Hi everyone,
My partner and I both spent the last weekend swapping from winter tires to summer tires on our Tesla Model Y. (We live in Toronto, Canada so this is standard procedure 2x a year). We've never done any kind of DIY car maintenance before (this is our first car!), so we treated this as a fun project and learning opportunity.
I figured I'd share everything that went into planning, equipment purchasing, and the literal checklist we used during the swap, in case it helps anyone else who is doing this for the first time. The links are to some Canadian products / stuff bought off Amazon.ca, but we figure it should be helpful anywhere (no affiliate links, no paid reviews - all real, full-price purchases):
I suppose this doc would help for the other models too, since the jack points and lugnut torque specs (129 lb-ft) are similar. Other notes:
- Our initial winter tire + rim purchase was mounted and installed by a local shop (you can't do this part yourself)
- Yes, some folks swear you can get away with doing a tire swap with just a jack, and we believe them. But we bought one Safe Jack Rennstand just to be safe
- It is true that if you jack the rear up high enough the front will come up as well, and vice versa. You can do this to save time, but we wanted to keep the car as low to the ground as possible (while still using the stand)
- If not using a Rennstand + Tesla adapter, make sure you get jacking pucks
- Remember not to leave your torque wrench at 129 ft-lb!! Reset to recommended storage setting.
Any q's / comments plz feel free! This may seem like obvious stuff to someone who has been doing this for years, but I promise it was not obvious to us Enjoy!
My partner and I both spent the last weekend swapping from winter tires to summer tires on our Tesla Model Y. (We live in Toronto, Canada so this is standard procedure 2x a year). We've never done any kind of DIY car maintenance before (this is our first car!), so we treated this as a fun project and learning opportunity.
I figured I'd share everything that went into planning, equipment purchasing, and the literal checklist we used during the swap, in case it helps anyone else who is doing this for the first time. The links are to some Canadian products / stuff bought off Amazon.ca, but we figure it should be helpful anywhere (no affiliate links, no paid reviews - all real, full-price purchases):
I suppose this doc would help for the other models too, since the jack points and lugnut torque specs (129 lb-ft) are similar. Other notes:
- Our initial winter tire + rim purchase was mounted and installed by a local shop (you can't do this part yourself)
- Yes, some folks swear you can get away with doing a tire swap with just a jack, and we believe them. But we bought one Safe Jack Rennstand just to be safe
- It is true that if you jack the rear up high enough the front will come up as well, and vice versa. You can do this to save time, but we wanted to keep the car as low to the ground as possible (while still using the stand)
- If not using a Rennstand + Tesla adapter, make sure you get jacking pucks
- Remember not to leave your torque wrench at 129 ft-lb!! Reset to recommended storage setting.
Any q's / comments plz feel free! This may seem like obvious stuff to someone who has been doing this for years, but I promise it was not obvious to us Enjoy!