Changing tires myself

[steilkurve]

New P3D+ owner here. I consider myself pretty handy but I’ve never actually changed tires myself. I’m now thinking I want to try it, if anything to make putting on my winter wheels easier as I send my summer ones get powder coated. Questions for experts at this taks:

1) Would you recommend I do it myself? Any pitfalls?

2) What jack, jack adapter and wrench would you redo I get for the car?

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I rotate and change my own wheels all the time. Did this with my Model S for 3 years, now doing it with the Model 3.

Biggest thing is that you will need some equipment, which will cost a bit. At a minimum, you'll need:

• Floor jack
• Hockey puck or other item to put between the floor jack and the jack contact point on the car
• Torque Wrench
• Regular ratchet wrench
• Sockets that fit your lug nuts, preferably those with a plastic sleeve to avoid damaging the wheels
• Wheel chocks
• Tire pressure gauge
• A 5th wheel/tire or a 2nd set of wheels.

To change from one set of wheels to another, you'll partially loosen lug nuts with the wheel on the ground, jack up the car, remove lug nuts and wheel, replace with wheel from the other set, get lug nuts snug, lower the wheel down to the ground, then torque all lug nuts. Then repeat for the other 3 wheels on the car.

To rotate a set, you'll need to use a 5th wheel or one from your other wheel set as a placeholder while you rotate the other 3. Then the 4th wheel comes back to this same position and the placeholder wheel is removed. For rotation pattern, it depends on if your tires are in a square setup (all 4 tires exactly the same size), which is pretty standard for non-performance Teslas, or if your tires are in a staggered setup (rear 2 tires wider than front 2 tires), common for most performance model Teslas. For a square setup, I rotate in a rearward cross pattern (LF -> RR -> RF -> LR). For a staggered setup, the rear tires can't be rotated to the front axle, so you do a same-axle swap (LF <-> RF, and LR <-> RR).

Some other items you can use that increase cost but can speed the process up and reduce the effort:

• Jack stands (only ones I know of that work with the 3 are the JackPoint jack stands)
• Impact wrench - air operated or battery operated
• Tread depth gauge
• 120V air compressor
• Tire crayon for marking which position a wheel came off and/or will go back to
• Wire brush or rotating wire brush attachment for a drill that can be used to clean the hub mounting surfaces on the car and on the back of the wheel.
• Aluminum-based anti-seize compound to lightly apply to the hub mounting surface to prevent rust

Some tire maintenance items you really can't do yourself, and you'll need to take the wheels/tires to a tire shop for the following operations:

• Mount or dismount a tire from the wheel
• Spin balance the wheel/tire
• Troubleshoot or replace TPMS modules

You can view this post of mine I made a while back for links to a lot of the tools I use:

Tire Rotation

Note: That post refers to my procedure and tools I used on my Model S, so some specific items like the socket sizes were specific to the S.

 

[UncaNed]

Wheels yes, tires, no. I've manhandled tires off and on steel rims by hand with tire irons, and no way I'd dream of mounting tires myself on polished, painted, like-new Tesla wheels unless I didn't mind scraping them up horribly. Even with the right tools, there's a learning curve of several tens of tires to get good at mounting and removing wheels from rims. Plus tire places have the experience to know what to look for inspecting them.

 

[Shizzrock]

Ranger QuickJack BL-5000SLX Portable Lift — 110 Volt, 2 1/2-Ton Capacity, Model# BL-5000SLX 110V | Northern Tool + Equipment

I can't recommend this enough. Its pricy, but its worth it.

 

[steilkurve]

I rotate and change my own wheels all the time. Did this with my Model S for 3 years, now doing it with the Model 3.

Biggest thing is that you will need some equipment, which will cost a bit. At a minimum, you'll need:

• Floor jack
• Hockey puck or other item to put between the floor jack and the jack contact point on the car
• Torque Wrench
• Regular ratchet wrench
• Sockets that fit your lug nuts, preferably those with a plastic sleeve to avoid damaging the wheels
• Wheel chocks
• Tire pressure gauge
• A 5th wheel/tire or a 2nd set of wheels.

To change from one set of wheels to another, you'll partially loosen lug nuts with the wheel on the ground, jack up the car, remove lug nuts and wheel, replace with wheel from the other set, get lug nuts snug, lower the wheel down to the ground, then torque all lug nuts. Then repeat for the other 3 wheels on the car.

