Caution Model X, Hidden Tire Wear

[ngng]

I don't understand how there are this many tire blowouts and there isn't a NHTSA issue. Like nobody is reporting a blow-out to NHTSA?

Ford Explorers and Firestone tires were a disaster because those blow-outs resulted in rollovers. I guess these Model X blowouts aren't as bad?

Regardless, I feel like a blowout is not the failure condition that ends well for anybody.

I think the difference is that the Firestone fiasco was a manufacturing defect while the X blowouts are because of aggressive alignments.

 

[Riceball777]

I just installed the macsboost rear camber kit. They are just spacers that space out the rear upper control arm. Pretty easy to install.
I have a 2022 model x plaid with 13,000 miles and the rear inside tires of the stock Michelin are almost bald. The front tires and the middle and outside of the rear tires still have a lot of life left.

hopefully this fixes my problem.

 

[Gantech]

I’ve got a 2018 X and yeah I had that inside tire wear on the rear tires bad so I replaced him and we’re looking at them close like every month

 

[Pstreicher1]

I just installed the macsboost rear camber kit. They are just spacers that space out the rear upper control arm. Pretty easy to install.
I have a 2022 model x plaid with 13,000 miles and the rear inside tires of the stock Michelin are almost bald. The front tires and the middle and outside of the rear tires still have a lot of life left.

hopefully this fixes my problem.

How's it going with this Macsboost rear camber kit? Can you give us an update?

 

[lynnpt2001]

How's it going with this Macsboost rear camber kit? Can you give us an update?

It seemed to work great, however we traded the car on a plaid a few months after installing. The tires were at -1 camber which was much better

 

[chaose]

Tire wouldn't hold pressure, so drove to a tire place to get it checked out. 10k miles, had alignment done at tesla service center in Brooklyn in 7/2022 (a month after I got the car). Tires were rotated and balanced at 6300 miles at Tesla service center.

Both rear tires are bald with steel showing. Ordered new OEM tires from tire rack and will have it installed and realigned this week.

My guess is that when I got it aligned at tesla, they did the alignment at Medium ride height but I pretty much drives at low ride height 99% of the time. I also drive in chill mode.

Really looking into the n2itive rear upper camber arms. I don't think I can do a set of tires every 10k miles.

The opposite issue for the front: 10% more wear on the outside than inside.

 

[abalexab]

Same story with me - see pic below with original Continental tires. Bought Michelin tires from Costco (60k warranty) and did alignment in SC Brooklyn right after tires change. Tech. told me do not lower car when driving. I’m driving now in medium position. And I change lowering settings to 65 ml/h. Will see how it will behave

 

[chaose]

Same story with me - see pic below with original Continental tires. Bought Michelin tires from Costco (60k warranty) and did alignment in SC Brooklyn right after tires change. Tech. told me do not lower car when driving. I’m driving now in medium position. And I change lowering settings to 65 ml/h. Will see how it will behave

I bought a set of the OEM Continental tires from tire rack and had them installed at an independent shop. Also got my car aligned there in the low setting. The mechanic was able to adjust the rear toe. We'll see how this goes.

 

[brainhouston]

Tire wouldn't hold pressure, so drove to a tire place to get it checked out. 10k miles, had alignment done at tesla service center in Brooklyn in 7/2022 (a month after I got the car). Tires were rotated and balanced at 6300 miles at Tesla service center.

Both rear tires are bald with steel showing. Ordered new OEM tires from tire rack and will have it installed and realigned this week.

My guess is that when I got it aligned at tesla, they did the alignment at Medium ride height but I pretty much drives at low ride height 99% of the time. I also drive in chill mode.

Really looking into the n2itive rear upper camber arms. I don't think I can do a set of tires every 10k miles.

The opposite issue for the front: 10% more wear on the outside than inside.

Looking at ur outer side, you've driven it too low anyways... that's not safe even for a regular car, esp for Tesla being so heavy...
Its possible inner edge would be intact if only driven down to recommended marks
Overall ur wear seems pretty even across for a very neg camber

 

[Mbrockus]

This issue bit me on my road trip and of course happened in the middle of nowhere Montana. Gonna enjoy the local sites for another day until the local shop gets tires in. They had no problem finding the 275 for the rears but finding the 265 was a bigger challenge for them. Hope to be back on the road in 24 hours.. Fingers crossed.

