Caution Model X, Hidden Tire Wear

[Richbot]

Their SOP requires the alignment be done in STandard, they're just following their procedure. IF you want a non-standard alignment you can't do it at a dealer, just like most cars, dealer follows OEM spec, independent shops are willing to experiment

Being able to rotate is nice but all four corners wear the inside shoulders excessively so I don't see what that gets you. What you really need is a tire that can be flipped on the rim halfway through its life.

 

[ngng]

Their SOP requires the alignment be done in STandard, they're just following their procedure. IF you want a non-standard alignment you can't do it at a dealer, just like most cars, dealer follows OEM spec, independent shops are willing to experiment

Being able to rotate is nice but all four corners wear the inside shoulders excessively so I don't see what that gets you. What you really need is a tire that can be flipped on the rim halfway through its life.

All four corner's don't wear unevenly. It's only the rears.

I think you replied to my original thread (so you've got context) with my stock alignment, in low, on stock arms:

Breaking down the excessive rear, inner tire wear

I had a bunch of warranty work done at the dealer, some of which included replacement parts for the shudder. The entire front end of the car was apart. After I picked the car up I noticed that it was pulling right and immediately suspected an improper alignment (or, in this case...no alignment)...

teslamotorsclub.com

Front toe is basically zero. Rear toe is almost 0.25 degrees. That's huge.

 

[Richbot]

My fronts wear very unevenly, it's all inner tread wear. Maybe that's a Raven long range thing with the front motor doing almost all of the work most of the time

 

[mxnym]

I asked the Tesla service center to align my X in "Low" suspension, and they refused. They said my tire wear will be extreme if I drive in Low, and I should drive in Standard suspension height instead.

And yet the latest updates automatically lower our X on Interstates even with automatic lowering set to "Never." What a ridiculous conundrum.

 

[Harvey Danger]

And yet the latest updates automatically lower our X on Interstates even with automatic lowering set to "Never." What a ridiculous conundrum.

Really? Wow man.

Is this in the release notes?

 

[mxnym]

Really? Wow man.

Is this in the release notes?

Not in the release notes, but it shows in low if you check while on the Interstate. Could be a firmware bug, I suppose, but definitely silently happens.

 

[DCGOO]

And yet the latest updates automatically lower our X on Interstates even with automatic lowering set to "Never." What a ridiculous conundrum.

I drive in low 100% of the time, The only time the car is ever high, is going through the car wash. I was in for service one day last week, my tires checked out at 6,6,6 on all four wheels with roughly 18,000 miles on the tires.

 

[ngng]

My fronts wear very unevenly, it's all inner tread wear. Maybe that's a Raven long range thing with the front motor doing almost all of the work most of the time

Hmm, hard to tell. Tire wear should be be a function of the alignment. Weight and extra torque would accelerate that. Do you have your specs?

 

[ngng]

And yet the latest updates automatically lower our X on Interstates even with automatic lowering set to "Never." What a ridiculous conundrum.

Does your glovebox open and ask you to insert money? Mine keeps doing that.

 

[Gantech]

I drive in low 100% of the time, The only time the car is ever high, is going through the car wash. I was in for service one day last week, my tires checked out at 6,6,6 on all four wheels with roughly 18,000 miles on the tires.

I used to use Mister car wash had the brushes etc. but it ripped off my front passenger trim around the wheel so I had to quit using the carwash then I recently discovered complete inner tire wheel on the rear so I replaced those 12,500 miles . I bought it to the dealer and the team drove it and they look at me and he said there’s no shudder here so what am I supposed to do about that? because I guarantee you the X shudders accelerating through a curve or through 40-60 mph

 

[DCGOO]

I used to use Mister car wash had the brushes etc. but it ripped off my front passenger trim around the wheel so I had to quit using the carwash then I recently discovered complete inner tire wheel on the rear so I replaced those 12,500 miles . I bought it to the dealer and the team drove it and they look at me and he said there’s no shudder here so what am I supposed to do about that? because I guarantee you the X shudders accelerating through a curve or through 40-60 mph

Sounds like you are badly in need of a wheel alignment.

 

[Josephponline]

For those following this thread, and FWIW I posted 6 months that I switched out my winter tires (which I had to retire at 7,000 miles for inner rear wear down to belt). Based on that experience and my research EVfix me installed the N2itive shocks for me. I said at the time I'd provide an update in due course.

So i've just now switched out my summer tires back to (new) winter ... and after 10,000 miles on my summer set, the wear is perfectly even. Very happy with the outcome here which worked for me and my driving situation, being the N2itive products setup for predominantly "Low" i.e. a lot of freeway miles, at high speeds with automatic lowering.

The first time I posted on this topic in this thread was when I noticed my rear inner tire wear was down to belt on my winter tires after only 6,000 miles as I was rotating my "worn" winter to summer tires.

After much deliberation I decided on the N2itive solution. My second post was October 2021 when I rotated my summer tires to winter (and found no inner wear) ... which was confirmation for me I made the right choice with N2itive, and the alignment in low given my bias to freeway miles.

It's now March, and I just rotated my summer to winter tires after 5,000 predominantly freeway miles on my winter tire set. The tire is a 20" soft compound Nokian Hakappelita R3. As you can see from the photo, the wear on the tire is completely even, whereas just one year ago with the same driving conditions (pre-N2itive lowering and links) I was down to the steel belt on both inner rears.

I can't recommend the N2itive solution highly enough, I have no shudder, and having the car aligned with their links in my default setting of low (given my bias to freeway miles) really worked for me.

 

[Zroiron]

I had the same issue. After picking up a nail and taking the car to Discount Tire, I was informed that they would not repair the rear tire because the rear tires were nearly worn bare on the inner edges. I was getting ready to drive from Las Vegas to St Louis with my wife and 3 standard poodles and there was no way I was going to risk catastrophe! I had them replace both rears, drove to St Louis and after a little research, I ordered adjustable camber arms from n2itive and had them installed in St Louis. The installer did the alignment on all four wheels and per the n2itive recommendation I set the suspension to low to minimize the acceleration shudder. I wish Tesla would fix this problem in the Model X and the Model S.

 

[ngng]

The first time I posted on this topic in this thread was when I noticed my rear inner tire wear was down to belt on my winter tires after only 6,000 miles as I was rotating my "worn" winter to summer tires.

After much deliberation I decided on the N2itive solution. My second post was October 2021 when I rotated my summer tires to winter (and found no inner wear) ... which was confirmation for me I made the right choice with N2itive, and the alignment in low given my bias to freeway miles.

It's now March, and I just rotated my summer to winter tires after 5,000 predominantly freeway miles on my winter tire set. The tire is a 20" soft compound Nokian Hakappelita R3. As you can see from the photo, the wear on the tire is completely even, whereas just one year ago with the same driving conditions (pre-N2itive lowering and links) I was down to the steel belt on both inner rears.

I can't recommend the N2itive solution highly enough, I have no shudder, and having the car aligned with their links in my default setting of low (given my bias to freeway miles) really worked for me.

I agree that the N2 toe links are a good solution for those who wish to correct toe it's worth clarifying that:

1. The N2 toe links allow more range for toe adjustment but they DO NOT solve the shudder
2. ANY parts (N2, 3d printed, whatever) that allow you to lower your car will help reduce potential shudder issues

While I don't disagree that getting toe closer to zero will have a huge impact on tire wear, the photo you posted doesn't provide empirical evidence that the installed parts had an effect on tire wear. Ideally, alignment values and tire measurements. I do agree these cars have an issue with rear toe which is exaggerated by the fact we cannot rotate the tires.

 

[Richbot]

I have the new axles and have for close to 15,000 miles and the "shudder" is not "back" per se, int hat it no longer seems like it's about to break a CV joint every time I accelerate

But I have discovery over time I can still make the front axles vibrate by using the higher suspension settings particularly in colder weather. It's pretty repeatable, if I use High or Very High, the car will vibrate for a while on hard accel even in Low.

It's never worse than the vibration you might get from like a missing wheel weight or something, but it's there.

I also have new tires on the car and they seem to be wearing more evenly after an alignment and 4000 miles than the first set on the car, which never got an alignment and was relying on the factory "close enough, ship it" alignment

Anyway, still would rather have worn out tires than reduced power and vibration, so I leave it in Low or Very Low all the time now.

 

[KentuckyX]

I drive in low 100% of the time, The only time the car is ever high, is going through the car wash. I was in for service one day last week, my tires checked out at 6,6,6 on all four wheels with roughly 18,000 miles on the tires.

I was religiously checking my tires with a depth gauge (inner, middle, outer treads - I was showing 7/32) and was shocked when the advisor called me over while the car was on the rack and showed me the extreme inner part of the tire (where I wasn't measuring) and both back tires were down to the steel belts.

 

[Richbot]

There is no substitute for the Mk1 eyeball

 

[ngng]

I was religiously checking my tires with a depth gauge (inner, middle, outer treads - I was showing 7/32) and was shocked when the advisor called me over while the car was on the rack and showed me the extreme inner part of the tire (where I wasn't measuring) and both back tires were down to the steel belts.

The inner wear from toe is pretty hard to see without looking from the inside or pulling a wheel off.

 

[Chantl28]

The N2itive suspension kit seems like the solution for the tire-wear issue but will the installation of that kit void the warranty that covers the half-shafts should they go bad? Can Tesla void your warranty for installing aftermarket parts that could be linked to the problem?

 

[ngng]

The N2itive suspension kit seems like the solution for the tire-wear issue but will the installation of that kit void the warranty that covers the half-shafts should they go bad? Can Tesla void your warranty for installing aftermarket parts that could be linked to the problem?

Tesla is denying warranty claims for known suspension failures...they will 99.99999% deny any claims if you have aftermarket parts. If anything, it'll be an uphill battle.