Getting tires for model S from Costco

[Evoforce]

I have used Discount Tire for all of my tire changes and they do an excellent job.

Yep, and the ones I have gone to roll their eyes about how many times customers have told them how to jack up a Tesla.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Offer expired yesterday.
They mail Costco cash once you install them. You can get cash from Costco cash card from cashier.
It was $70 off a set of 4 then 25% on a Costco cash card.
However my Costco just told me they won’t install on a Tesla. Fairfield location.

I also bought online with 25% cash card, and will bring new 20" TSportline wheels for Costco at Lake Elsinore to install. I stopped by this location the other day, and they said they will install - provided that I bring the Jack Pads.
I hope they will go thru with the install, since the 25% cash card require the tires to be installed by Costco.

Can you kindly report back if , or not , any Costco install these tires on your Tesla? Thanks.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Costco did NOT install the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 235/35Z20 Load Rating 92 I ordered from Costco.com.

I wanted them to mount these tires on TSportline 20" TST wheels.

Tech said that my 2018 Non-performance Model 3 LR AWD needs to have Load Rating of 98 or higher, and that the 20 inch Michelin rated 92 were for Performance Model 3.

In fairness, Costco.com tire configurator had 18" and 19" for Non-Performance Model 3. 20"s are only for Performance M3.

I ordered 20" tires since I bought 20" aftermarket wheels - not thinking about any issues.

I went to explain that the online Tesla Shop has 20 inch wheels for Non-Performance Model 3s, that has the same Michelin PS 4S 235/35Z20 with load rating 92 - and I am basically doing the same to my Non-P M3.

The tech quoted that it is Costco's policy to go by their configurator, it is not safe and will not install the tires.

In the end, I asked for a refund and ordered the tires from Tirerack.com to be installed by PepBoys.

Anyone had better luck doing the same with Costco?

 

[Ciaopec]

Nitrogen vs air in tires makes no difference. Air vs Nitrogen makes no difference to the pressure in the tire with temperature changes. All gases behave idenically to temperature changes. They obey the ideal gas laws. Air is roughly 80% nitrogen. The gas law you’d be interested in to look at just temperature changes and effect on pressure would be Charle’s law.

Moisture: Since air for inflating tires comes from compressed air, the air compressor will remove most moisture from the air. The amount of moisture air can hold is dependent on temperature but independent of pressure, so an air compressor at 150 PSI will have 10 atmospheres pressure. This means the air has been compressed to 1/10 normal atmospheric volume. The compressed air at that temperature doesn’t hold any more moisture than non compressed air, so excess water puddles in the bottom of the compressor cylinder, that’s why the tanks have drain stopcocks in the bottom. When the air reexpands, it is capable of holding much more water, so the air in your tires is fairly well dehumidified anyway. Relative humidity is simply the ratio of water the gas holds dividided by the amount the gas is capable of holding, then mulitiplied by 100 to result in percent. The curve of the amount of water a gas can hold is not linear with temperature.

Then there’s the discussion of molecule size. The molecule size makes little difference. To diffuse though the tire, the air has to dissolve in the rubber. Then dissolved gas would move down the concentration gradient and eventually would diffuse out into the atmosphere surrounding tire. Tires just don’t lose much pressure with diffusion through the rubber. Now suppose for a minute that there was a big differnce in the diffusion rate of oxygen vs nitrogen. What would happen is some oxygen would diffuse through the tire wall leaving a higher concentration of nitrogen inside the tire. Conversely, if the oxigen diffusion through rubber was a factor, atmospheric oxygen would diffuse into the tire over time as well.

Oxidation of the rubber in the tire: It is UV that causes cracking of outside of an old tire, it isn’t rubber breakdown from within the pressurized tire. Besides the outside of the tire is exposed to ~20% oxygen in the atmosphere anyway. Removing the oxygen from the inside of the tire isn’t going to make any difference.

You can pay $5-7 per tire per fill for nitrogen. Some places charge up to $80 for 4 tires, and I believe there are some places that charge more than that. The reason Costco fills tires with nitrogen is that it takes away the independents ability to criticize Costco for not providing nitrogen. It’s marketing. Costco can give away the nitrogen because it is dirt cheap. Nitrogen is a byproduct of oxygen production from air.

There is absolutely no need to fill tires with nitrogen. It is a gimmick to make more money for people that install tires. You can pay for it if you want but there is no advantage. None of the reasons they give will stand up to scientific scrutiny.

On the other hand, besides the money there’s no disadvantage to using pure nitrogen, so if you want to pay for nitrogen, it isn’t going to hurt anything. I suppose it could cause harm if someone had an underinflated tire and was reluctant to inflate it with air.