To rotate a set, you'll need to use a 5th wheel or one from your other wheel set as a placeholder while you rotate the other 3. Then the 4th wheel comes back to this same position and the placeholder wheel is removed. For rotation pattern, it depends on if your tires are in a square setup (all 4 tires exactly the same size), which is pretty standard for non-performance Teslas, or if your tires are in a staggered setup (rear 2 tires wider than front 2 tires), common for most performance model Teslas. For a square setup, I rotate in a rearward cross pattern (LF -> RR -> RF -> LR). For a staggered setup, the rear tires can't be rotated to the front axle, so you do a same-axle swap (LF <-> RF, and LR <-> RR).

Some other items you can use that increase cost but can speed the process up and reduce the effort:

• Jack stands (only ones I know of that work with the 3 are the JackPoint jack stands)
• Impact wrench - air operated or battery operated
• Tread depth gauge
• 120V air compressor
• Tire crayon for marking which position a wheel came off and/or will go back to
• Wire brush or rotating wire brush attachment for a drill that can be used to clean the hub mounting surfaces on the car and on the back of the wheel.
• Aluminum-based anti-seize compound to lightly apply to the hub mounting surface to prevent rust

Some tire maintenance items you really can't do yourself, and you'll need to take the wheels/tires to a tire shop for the following operations:

• Mount or dismount a tire from the wheel
• Spin balance the wheel/tire
• Troubleshoot or replace TPMS modules

You can view this post of mine I made a while back for links to a lot of the tools I use:

Tire Rotation

Note: That post refers to my procedure and tools I used on my Model S, so some specific items like the socket sizes were specific to the S.

I rotate and change my own wheels all the time. Did this with my Model S for 3 years, now doing it with the Model 3.

Biggest thing is that you will need some equipment, which will cost a bit. At a minimum, you'll need:

• Floor jack
• Hockey puck or other item to put between the floor jack and the jack contact point on the car
• Torque Wrench
• Regular ratchet wrench
• Sockets that fit your lug nuts, preferably those with a plastic sleeve to avoid damaging the wheels
• Wheel chocks
• Tire pressure gauge
• A 5th wheel/tire or a 2nd set of wheels.

To change from one set of wheels to another, you'll partially loosen lug nuts with the wheel on the ground, jack up the car, remove lug nuts and wheel, replace with wheel from the other set, get lug nuts snug, lower the wheel down to the ground, then torque all lug nuts. Then repeat for the other 3 wheels on the car.

To rotate a set, you'll need to use a 5th wheel or one from your other wheel set as a placeholder while you rotate the other 3. Then the 4th wheel comes back to this same position and the placeholder wheel is removed. For rotation pattern, it depends on if your tires are in a square setup (all 4 tires exactly the same size), which is pretty standard for non-performance Teslas, or if your tires are in a staggered setup (rear 2 tires wider than front 2 tires), common for most performance model Teslas. For a square setup, I rotate in a rearward cross pattern (LF -> RR -> RF -> LR). For a staggered setup, the rear tires can't be rotated to the front axle, so you do a same-axle swap (LF <-> RF, and LR <-> RR).

Some other items you can use that increase cost but can speed the process up and reduce the effort:

• Jack stands (only ones I know of that work with the 3 are the JackPoint jack stands)
• Impact wrench - air operated or battery operated
• Tread depth gauge
• 120V air compressor
• Tire crayon for marking which position a wheel came off and/or will go back to
• Wire brush or rotating wire brush attachment for a drill that can be used to clean the hub mounting surfaces on the car and on the back of the wheel.
• Aluminum-based anti-seize compound to lightly apply to the hub mounting surface to prevent rust

Some tire maintenance items you really can't do yourself, and you'll need to take the wheels/tires to a tire shop for the following operations:

• Mount or dismount a tire from the wheel
• Spin balance the wheel/tire
• Troubleshoot or replace TPMS modules

You can view this post of mine I made a while back for links to a lot of the tools I use:

Tire Rotation

Note: That post refers to my procedure and tools I used on my Model S, so some specific items like the socket sizes were specific to the S.

Many thanks. That is extremely helpful!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Ranger QuickJack BL-5000SLX Portable Lift — 110 Volt, 2 1/2-Ton Capacity, Model# BL-5000SLX 110V | Northern Tool + Equipment

I can't recommend this enough. Its pricy, but its worth it.

I've been looking at these off and on for several months, and as often as I rotate tires, I'm very tempted to get one. However, I watched the setup video last night and it almost seems more trouble than it's worth.

I don't have room in my garage to set the jack up in there, so I normally move the car out onto the street to jack it up and change/rotate tires. But lugging the two rail/jack pieces and the power unit out to the street seems like it's just as much trouble and effort as lugging the floor jacks and jack stands out there, so I'm torn.

 

[Shizzrock]

I've been looking at these off and on for several months, and as often as I rotate tires, I'm very tempted to get one. However, I watched the setup video last night and it almost seems more trouble than it's worth.

I don't have room in my garage to set the jack up in there, so I normally move the car out onto the street to jack it up and change/rotate tires. But lugging the two rail/jack pieces and the power unit out to the street seems like it's just as much trouble and effort as lugging the floor jacks and jack stands out there, so I'm torn.

They're not all that heavy, but I think you can pick up one end and roll them. The hydraulic lines have quick connectors and the pump is the size of a lunchbox.

If I had a choice I would still lug it outside (as long as you have a flat surface) and the bonus is you can do brake work easily.

But yeah, it's not for everyone.

 

[linkster]

+ 1 for SJ7’s very complete instruction guide!

I always write on the service ticket:
No car wash please
No alignment please
No tire rotation please

After I remove a wheel/tire from any of my cars, I slowly roll it one revolution and visually inspect the tire for any irregularities and nails/screws. One of the many tricks i deployed for achieving 51,000 miles on my original S 21 Conti's (or any of my cars for that matter) is I never rotate F to R on the same side (I either X or L to R).

Good luck!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

+One of the many tricks i deployed for achieving 51,000 miles on my original S 21 Conti's (or any of my cars for that matter) is I never rotate F to R on the same side (I either X or L to R).

Interesting, so you alternate two rotation patterns? One time you do an X pattern (LF <-> RR, and RF <-> LR), and then the next time you do a same-axle swap (LF <-> RF, and LR <-> RR) ?

Yes, this will always flip every wheel to the opposite side of the car each time it's rotated, and will also move each wheel to every position. Quite efficient.

You do, however, have to keep track of which rotation pattern you used last time.

Edit: Actually, I guess there is a single rotation pattern that can be used for this, although I have not seen it documented anywhere, and I don't know what to call it. It would trace out a bi-directional "Z" pattern:

LF -> RR -> LR -> RF -> LF

The only problem with this pattern is that it's unbalanced. After the rotation, the two tires that are on the same axle (for example, the front axle) consist of one tire that was on the front axle already and another one that's from the rear axle. These two tires are likely to be unbalanced in their wear pattern and tread depth. This may not be optimal. This is a similar problem as rotation in a circular pattern (LF -> RF -> RR -> LR -> LF), and the same reason why circular patterns are no longer recommended.

I'd recommend the aforementioned alternation of X-pattern and same-axle swap.

 

[remlemasi]

Interesting, so you alternate two rotation patterns? One time you do an X pattern (LF <-> RR, and RF <-> LR), and then the next time you do a same-axle swap (LF <-> RF, and LR <-> RR) ?

Yes, this will always flip every wheel to the opposite side of the car each time it's rotated, and will also move each wheel to every position. Quite efficient.

You do, however, have to keep track of which rotation pattern you used last time.

Edit: Actually, I guess there is a single rotation pattern that can be used for this, although I have not seen it documented anywhere, and I don't know what to call it. It would trace out a bi-directional "Z" pattern:

LF -> RR -> LR -> RF -> LF

The only problem with this pattern is that it's unbalanced. After the rotation, the two tires that are on the same axle (for example, the front axle) consist of one tire that was on the front axle already and another one that's from the rear axle. These two tires are likely to be unbalanced in their wear pattern and tread depth. This may not be optimal. This is a similar problem as rotation in a circular pattern (LF -> RF -> RR -> LR -> LF), and the same reason why circular patterns are no longer recommended.

I'd recommend the aforementioned alternation of X-pattern and same-axle swap.

Or you just do a simple rearward cross like every tire shop will do every time.

I myself do just do LF / LR swap and RF / RR swap because it's easier at home with only one floor jack.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Or you just do a simple rearward cross like every tire shop will do every time.

Well, @linkster mentioned that his rotation always makes sure to have each tire go to the opposite side of the car, at least that's the way I understood it when he said "I never rotate F to R on the same side". I'm taking this to mean that he never rotates F to R or R to F.

