Curb Rash-- it's so humiliating

[PhilDavid]

subtitle option: Can we save this almost marriage...

OK ok... so my fiance (he may not marry me now) just bought an S (car of his dreams) that belongs to "us". We had it one week and I was just getting used to viewing the camera images and the dashboard "warnings" about getting too close to objects-- we park it in our very tight garage-- when he asked me to pull the car out of the driveway and park it in the street. I had no idea the warnings would not display for curb height obstacles. Just 1 minute earlier I was watching red and yellow lines as I gently pulled out of the garage-- then I go to park on the nice wide open street and viola' I hit the curb with the wheel (not even the tire-- the wheel) our beautiful perfect one-week old wheels. He was devastated. He's a car guy. He can't drive a car with wheel rash. He might as well put a box of tissues on the dashboard and an AutoClub sticker on the bumper.

I am sad and humiliated. Why... oh why don't the warnings work on curbs and why... oh why... didn't anyone tell me that I can't rely on them? And.. imagine my trying to explain that the reason I hit the curb was because I was expecting that when I got close it was going to warn me. Yes, he was livid.

Can this marriage be saved? I have lost all cred with him. How can I ask to drive the car again?

This is why I consider lack of 360 view to be the biggest deficiency in the Model S design. I didn't care if the car can drive itself. I need to see the surroundings when I drive and park the car.

Here's the only trick I know.

• Never pull into a parking spot front wheel first when there is a curb next to you, as you may not gauge how many inches your front wheel is from the curb.
  
• Instead line up parallel to the curb while still maintaining a safe distance away from the curb
• Adjust your mirror while in Reveres so you can see the curb and the wheel.
  
• This way as you back up, you will SEE the wheel AND the curb.
  
• When you are appropriately a reasonable distance away from the curb for parking, simple straighten out the front wheel and go forward. The trick here is to only back up where you see on the side view mirror the position of the curb and the rear wheel and only go forward in a straight line.

The good news is that it barely costs $150 to fix wheel curb damage. If it were me, I'd insist on paying to get it fixed and tell him he will never be able to tell (he won't) the wheel was fixed.

You'll get used to the car. Follow the steps I have above and I recommend that you practice a few times because the Model S is a VERy wide car, just about as wide as a pick up truck.

 

[Art VandeIay]

21 inch rims on UK tiny cattle roads would make you Americans cry trying to do the school run in a tiny country village.

Don’t use alloygators as they scratch the rims during fitting and all of mine have come off whilst driving....they look ‘Ghey’ anyway.

I always curb rash my wheels so I installed Alloygators on my 21' Arachnids, and that's exactly what happened. One of them came off on the freeway and scratched the rim as it went flying off. When I took the Arachnid to get repainted, I noticed the entire circumference of the rim was scratched due to the metal "teeth" used to secure the Alloygator to the rim during the fitting. I guess the very low chin profile of the Arachnids and probably the Turbines too, make the Alloygators completely useless.

The thing is, now I don't know if I should take the other 3 Alloygators off and pay to repaint of the other 3 Arachnids or just leave them on and wait for the inevitable to happen...