member
Living in New England, we get some pretty significant temperature shifts all year long. It's not unusual to have a 30 degree change during a 24 hour period, even in summer. We got our car in September of 2020 and in September of this year after the temperature had dropped nearly 40 degrees overnight, I finally got a tire pressure warning. That's to be expected. While your situation is different, topping off tires every few months is not all that unusual. If it's annoying enough, you could always get your tires unmounted and remounted and see if that makes things better.
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I check my pressures once per day on the screen (looking for anomalies) and once a month with a hand gauge. I add 2 PSI all around so they can "Leak" down or due to temp. drop down to specification. I have home jumper box compressor to make adding air convenient. I have done this for years on all cars owned. Temp. drop and psi drop are normal so it psi rise in warmer temp and from driving (which warms tires.) Just check PSI "cold" meaning before first drive of the day. A 5 PSI drop in 4 months not only looks normal but if the drop is even then there is no issue.
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Jeremy3292
Active Member
Your tires should be at 42 PSI when cold, meaning not after you've driving them. So when you leave for work in the morning and after the car has been sitting all night, they should read 42 PSI. Air pressure expands when hot and contracts when cold. Additionally, if the ambient air temp outside is colder (i.e. fall and winter) your PSI reading will be lower than in the summer.
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No. Happens occasionally with all my previous cars. Alloy wheels has a higher air escape chance. The tire place has to do a really good job sealing the tire with the wheel. You can just go to a tire place and have them reseal the tire or check if there's a nail in it or something.
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boriszima
Member
oh interesting. Never thought about it.
I fill my tires maybe 1-2 a year, not a lot of temperature changes here in Southern California, usually fill up once when it gets "cold" and 6 months later when it gets warm. I carry this in my Frunk 12v 100 PSI High Volume Air Inflator per other users here, does not pop "fuse" and has no issues pumping to 45PSI, sure takes 2 minutes per tire or so. Gauge on it is not too accurate, i use chepo Amazon tire gauge which works as it matches to what Tesla displays
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thinktwice
Member
I've got to think that because a M3 weighs anywhere from 500-1000 lbs more than your average mid-size sedan that would contribute in some way.
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LoL-Gas
Member
People hate on nitrogen filled tires and call it a gimmick, but that was the easiest tire to maintain pressure wise. I drove it from Houston Texas to over 10k feet of elevation in Colorado. It was during winter and the tire pressure was rock steady the entire time. Did the same trip a few years later with just normal air filled tires and my tire pressure dropped significantly as the temp dropped 70+ degrees. Something to consider.
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