Early failure of rear tires

[volkerbradley]

On 3-23-2018, at 29,837 miles, I purchased new rear tires from Tesla. The purchased tires were 275/45 R20 110V A/S Continental CrossContact LX Sport tires. The purchased tires were installed at a Tesla Repair facility and a 4 wheel alignment was performed at that time. Last week, at 46,326 miles, the passenger side rear tires suddenly started loosing pressure and was flat in 5 minutes. I discovered that the inner edge of the flat tire was worn down to the steel wires and the inner edge of the driver side rear tire had no tread.
The folks who helped on the day when the tire was flat, stated such extreme tire was abnormal and suggested that the wheels either had negative camber or toe adjustment problem.
Has anyone else on this forum experienced this problem? What was the end result?
Do you agree that it is abnormal for tires to wear out completely after 16,489 miles of use?
When I return to the Tesla Repair facility, what should be performed to prevent early wear of the tires like this again?

 

[mattack4000]

They probably did a crappy job with the alignment (their techs are not that special)

 

[COrich]

Do you drive with the suspension set to low or very low? Either of these settings will eventually wear the inner portion of the tire. Very low much sooner.

 

[Krazaak]

My first set of tires were replaced at 2/32 of tread at 13k miles and my second set of rears at 27k miles (14k miles later), also with 2/32 of tread. In both cases, my tires were worn evenly, but the Model X does have negative rear camber, just like every BMW I've owned.

What was the rest of the tread like on the blown tire? If the outside edge was worn below 2/32, then the tire should have been replaced before it blew. If you still had 4-5/32 left, then you likely have an alignment issue.

I run in low suspension, very low gives even more negative camber and will result in premature wear.

The Model X is a heavy, powerful vehicle. I'm getting more or less the same tire life as I did in my BMW X6M, fortunately the Tesla tires are cheaper than for the BMW.

 

[Terthen]

I had to replace tires at 22k miles, with rears measuring 2/32 on both inner and outer edges (i think). We have ours in standard suspension due to concerns about the negative camber. We don’t drive our car that hard, and mostly highway driving. It does seem a little early to me to wear all the way through, but that’s just me. But based on what I’m reading I guess perhaps it could happen if you were on low suspension.

I’ve never owned a car with this much power and weight so I don’t have a comparison—learning from everyone on this forum!

 

[[email protected]]

Image is of OE Continental right rear tire removed yesterday at 31,500 miles from MX. Ride height was standard for the entire period. In the image, the right side of the tire is inboard, the left is outboard. Steel cord is visible on the inboard junction of the sidewall and tread. I look at my tires frequently, but did not detect this wear until I ran my hand over the steel fibers.

FYI: The outboard edge of the front tires was rounded off as well though though not quite to the wear markers. Replaced all of them with Walmart Nexen N'Fura at slightly over one third the cost of the Conti Silent replacement. I do not detect any increase is noise from the Conti Silent.

 

[idoco]

"Normal" for MX rear wheels if riding in low or very low. IIRC standard camber is approx -.3 and very low is around -2.5.

The front camber is adjustable. The rear is not.

 

[volkerbradley]

"Normal" for MX rear wheels if riding in low or very low. IIRC standard camber is approx -.3 and very low is around -2.5.

The front camber is adjustable. The rear is not.

Hmm, I had the camber checked while the car was in low. Are you saying the camber in the back cannot be adjusted to allow my tires to last longer than 16,000 miles?

 

[idoco]

Here's a good thread with videos on the wear issue:

Suspension Height - Tire Wear, Acceleration Shudder, Etc

Several threads discussing lack of rear camber adjustment on S/X including this thread which discusses a solution:

Vendor - Rear Adjustable Camber Bushings for Model S/X Group Buy

I can't explain why the camber angle is different on the initial vs final report. The .01 degree difference of the left may be within the standard error of measurement. As for the right....

 

[volkerbradley]

Thank you very much for these very helpful links.

 

[EpicMount]

Hmm, I had the camber checked while the car was in low. Are you saying the camber in the back cannot be adjusted to allow my tires to last longer than 16,000 miles?View attachment 380280

Thanks for posting this. I had my alignment done after installing the lowering links on my 2018 P100D. My reasons for doing so are that I was getting annoyed at the shaft vibration whenever I pushed the car a little bit. I always drove the car on low so even in that setting, the vibration and noise would rear its ugly head. Since the 1.75" drop on all corners, the car drives and rides much better, and even better still, no more shaft noise or vibration, even when going up hill which seemed to exaggerate the problem. I did get an alignment done at a local shop who unfortunately didn't tell me until after they did the alignment that they didn't have the specs for Tesla Model X so they went with a similar sized Mercedes SUV with Air suspension (Can't remember the model). I've attached the after alignment settings with the car in low. The question I have is: for the picture that you provided, were the alignment specs provided by Tesla? If so, I seem to be way out of whack and will take the car back to the shop to get my wheels aligned properly.

 

[volkerbradley]

Can you tell me where you had bought the lowering links and where they were installed?
I did take the car back to Tesla and they told me the alignment is fine.
I have also heard that the camber on the back wheels cannot be adjusted on a Performance Model X. Only the toe in - toe out can be adjusted on the back wheels.
So I am stuck at the moment with a situation where my tires will wear out every 16,000 miles if I drive the car in the low position. Sure does not seem right. Am hoping that I can get the lowering links installed.
Volker