If that's the case, then a rearward cross pattern wouldn't suffice, because rearward cross does R to F on both sides.

On the other hand, if he solely meant F to R on the same side, then a rearward cross pattern is perfect.

Indeed, my standard rotation method is a rearward cross.

 

[remlemasi]

Well, @linkster mentioned that his rotation always makes sure to have each tire go to the opposite side of the car, at least that's the way I understood it when he said "I never rotate F to R on the same side". I'm taking this to mean that he never rotates F to R or R to F.

If that's the case, then a rearward cross pattern wouldn't suffice, because rearward cross does R to F on both sides.

On the other hand, if he solely meant F to R on the same side, then a rearward cross pattern is perfect.

Indeed, my standard rotation method is a rearward cross.

Gotcha, you were just trying to rationalize the odd rotation pattern trick that @linkster deploys

I wonder what his other tricks are? I am genuinely curious!

 

[linkster]

I'm taking this to mean that he never rotates F to R or R to F.

Sorry for not being more clear. I never keep the tires on the same side of the vehicle during a rotation. Since the early S cars were delivered with alignment settings that were a hot mess, I have learned to often perform visual and by feel inspections to help determine when they are in need of a rotation. This inspection also shows if there is an alignment issue. I don’t have regularly scheduled tire rotations or alignments (I rotated the tires 3.5X on the S with the original 21s), but I understand the need for them for folks that don’t have much real world motor sports experience. I only have them performed on an as need basis, and I rarely follow manufacture alignment settings or recommended tire pressures. However, I always recommend to follow the Manufacturer's guidelines and not to follow some internet car hack such as myself that has no automotive training or certifications.

 

[steilkurve]

I rotate and change my own wheels all the time. Did this with my Model S for 3 years, now doing it with the Model 3.

Biggest thing is that you will need some equipment, which will cost a bit. At a minimum, you'll need:

• Floor jack
• Hockey puck or other item to put between the floor jack and the jack contact point on the car
• Torque Wrench
• Regular ratchet wrench
• Sockets that fit your lug nuts, preferably those with a plastic sleeve to avoid damaging the wheels
• Wheel chocks
• Tire pressure gauge
• A 5th wheel/tire or a 2nd set of wheels.

To change from one set of wheels to another, you'll partially loosen lug nuts with the wheel on the ground, jack up the car, remove lug nuts and wheel, replace with wheel from the other set, get lug nuts snug, lower the wheel down to the ground, then torque all lug nuts. Then repeat for the other 3 wheels on the car.

To rotate a set, you'll need to use a 5th wheel or one from your other wheel set as a placeholder while you rotate the other 3. Then the 4th wheel comes back to this same position and the placeholder wheel is removed. For rotation pattern, it depends on if your tires are in a square setup (all 4 tires exactly the same size), which is pretty standard for non-performance Teslas, or if your tires are in a staggered setup (rear 2 tires wider than front 2 tires), common for most performance model Teslas. For a square setup, I rotate in a rearward cross pattern (LF -> RR -> RF -> LR). For a staggered setup, the rear tires can't be rotated to the front axle, so you do a same-axle swap (LF <-> RF, and LR <-> RR).

Some other items you can use that increase cost but can speed the process up and reduce the effort:

• Jack stands (only ones I know of that work with the 3 are the JackPoint jack stands)
• Impact wrench - air operated or battery operated
• Tread depth gauge
• 120V air compressor
• Tire crayon for marking which position a wheel came off and/or will go back to
• Wire brush or rotating wire brush attachment for a drill that can be used to clean the hub mounting surfaces on the car and on the back of the wheel.
• Aluminum-based anti-seize compound to lightly apply to the hub mounting surface to prevent rust

Some tire maintenance items you really can't do yourself, and you'll need to take the wheels/tires to a tire shop for the following operations:

• Mount or dismount a tire from the wheel
• Spin balance the wheel/tire
• Troubleshoot or replace TPMS modules

You can view this post of mine I made a while back for links to a lot of the tools I use:

Tire Rotation

Note: That post refers to my procedure and tools I used on my Model S, so some specific items like the socket sizes were specific to the S.

I’m the OP and I finally did my wheel change for the winter today. Many thanks for your advice. Followed it and it went very smoothly. Much appreciated!

 

[TW14 9LF]

One other benefit to changing or rotating your own wheels is that you can do a deep clean on the rims, including the insides, while they are off. Amazing how much better they look after a good clean.

Keith