Has anyone actually tried to put Model X snow chains on a Model X... or am I the first person to actually try it?
We want to be legal going up to Tahoe in Winter... so yes, I actually bought the official snow chains for the Model X... and now I also have a Model X to go with it so I decided to test them out so I know how to do it. Yep, we're the family who is likely to install front license plates also.
Given the shopping page for the chains: Tesla — Model X Snow Chain - Trak 4X4 only says "Chains should only be installed on the rear wheels of the Model X and only on 19" and 20" tires" about compatibility... I made sure I got the 20 inch tires (or should that be 20 inch wheels to be precise). Having done everything on that page I thought I would be set.
I ran into some issues:
The instructions for the chains specify:
"Install the Trak tire chains on the following Tesla-approved wheels and tires only:"
It then lists Pirelli Scorpion Winter tires... on 19 inch Cyclone, and 20 inch Helix.
1) My X came with 20 inch Helix. Do I need to buy new wheels?
2) My X came with all seasons, not winter tires.
Sigh. It seems that I now need to go and spend another $4000 to get my $500 chains to work?
At least it does say "recommendations" so maybe I can ignore the above and continue.
The chains themselves just fit on the stock all seasons... but that isn't all in the installation...
3) The chains attach to a wheel nut [lug nut?], but come with the wrong size for Model X wheel nuts.
Yep, it seems I need new wheel nuts to use the chains, which is not documented anywhere! Even if I spend $4k on a winter tire package, it won't come with wheel nuts.
To see this in more detail... If you look at the images on shop.teslamotors.com ... for both the model S and model X snow chains... both use the largest size of socket... 21mm.
However the wheel nuts on my model X are much bigger than the wheel nuts on my model S... the model X chains fit the nuts on the model S just fine, but not the model X.
I suspect that Tesla upgraded the size of the Model X wheel nuts at the last moment, without realizing this meant that the snow chains simply can't fit... the manufacturer doesn't seem to make a socket to fit the new wheel nuts.
Hence I'm wondering does anyone else know about different wheel nut sizes on their X?
Does anyone else have larger wheel nuts on their X than their S?
Has anyone else bought the snow chains (or am I the only one so far) and if so do they come with the 21mm sockets that don't fit?
Am I doing something else wrong?
[naturally I'm going to take this up with Tesla if we can't figure it out here quickly that I've done something simple very wrong]
Even if we do solve the wheel nut issue I'm still rather concerned that Tesla advertises the snow chains as fitting "20 inch wheels" when they don't fit the stock wheels and tires... they should at least warn that they recommend only using the snow chains on the winter tires. Many of us are getting the 20 inch wheels in part for the snow chains, that we only find out later is recommended against!
We want to be legal going up to Tahoe in Winter... so yes, I actually bought the official snow chains for the Model X... and now I also have a Model X to go with it so I decided to test them out so I know how to do it. Yep, we're the family who is likely to install front license plates also.
Given the shopping page for the chains: Tesla — Model X Snow Chain - Trak 4X4 only says "Chains should only be installed on the rear wheels of the Model X and only on 19" and 20" tires" about compatibility... I made sure I got the 20 inch tires (or should that be 20 inch wheels to be precise). Having done everything on that page I thought I would be set.
I ran into some issues:
The instructions for the chains specify:
"Install the Trak tire chains on the following Tesla-approved wheels and tires only:"
It then lists Pirelli Scorpion Winter tires... on 19 inch Cyclone, and 20 inch Helix.
1) My X came with 20 inch Helix. Do I need to buy new wheels?
2) My X came with all seasons, not winter tires.
Sigh. It seems that I now need to go and spend another $4000 to get my $500 chains to work?
At least it does say "recommendations" so maybe I can ignore the above and continue.
The chains themselves just fit on the stock all seasons... but that isn't all in the installation...
3) The chains attach to a wheel nut [lug nut?], but come with the wrong size for Model X wheel nuts.
Yep, it seems I need new wheel nuts to use the chains, which is not documented anywhere! Even if I spend $4k on a winter tire package, it won't come with wheel nuts.
To see this in more detail... If you look at the images on shop.teslamotors.com ... for both the model S and model X snow chains... both use the largest size of socket... 21mm.
However the wheel nuts on my model X are much bigger than the wheel nuts on my model S... the model X chains fit the nuts on the model S just fine, but not the model X.
I suspect that Tesla upgraded the size of the Model X wheel nuts at the last moment, without realizing this meant that the snow chains simply can't fit... the manufacturer doesn't seem to make a socket to fit the new wheel nuts.
Hence I'm wondering does anyone else know about different wheel nut sizes on their X?
Does anyone else have larger wheel nuts on their X than their S?
Has anyone else bought the snow chains (or am I the only one so far) and if so do they come with the 21mm sockets that don't fit?
Am I doing something else wrong?
[naturally I'm going to take this up with Tesla if we can't figure it out here quickly that I've done something simple very wrong]
Even if we do solve the wheel nut issue I'm still rather concerned that Tesla advertises the snow chains as fitting "20 inch wheels" when they don't fit the stock wheels and tires... they should at least warn that they recommend only using the snow chains on the winter tires. Many of us are getting the 20 inch wheels in part for the snow chains, that we only find out later is recommended against!