Flat Tire Q's - What's the latest?

[dafish]

Hello all. I've read quite a few posts and the conflicting answers have muddled my understanding. So:

Q1) In the event of a flat does Tesla Roadside Assistance:
A. Currently provide a loaner rim/tire?
B. If so, is that service a commitment or a "maybe the guy we send has one, maybe not" kind of thing?
C. Hard to call a flat tire a warranty problem. Do we get charged?
D. Am I required to buy the new tire from Tesla?

Thanks!

-d

 

[ucmndd]

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/roadside-assistance-policy-en.pdf

 

[jjrandorin]

A. Location dependent (Tesla farms this service out to local towing companies they contract with.
B. Depends on if the company they call on your behalf that is available to come help you has one or not (AFAIK there is no "committment" here its "we will try, but dont promise"
C. During the warranty period, you dont get charged, however they are going to either use a loaner wheel ( thats spray painted red so you are not tempted to keep it) or tow you to the CLOSEST tesla service center. You are not picking "well tow me home past those other 3 service centers"
D. IF you got a loaner wheel, you would need to go take it back to a Tesla Service center in (from memory) 3 days or less. There wasnt a requirement to buy a wheel from Tesla, just a requirement to bring theirs back.

Its not a commitment though, and they only carry 19 inch wheels for model 3s, no matter what size your car came with. If you have 18s or 20s, you will still be rolling around on one 19 with those tires, and Tesla says "its fine" (they sent that to me in an email when I requested it).

 

[dafish]

Thanks Jj!

Yea, I saw reference to your email with them in my other readings. Fwiw, I believe size is moot as the circumference of all of them is really close. Intentionally, I believe, on Tesla's part.

The "not policy" part of the loaner thing is a problem. Here in Illinois, if not policy to carry one, I'm not likely to get one. For me it's perhaps the only tire related value to their service. Heck, I've road-side assistance programs aplenty so long as I'm prepared to accept whatever tire they charge me a stupid amount for. I certainly don't mind being towed to the closest service center, but I don't want to be blackmailed into some random tire, for I'm moving to CC2's for my next set. Guess I need to keep looking for a spare set or rims and tires.

For local travel I don't much care, I've way too many resources available Travel? Now that's a problem. Shame I don't own a Maserati Levante.. I suppose I'll cook something up,

Thanks again,
-d

 

[Bp25]

For traveling outside my city, I always carry my modern spare. In city, I can get an Uber to go and get my modern spare from home.

In my opinion, Tesla could easily solve the problem by designing the subtrunk to accommodate a modern spare size tire, and maybe even sell the spare as an accessory. Not everyone is comfortable to rely 100% on a service provider to rescue.

 

[nate704]

For traveling outside my city, I always carry my modern spare. In city, I can get an Uber to go and get my modern spare from home.

In my opinion, Tesla could easily solve the problem by designing the subtrunk to accommodate a modern spare size tire, and maybe even sell the spare as an accessory. Not everyone is comfortable to rely 100% on a service provider to rescue.

Even legacy auto makers do not include spares these days because it is rare that drivers have blown out tires or "undrivable" tires and stranded.

 

[MY1stEV]

You dont hear much about the loaners anymore. It's been awhile since I've seen any "wheel of shame" posts.

 

[Andy7]

This series of posts is why I carry a Modern Spare in my 3 and my Y. They are expensive, but I do not want to be stuck on a highway or country road waiting for Tesla (although the one time I called them they came within 45 minutes) and then have to return a loaner tire to a center 100 miles from my home.

And I see I have to revise my signature block to add the Y and take away the Subaru!

 

[Bp25]

Even legacy auto makers do not include spares these days because it is rare that drivers have blown out tires or "undrivable" tires and stranded.

They just use probability as a justification, but really it is done to save money. Also, probability and severity are not related, a rare event can be a serious event.

 

[kpanda17]

This series of posts is why I carry a Modern Spare in my 3 and my Y. They are expensive, but I do not want to be stuck on a highway or country road waiting for Tesla (although the one time I called them they came within 45 minutes) and then have to return a loaner tire to a center 100 miles from my home.

And I see I have to revise my signature block to add the Y and take away the Subaru!

Can you take a photos of the mod spare in each T? Think a lot of us are shy to buying mod spare due to the impact on space inside rhe vehicle.
Thanks in advance

 

[SalisburySam]

I certainly don't mind being towed to the closest service center, but I don't want to be blackmailed into some random tire, for I'm moving to CC2's for my next set.

Why not get towed to the nearest reputable tire dealer, such as Discount/America’s Tire? If it is repairable, they’ll patch it usually at no cost. If not repairable, you can buy the tire of your choice. Also, if you’re handy, carry a plug kit and inflator to solve most problems quickly and permanently.

 

[nate704]

They just use probability as a justification, but really it is done to save money. Also, probability and severity are not related, a rare event can be a serious event.

More like to reduce the weight to meet the EPA ratings. Also, the spare tires cannot/will not help during the serious events.

 

[howardnj]

Hello all. I've read quite a few posts and the conflicting answers have muddled my understanding. So:

Q1) In the event of a flat does Tesla Roadside Assistance:
A. Currently provide a loaner rim/tire?
B. If so, is that service a commitment or a "maybe the guy we send has one, maybe not" kind of thing?
C. Hard to call a flat tire a warranty problem. Do we get charged?
D. Am I required to buy the new tire from Tesla?

Thanks!