Explain this to Boeing,Michelin, and the airline industry. Maybe you could knock nitrogen off its pedestal as the inflator of choice in all heavy commercial airplanes for the reasons you mentioned.

 

[Ciaopec]

I thought that the OEM tires were filled with some kind of sound deadening material. If true, does that mean installing your favorite tire from a place like Costco makes the car louder?

I personally think NOT Maybe my old ears aren't dialed in to that sound. I checked out the "acoustic" tires at my local SC recently. Same as the tires I order from Costco except they have a 3-4" wide by 1 thick piece of light foam around the inside circumference . I have never had acoustic tires nor have I had a sound issue with the 3 sets of Michelins on this car (or any Michelins on any of my cars). Fourth set of Pilot Sport A/S 4 coming next week from Costco: ran over a huge roofing nail. I'd prefer the A/S 3+ but I think they're out of production though Tire Rack had a set on clearance . But I prefer the ease of Costco with free rotation/balance and nitrogen most anywhere I travel. Doing that anywhere else (SC wants $50/rotation) adds up when one rotates every 7500 miles.

 

[Ciaopec]

Explain this to Boeing,Michelin, and the airline industry. Maybe you could knock nitrogen off its pedestal as the inflator of choice in all heavy commercial airplanes for the reasons you mentioned.

Upon further research, I think I am wrong. Disregard anything I have ever said. Nitrogen is used for other reasons in aircraft tires. While it may not do anything for auto tires IT SURE SEEMS TO. How is that for scientific. For me, it is free and I don't notice as much pressure loss. No way to prove that. So I'll just go for the "feel good" school of belief.

 

[Malasada]

Just tried to have the tires changed at our local Costco for my 2012 Model S with Tesla installed 19" turbine wheels (it originally came with 21"). The Costo installer said that they didn't have the right tool to take off the lug nuts and showed me that their 21mm socket didn't work. Has anyone else run into this issue? He said they've changed tires for other Model S and to get service to replace the lug nuts on mine. Costo had the option for 2012 on its order form and I ordered the same tires (Primacy MXM4) that Tesla installed with the 19"s. Thanks!

 

[MyJoule]

Just tried to have the tires changed at our local Costco for my 2012 Model S with Tesla installed 19" turbine wheels (it originally came with 21"). The Costo installer said that they didn't have the right tool to take off the lug nuts and showed me that their 21mm socket didn't work. Has anyone else run into this issue? He said they've changed tires for other Model S and to get service to replace the lug nuts on mine. Costo had the option for 2012 on its order form and I ordered the same tires (Primacy MXM4) that Tesla installed with the 19"s. Thanks!

The right tool was the 21mm socket, but because your lug nuts are several years old and they have probably been removed a few times, they are "swollen" because of the tin cover- He can use the 22mm socket to remove them, but you will need new lug nuts I just bought McGard lug nuts from Amazon.com- I bought part number 64023 lug nuts, ( they use the same 21mm socket but are solid not capped like the oem lug nuts were)

I actually had my car in at Costco a couple of days ago for a flat repair, and they noted the problem and said they wouldn't touch it again until it had new lug nuts. I hope that helps

Edit- I just did a search on McGard and I see someone earlier used McGard 64073 on their Model S( which use a 22mm socket and are a little shorter than the 64023) I know the 64023 will stick out slightly more than the OEM lug nuts, but I went with what the McGard.com web site tool recommended. YMMV

 

[Xenoilphobe]

The right tool was the 21mm socket, but because your lug nuts are several years old and they have probably been removed a few times, they are "swollen" because of the tin cover- He can use the 22mm socket to remove them, but you will need new lug nuts I just bought McGard lug nuts from Amazon.com- I bought part number 64023 lug nuts, ( they use the same 21mm socket but are solid not capped like the oem lug nuts were)

I actually had my car in at Costco a couple of days ago for a flat repair, and they noted the problem and said they wouldn't touch it again until it had new lug nuts. I hope that helps

Edit- I just did a search on McGard and I see someone earlier used McGard 64073 on their Model S( which use a 22mm socket and are a little shorter than the 64023) I know the 64023 will stick out slightly more than the OEM lug nuts, but I went with what the McGard.com web site tool recommended. YMMV

exactly why i have changed out all lug nuts to gorilla nuts

 

[Malasada]

Awesome, thank you both!

 

[David.85D]

I guess I will just pickup tires from Costco and let Tesla sc install them

I was hoping to get free nitrogen in tires from Costco but I guess it’s not a big deal.

I saw a bundle of tires from tire rack at my service center and asked what they charge to install. They said $60 per wheel. Hope they honor the $120 but don’t be surprised if it’s $240 for 4….

If you are looking around, you want “road force balancing”. It’s better…. You can search on the Hunter website for shops near you with the newest machine.