I had my upper control arms replace in July and August last year under warranty. I was told an alignment is not needed, speak to mechanics sounds like an alignment is required but Tesla says they don’t require it. Can anyone tell me if an alignment is needed, both of my tires are a mess. Are they responsible?
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Control arm replacement, alignment ?
- Thread starter Wookahsh
- Start date
If the front upper arms are replaced as per the service manual, no alignment is needed.
Your alignment could have been out before the arms were replaced. That type of tyre wear is usually caused by excessive toe which has nothing to do with the upper arms anyway.
Your alignment could have been out before the arms were replaced. That type of tyre wear is usually caused by excessive toe which has nothing to do with the upper arms anyway.
Yep had the same thing happen to me, although not that
bad. My tires are 3.5 years old and they go rather quickly.
My BMW ate the tires in about 3 years. You and me should
have done an alignment, you have a bad issue with toe, mine is
not that bad. We buy tires and get an alignment and move on.
bad. My tires are 3.5 years old and they go rather quickly.
My BMW ate the tires in about 3 years. You and me should
have done an alignment, you have a bad issue with toe, mine is
not that bad. We buy tires and get an alignment and move on.
Soul Surfer
Cancervivor, tech geek & musician
Perhaps if you shared a bit more about year and model it might give us better insight. Judging my the type of tire you're showing, I'm guessing something in the competition category like Michelin or Nitto maybe. Any tracking? Hard cornering? Does the car pull any more than usual. Is the camber looking off? the wear appears to be on the inside tread which make me think your camber is off. Just my 2¢.
Best luck with that.
Best luck with that.
did you *ever* manually check tire tread over the thousands of miles driven?
this incredibly uneven wear would have been spotted very early on... when the inside of the tire has a 2mm+ less tread than the outside....
Is your car otherwise stock? There is a small amount of camber adjustment in the upper suspension assembly mounting (you can find this in the online service manual as one of the alignment adjustments) so if it was placed back in a different location than it was originally mounted, you could have a different before/after camber setting, resulting in a different toe setting.
Yes it’s
yes the car is completely stock, I had the control arm replaced twice, on the first time the invoice shows alignment checked but on the second invoice it does not show the alignment was checked.
Got it. As I said, the camber can be a little bit out if they reinstalled everything without trying to match the original position, but your tire wear is pretty extreme. I am not sure exactly how it got so bad, but I bet if you were to put the car on an alignment rack right now it would show a whole lot of "red"!
Based on your tires' state (accelerated inside shoulders wear), you clearly need an alignment. Given equal wear on both sides, you likely have too much toe out.
It could also be too much negative camber, but that is less likely to be equally out-of-spec on both sides.
Either way, take the car to a competent mechanic (NOT Tesla SC), and have (at least) the front end aligned properly ASAP!
Tesla NOT requiring it has everything to do with them refusing to pay for it under warranty. Which is what they should be doing every time anyone works on suspension.
Alas, we all know Tesla is cheap, and will cut corners to benefit its own bottom line at the expense of the vehicle owners.
*sigh*
Here is my story:
11600 miles - Bought 2020 M3LR
14088 miles - 4 Wheel Alignment - Why? I had noticed the inner tread was worn down to almost 3/32 while the outsides were 5/32. The Rear Toe was outside limits. Afterwards, all green (I think they have a Hunter machine)
20686 miles - Tesla does FUCA replacement, said I did NOT need an alignment
21741 miles - New tires installed
23335 miles - 4 Wheel Alignment - Why? Because I normally get them for new tires, but decided to wait since it felt like I just did one. Front Toe was out on both sides, almost the same amount on each side. I want these bad boys to last 40k miles!
It smells like the FUCA replacement affected Toe on the front. I do drive slowly on dirt roads, maybe once a week. I don't recall any bad pot holes.
First alignment March 2023:
Second alignment August 2023:
11600 miles - Bought 2020 M3LR
14088 miles - 4 Wheel Alignment - Why? I had noticed the inner tread was worn down to almost 3/32 while the outsides were 5/32. The Rear Toe was outside limits. Afterwards, all green (I think they have a Hunter machine)
20686 miles - Tesla does FUCA replacement, said I did NOT need an alignment
21741 miles - New tires installed
23335 miles - 4 Wheel Alignment - Why? Because I normally get them for new tires, but decided to wait since it felt like I just did one. Front Toe was out on both sides, almost the same amount on each side. I want these bad boys to last 40k miles!
It smells like the FUCA replacement affected Toe on the front. I do drive slowly on dirt roads, maybe once a week. I don't recall any bad pot holes.
First alignment March 2023:
Second alignment August 2023:
The upper suspension assembly that the FUCA bolts into has some play where it attaches to the strut towers. Unless you put it back in the exact same place, it will affect the camber and therefore affect the toe.
Either potholes or the eccentric adjusters weren't super tight. Or the alignment rack calibration wasn't perfect (they never are).
