Do the tire shops really care what tires/rims the car came with?

[Skumar0789]

I am in processing of changing the wheels on my MS from 21" to 19". Costco told me that they will put new tires on the 19" rim I have but won't install it on the car because the car was bought as 21". They asked me to install it myself. Not that I can't do it, but that just sounds strange. They said if I get the fine print from Tesla saying that there will be no issues with the car by going from 21" to 19", then they will install it.

Have any of you come across this when you switched your wheels?

 

[Mahamilto]

Depends on the shop. Places like Costco are risk adverse. I go to a place here on Long Island that handles a LOT of Teslas and they were fine with putting on anything that would fit correctly.

 

[ThomasD]

Go to an actual tire store

 

[Ostrichsak]

They're being idiots. Why don't you just explain to them that the car also had 19" wheels as an option as well. It doesn't change anything.

 

[dark cloud]

They have no idea what wheels the car was bought with, they just look at the sticker inside the door that shows the tire sizes. See if you can get a new sticker from Tesla that shows 19" wheels? Don't know if that is an option or not.

The odd part is you can go online their website and see that the model S has the 2 different wheel sizes when buying tires.

 

[slainla]

In my experience, Costco is very by the book when it comes to manufactures' spec. They probably looked at your original door jam tire sticker and decided they can't do it because it doesn't match. They also won't install tires that are rated less in load or speed.

Sam's Club and most other tire shops don't care as long as it fits the wheel.

 

[beatle]

I had Costco put 20" wheels and tires on my car. Well, sort of. They didn't have the jack pad adapters to actually put the wheels on the car so I did it myself, but there was no problem otherwise.

 

[Skumar0789]

They're being idiots. Why don't you just explain to them that the car also had 19" wheels as an option as well. It doesn't change anything.

Tried that. They said if Tesla gives in writing, they will do it. Like @dark cloud mentioned, I will try to get Tesla to give me a sticker for 19" wheels. I wonder how long that will take.

 

[Skumar0789]

They have no idea what wheels the car was bought with, they just look at the sticker inside the door that shows the tire sizes. See if you can get a new sticker from Tesla that shows 19" wheels? Don't know if that is an option or not.

The odd part is you can go online their website and see that the model S has the 2 different wheel sizes when buying tires.

It's certainly an option. Someone mentioned it on a FB group where I posted this question too. Just not sure how long will it take to get Tesla to give me that sticker. I should talk to them today.

 

[Skumar0789]

I have an update! The person I talked to at Costco tire center was either misinformed himself or didn't know that MS comes in 19" AND 21" variants. Today I talked to a different person and they said they don't have any issues putting up the 19" wheels for me. Exactly the same conversation at America's tire but with a few dollars less, so we decided to go with America's tire. they will do the installation tomorrow. I hope there is no more issues to deal with on this topic. Ugh so unnecessary!

BTW, someone on the FB Tesla group shared this video about changing your tire configurations. Might be helpful to folks here too: