Check your front tyres today!

[paulobrien]

I consider myself pretty diligent when it comes to checking the car, tread depths etc., but I'd somehow missed that the front tyres on my 3 LR, despite having loads of tread across most of the tyre, were on the verge of canvas on the very inside edges. I got a massive shock when parked on full lock!

Lesson for me is check often and rotate as advised. Could have been very nasty, I wasn't aware the camber would be so aggressive!

 

[Kenners]

Thanks for the heads up. How many miles had you done?

 

[paulobrien]

Thanks for the heads up. How many miles had you done?

~30k. Rears still had a few mm to the indicator and I was expecting them to go first tbh!

 

[NewbieT]

My rear tyres just replaced after first 25k. Unevenly worn too.

 

[bainsy]

Uneven worn tyres usually leads to balancing on the tyres

I don’t have my Tesla yet- but surely a balance check with a local Qwik Fit should sort the job?

 

[Kenners]

I see Tesla recommend tyre rotation every 6,250 miles….

Tesla tyre rotation

 

[HenryT]

I see Tesla recommend tyre rotation every 6,250 miles….

Tesla tyre rotation

Notable that the Tesla guide doesn't state a preferred rotation, i.e. front to back on the same side, across the same 'axle' or diagonally. Does it matter in the scheme of things?

 

[Sparkeur]

I'm no expert but that sounds more like the camber of the tyres is wrong - a balancing/alignment issue. I had exactly the same experience on my M3LR - 20k miles and steel webbing showing on the inside of both front tyres - only noticed when (luckily) parked on full lock in a supermarket. I didn't bother having alignment done with the new tyres as the car was going back to Tesla as a trade-in. I am however, watching my new M3P tyres like a hawk.

 

[DannyA]

Notable that the Tesla guide doesn't state a preferred rotation, i.e. front to back on the same side, across the same 'axle' or diagonally. Does it matter in the scheme of things?

Cross the fronts to the rear. Bring rear tires straight up. Main purpose is to remove tires from the front giving them a break from the wear and tear associated with turning. Refer to a major tire company such as America’s Tire.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

It will be the toe that's out, not the camber. You can't get more than 1.5 deg of camber on the front of a Model 3 without aftermarket parts.

Get a proper alignment done when you change the tyres.

 

[DannyA]

Uneven worn tyres usually leads to balancing on the tyres

I don’t have my Tesla yet- but surely a balance check with a local Qwik Fit should sort the job?

Uneven tire wear is most likely caused by bad alignment or malfunctioning suspension. For this size and weight, the vehicle would have to have a severe out of balance situation which the driver would definitely feel in the wheel as well as floor to the point of making the vehicle uncomfortable to drive. Larger vehicles such as semi or extreme off road with extra large tires may have premature wear from out of balance where as the vibrations go unnoticed due to size or aftermarket modifications on vehicle. Speaking from many years in the tire business.

 

[btc1k]

Cross the fronts to the rear. Bring rear tires straight up. Main purpose is to remove tires from the front giving them a break from the wear and tear associated with turning. Refer to a major tire company such as America’s Tire.

Probably a bit far to travel to be honest...

 

[Foucault]

Cross the fronts to the rear. Bring rear tires straight up. Main purpose is to remove tires from the front giving them a break from the wear and tear associated with turning. Refer to a major tire company such as America’s Tire.

You should be careful swapping sides as you shouldn’t do this if the tyres are directional, so the tread is designed to only rotate one way, or asymmetric where different compound on the inside of the tyre to the outside. I don‘t think Tesla use directional tyres but some models of the Michelin pilot 4S are asymmetric, so worth checking before swapping sides.

 

[Foucault]

Just realised that if you swap an asymmetric tyre the tread will always be on the correct side if you are swapping rims from side to side.

 

[Appleman]

My rear tyres just replaced after first 25k. Unevenly worn too.

Hi, are you in the UK, if so, what was the cost for your tyres.

 

[Sean.]

~30k. Rears still had a few mm to the indicator and I was expecting them to go first tbh!

Find a decent indy tyre shop that has a Hunter Hawkeye alignment rig. £80 or so for a decent alignment and you’d save that in tyres if you did it every 15K miles. I don’t like nor recommend any of the discount chains. You get what you pay for.

 

[KennethS]

Just realised that if you swap an asymmetric tyre the tread will always be on the correct side if you are swapping rims from side to side.

I am not sure this is correct.

 

[M3noob]

I am not sure this is correct.

The tread will face in/out properly but directional rotation will not be maintained.

 

[Sean.]

I am not sure this is correct.

Indeed. If they’re exactly equal size / profile asymmetric tyres the best that can be done is front->rear or rear->front on the same side of the car.

If you have something like a model X with different profile/width (but same rim diam.) asymmetrics then no tyre rotation for you.

Best get friendly with a good tyre place and get your alignment spot on. Alignments don’t last for 000’s of miles ether with these cars and doesn’t take long for them to be ‘out’

 

[Foucault]

The tread will face in/out properly but directional rotation will not be maintained.

It depends on the tyre as there are both directional and non-directional asymmetrical tyres as it depends on the tread pattern (there’s even asymmetric with different tyre compounds across the tread but I’ve only seen those in motorsport were they have high loads and weird wheel geometry). Easiest thing is to look at the sidewall of the tyre and if there’s an arrow, that’s the way the tyre should roll when going forwards.