 

[buckets0fun]

A lot of you are going to learn that camber arms are not the solution to your problems.

Camber and toe, sure. Camber arms only, nahhh... camber doesn't kill tires, toe does. camber wears tires, toe ends them.

Source: towing heavy (~4890lb travel trailer), driving with a heavy foot (649wh/mi+ daily driving), proper alignment specs (rear toe dialed to zerrrooooooo, -1.6 camber), zero issues with tire wear approaching 10k miles on this set.
Previous tires were roached, alignment (in medium) showed rear toe was @ early 00's Bmw levels. left the neg camber where it was at, set height to low (and always low mode enabled), dialed toe to zero all around. Steer ahead 0. . ‍♂

 

[Padelford]

The basic problem is that the rear suspension is designed with a fixed -1.7 deg camber. I have no idea why. I installed a set of rear adjustable camber links from Unplugged Performance:

I corrected the rear camber to -1.0 deg, and the rear tires now wear completely evenly. No noticeable change in handling.

 

[LadyDi]

2019 Model X, Raven, September 2019 production, factory 22 inch wheels

I have now come to realize this is a known issue, but want to caution others as it caused a trip interruption for me, and an unexpected Service Center visit. Check the rear inside tire wear! I checked rear tread depth before starting my 600 mile journey but really looked at only the center and outside, which was 4 to 5 mm. (The new Pirellis are 8mm.)Turns out the inside was completely gone, and resulted in a flat tire, and the other on the verge of blow out! Of course the Service Center blames alignment, which was not off all that much and the real culprit is the non adjustable rear camber.

Having researched after the fact, I now know this is a known issue, and to expect to get about 25k miles on the rears, (I had 28k), and perhaps 40k on the fronts. I recommend putting the suspension in the highest position and take a look at the inside of your rear tires. My normal default is low. I have not seen this level of rear tire wear since the days of the early Acura NSX which on a good day got 5k miles!

I learned the hard way as well. Both the front and rear were gone by 25k. I only drive in low. It's clear that Tesla doesn't want you to use their suspension height adjustment. MyX has been aligned often and I've replaced all tires 2x with only 40k miles on the car. Costly!

 

[ngng]

I just installed the macsboost rear camber kit. They are just spacers that space out the rear upper control arm. Pretty easy to install.
I have a 2022 model x plaid with 13,000 miles and the rear inside tires of the stock Michelin are almost bald. The front tires and the middle and outside of the rear tires still have a lot of life left.

hopefully this fixes my problem.

$200 for two laser cut shims? That's highway robbery!

 

[geordi]

I learned the hard way as well. Both the front and rear were gone by 25k. I only drive in low. It's clear that Tesla doesn't want you to use their suspension height adjustment. MyX has been aligned often and I've replaced all tires 2x with only 40k miles on the car. Costly!

A couple things to look at - the treadwear number of the tires, lower is softer and WILL wear off faster. Roughly translates to about a 100th of the total mileage. The factory tires have a 280 treadwear number, and are usually gone by 25k miles for example. If you bought more from Tesla, that's what you are going to get again - and that's a bad deal financially. These are NOT magical vehicles that need magical tires.

Second thing, get an alignment check done by ANYONE other than Tesla. The service centers will NOT set up the car with anything other than the stock (too much) camber set up, it could be as much as -4 degrees which WILL eat the tires. Get it checked / done in the height you usually drive at.

For the X - if you haven't had the front half shaft recall replacement done yet, you need that done. It won't affect the rear tires, but it's important anyway.

 

[buckets0fun]

I learned the hard way as well. Both the front and rear were gone by 25k. I only drive in low. It's clear that Tesla doesn't want you to use their suspension height adjustment. MyX has been aligned often and I've replaced all tires 2x with only 40k miles on the car. Costly!

Your alignments, were they done at the height you drive at? or were they done at medium setting?

What are your last alignment ‘after’ specs?

This isn’t magic, cars have had adjustable suspension for decades. Tire wear is due to your alignment. Pop over to the S forum here, or the plaid thread. It’s all the same principles.