Do Model 3 owners simple not know how to park?

[mswlogo]

I visited a super charger this weekend and there were 4 Model 3's charging.

Every banged up rims. One was every wheel 360 degrees on every wheel.

One was a nice looking White on White Performance and his 20" had a deep gouge on one wheel too.

I just don't get it. My Model 3 that I just sold didn't have a Mark.

My wife traded an 8 year old VW CC with Turbine like wheels. She had one ding that I buffed out.

Hint, make sure your mirrors TILT down in reverse. So even when pulling in forward, before you get to close, take a moment and put the car in reverse to see how close you are. Only takes a few seconds and may save your rims.

One other Hint, turn the wheel sharp into the curb, to "test" where the curb is. Don't "graze" it, that's when you kill your rims. I wouldn't do this with 20" or maybe even with 19" but 18" you can bump the curb at "safe" angle to feel where the curb is.

And don't blame the car. I have 2 sets of Aero's and 1 set of OEM 19". I don't think I've biffed a wheel in 25 years. I can't recall the last time I did. I love my cars to much I guess and I take my time when parallel parking.

I should have taken a photo. It was a pretty ugly scene at that Super Charger.

 

[CharleyBC]

Or spell?

 

[pk44FG]

well, I am one of those guys. never scraped a rim in my 15 years of driving.. or just got lucky because i never had rims that were extending beyond the tires. I used to climb curbs with no damage to my rims. all that ended last week when i scraped my M3 front tire rim.. It was only after scraping that I realized that these rims were different.. put my first scratch on my new car..

 

[boaterva]

Does seem the Tesla rims extend for some reason. Is this a specification they made or didn’t make?

 

[xxxholic]

I have not seen these in the DC area - but when viewing youtube videos - I see some owners using them.

Alloy Rim Wheel Protector.

 

[camalaio]

For my past vehicles, I'd always hit the rubber before the rim. On the 18" Aeros on the Model 3, the rim/covers seem to hit first. Many people have mentioned this in various threads, seems to be a feature of the Model 3

 

[Dave Mac]

I’ll tell you why I scraped mine while trying to be extra cautious... I always back in to spots now. As others have posted, it actually makes turning angles better for getting into and out of spots. However, I purposely park close to the curb to avoid the many door dingers where I live. Pulling out of those spots it can be easy to forget about the curb and start the turn too soon. Oops.

 

[Runt8]

I scrapped one of mine going through a drive-through ATM - there was a giant pothole on one side, so when I tried to ease by it I got too close to the curb...first time I've ever hit a curb in 21 years of driving (including my year of driving a giant pickup where I could have gone over any curb with no issues). Annoying.

 

[OCR1]

We have three Model 3’s and we’ve scraped the wheels on all three of them.

In previous cars we drove for many years without a single scrape.

 

[vickh]

We have three Model 3’s and we’ve scraped the wheels on all three of them.

In previous cars we drove for many years without a single scrape.

Amen it's a first for me. I think Tesla should do a 360 birds eye view with the camera to help deal with this.

Are there cheaper options than this Single Spare Protector For Your Wheel - Rim Ringz

 

[vickh]

For my past vehicles, I'd always hit the rubber before the rim. On the 18" Aeros on the Model 3, the rim/covers seem to hit first. Many people have mentioned this in various threads, seems to be a feature of the Model 3

I wonder if that can be fixed when we replace the tires with non OEM.

 

[CharleyBC]

Remember these?

 

[jdcollins5]

Well, the way I have seen some owners back into a Supercharger slot I have no doubt where their curb rash came from!

 

[RayK]

Remember these?

Unfortunately, yes.

 

[SammichLover]

Remember these?

Tires ballooning out way past the side of the rims? Yeah, I remember those.

That's the core of why you see so much curb rash on Aero rims. The stock MXM4 tires have a very narrow section width, which is a huge help with reduced air drag, so offer little padding before there's curb contact on metal.

P.S. Incidentally my wife curb rashed two tires at once within 2 weeks of getting the car, and it wasn't during parking. It was at a very tight curve in her work complex, while driving forward around a corner. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[leeeeee]

I managed to scrape my rims on the first weekend. I think I had just gotten done lecturing my kid about not repeating the curse words in the song on the radio. I then proceeded to scratch the rim and had some more explaining about adult words to do

 

[Electrph]

I scrapped one of mine going through a drive-through ATM - there was a giant pothole on one side, so when I tried to ease by it I got too close to the curb...first time I've ever hit a curb in 21 years of driving (including my year of driving a giant pickup where I could have gone over any curb with no issues). Annoying.

This is EXACTLY the way I curb rashed my last car’s front wheel the one time only in 8 years of ownership.... trying to avoid a glass bottle

 

[CharleyBC]

My wife and I each have our share of rash incidents with Wattney. We’ve definitely gotten better, learning just how wide the car is, and generally being smarter.

What has surprised me is we have never once damaged the Aero wheel covers. I guess the steel rim sticks out just a tiny bit farther than the cover, and so the rim takes all the abuse. And that’s okay, I suppose, since it’s easier to touch up.

 

[woodisgood]

We kept our rims perfect for about 9 months. Then it just started pouring curb rash.

 

[St☰v☰]

My wife hit a curb too, last weekend, right rear. She said that the Tesla's steering is so tight and precise that the slightest movement causes the car to turn, unlike my other two ICE vehicles, steering is loose and sloppy, but not on the M3.