-d

I've experienced a nail in both rear tires. The first one on the rear drivers side the app notified me that I had a flat tire while parked in my garage in New Jersey this past April. I opened a service request and a Tesla Roving Tire Van was in my driveway 40 minutes later. They replaced and balanced my tire for $430.00
A few weeks later after driving to Florida I had another nail in the passenger rear tire. Florida does not have roving Tesla tire vans like they do in NJ so I had to drive to their Delray Beach service center.
I carry this tire inflator so I just added a few lbs of air for the drive to the SC

https://www.amazon.com/Kensun-Perfo...d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&psc=1

Another new tire for $460 a little more than the charge in NJ

No way am I going to drive on I95 or anywhere else on a long road trip with a patched or plugged tire.

 

[carlrbrugger]

I've experienced a nail in both rear tires. The first one on the rear drivers side the app notified me that I had a flat tire while parked in my garage in New Jersey this past April. I opened a service request and a Tesla Roving Tire Van was in my driveway 40 minutes later. They replaced and balanced my tire for $430.00
A few weeks later after driving to Florida I had another nail in the passenger rear tire. Florida does not have roving Tesla tire vans like they do in NJ so I had to drive to their Delray Beach service center.
I carry this tire inflator so I just added a few lbs of air for the drive to the SC

https://www.amazon.com/Kensun-Performance-Portable-Compressor-Inflator/dp/B01J8Y91GC/ref=sxin_17_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?content-id=amzn1.sym.1c86ab1a-a73c-4131-85f1-15bd92ae152d:amzn1.sym.1c86ab1a-a73c-4131-85f1-15bd92ae152d&crid=39GBXSOZRLHOK&cv_ct_cx=kensun+portable+air+compressor&keywords=kensun+portable+air+compressor&pd_rd_i=B01J8Y91GC&pd_rd_r=1af3fa1c-cb6f-4ba7-8feb-48a35e54ee5e&pd_rd_w=yR9K4&pd_rd_wg=9ZQnp&pf_rd_p=1c86ab1a-a73c-4131-85f1-15bd92ae152d&pf_rd_r=69VCWGV1CF8X4J2S1VZK&qid=1691590209&sbo=RZvfv//HxDF+O5021pAnSA==&sprefix=kensun,aps,113&sr=1-3-364cf978-ce2a-480a-9bb0-bdb96faa0f61-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&psc=1

Another new tire for $460 a little more than the charge in NJ

No way am I going to drive on I95 or anywhere else on a long road trip with a patched or plugged tire.

While not ideal, a properly patched or plugged tire is considered a permanent repair. I would certainly spend $2 and 5 minutes to plug a tire before I would spend $460 on a tire with different wear than any of my other tires. But I guess that’s just me. I’ve never had a patch or plug fail.

 

[chan_man]

If you are on a road trip, best bet is to get it towed to the nearest SC to get the tire replaced, I had hit something on the road and broke one rim and damage the other tire as well. tried to call local tire places and they do not carry tires rated for Tesla. Got a flatbed from Tesla roadside and went to the SC, replaced the damaged rim and two tires all in an hour. Found out that Tesla roadside will inform the SC what the problem is and they had everything ready when I got there.

 

[Farmer]

Even legacy auto makers do not include spares these days because it is rare that drivers have blown out tires or "undrivable" tires and stranded.

I dunno. Last week I drove from the Boston area to Houlton, ME and back on I-95 the whole way. I saw 2 cars/SUVs on the side of the road with obvious flats, one tire was visibly shredded and partially off the rim. The other car was unattended so I'm assuming they didn't have a spare with them and walked/got picked up and taken somewhere to get something to service their car with. I myself have had 3 or 4 flats in the past 10 years, one of them a good 25 miles out of town in a rural area of NW Maine. At least one other I managed to get to a parking lot to swap on the spare rather than do it roadside and another happened about 4 miles from home with me racing home before it went flat completely so I could change it in my driveway. (That one was caused by some kind of object in a hayfield parking area at our town's local preserved walking farm.) I keep hearing that people don't get stranded with flat tires anymore, but I continue to see just the opposite every week. Last winter I saw a M3 parked at a local suburban Boston gas station with 2 flats, both on the right side of the car. I'm guessing the nearby road work's raised manhole covers took out an entire side of that car, "BOOM, BOOM!"
I have a MY on order for pickup next week. I also will get a Modern Spare for it. Maybe if I never got more than 75 miles from Boston, I wouldn't bother, but that's not my situation.

 

[zoomer0056]

I keep hearing that people don't get stranded with flat tires anymore

Nobody is saying that.

Some say cars don't come with spares because the automakers are saving $ and increasing mileage. Others say they had great success with roadside assistance. Others say carry a modern spare. Still others say carry a tire plug kit and a portable air compressor.

I have a compressor and tire plug kit. The best advice I've heard so far is to carry a modern spare when you go out of town. If you're in town, leave the spare at home in the garage. In that case, if you get a flat in town, catch an Uber to retrieve your spare from home.

No matter what, if you get a flat you'll be stranded for a time.

 

[chan_man]

Yes, carrying a spare is a good idea, but on a long trip with people and luggage, does not leave much room. Also to change the spare, you will need a jack, jack pads, a 21mm socket and a torque wrench to get to the 129 ft-lbs for the nuts. I carry a Ryobi compressor for small leaks which should get me to a repair shop, for blowouts, call Tesla roadside.

 

[kpanda17]

Def want to see how much room rhe Modern Spare takes in both rhe MY and M3
Photos anyone?

 

[SalisburySam]

Yes, carrying a spare is a good idea, but on a long trip with people and luggage, does not leave much room. Also to change the spare, you will need a jack, jack pads, a 21mm socket and a torque wrench to get to the 129 ft-lbs for the nuts. I carry a Ryobi compressor for small leaks which should get me to a repair shop, for blowouts, call Tesla roadside.

If you’re willing to wait for a contracted service truck, you might not need the jack, socket, torque wrench, pads, etc. AAA or other roadside assistance program including Tesla’s can easily and quickly replace a spare if you have one, as opposed to a tow if you don’t.