Not having a spare freaks me out. I'll carry a air pump next time. I noticed a product in my local grocery store "yes, we still have one, thanks to Charlie the owner" that says it will fix the tires up to 20" and TPMS friendly. Anyone has any experience? I am trying to have an option of fixing my tire without paying for a brand new tire.
Funny you should ask. I live in Baltimore, and apparently dropping temperatures wreak havoc with tire pressures and prompt warnings on cars with tire pressure sensors. I've gotten warnings several times in the last several weeks.
Early this morning, I had to drive someone to the train station, about 15 minutes away. I saw a low pressure warning for the front left tire, but wasn't particularly concerned. But as I was coming home, the pressure continued to drop, and when it got down to 20 I got a warning telling me to pull over. i wasn't sure whether it was really accurate, but fortunately I was near a gas station, and pumped air into the tire. It never got up to full pressure, and when the pump cut off, I could hear the dreaded hissing sound....
So I drove home, and called good old Tesla Roadside Assistance. To put it mildly, that was a most unsatisfactory experience. The person I spoke to was perfectly courteous, but informed me my two options were to have the vehicle towed to the nearest Tesla service center--in Rockville, about 50 miles away--or to a tire repair store of my choosing. (For the last year, Tesla has been saying they were opening a center in the Baltimore area, but so far that hasn't happened.)
They apparently have "loaner wheels" for the S, but not the X. She said they are "working on" providing that service. Nor do they offer any temporary repair capabilities, like shooting goo into the tire and pumping it up. She gave me the specs for the tire, which she said she got from the Rockville Service Center.
Because I find the road noise level to be unacceptably high on all but smooth asphalt roads, I have been looking into more silent replacement tires. Apparently the Continental "Silent" tires don't come in 20", so I called the service center to see what they could tell me. Of course. I got repeated voicemail for both parts and service, and an hour later still haven't spoken to anyone.
So your concerns about not having a spare are well founded. In addition to the obvious lack of anything to put on the car, Tesla's lack of any real assistance for owners of $100k+ cars is somewhat shocking. I shudder to think about how this would have played out if it happened at night, in a more remote area. At a minimum, Model X owners should carry one of those run-flat aerosol kits, but Tesla needs to step up its game on this one in a hurry.
And while I'm on the subject, anyone have any input on 20" lower noise tires?[
