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GVA Tesla Winter Wheels Experience

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Back in May and June there were several postings about challenging experience of taking delivery in Vancouver. My experience of getting winter wheels through Tesla was similar.


The online ordering was as easy as the online ordering of a Tesla. The “preordering” was pretty good. I was concerned about the delivery lag time. The email information was that it might take several weeks. The reality was closer more like two weeks.


I had heard good things about Tesla’s Ranger service for those who live a distance from a Service Centre. I expected that I would experience that as I live on Vancouver Island. The nearest Tesla service is in Vancouver. From my home to Tesla in Vancouver is an hour drive, then a wait for a 90+ minute ferry trip with a 75.00 fare each way followed by a 23 kilometre drive. And back.


It turns out that Tesla does not bring wheels to the Island. I would have to go to Vancouver.


Then it turned out that Tesla doesn’t put on wheels at the Service Centre. They contract that out to a company called Hermont Mobile... in Port Coquitlam... a distance of 50 kilometres drive from the ferry terminal. (Although it is Hermont “Mobile” I would have to bring the car to them.)


I made the appointment to have the wheels put on. They said they were very busy and my only choices on Saturday October 12 were at 8:00 a.m. or at 5:00 p.m. (Remember my travel considerations above.)


I made the appointment for 5:00 p.m.


Sometime later I got a text message that said, “Your booking of Oct 12, 05:00PM is confirmed. Our tech will ARRIVE between 2 hours of given timeframe.”


This was unclear. Was it two hours on either side of 5:00 p.m. or a two-hour window with 5:00 p.m. in the middle? I returned the text message asking, “So does this mean I have to be at your location in Port Coquitlam by 3:00 p.m. and the installer might not arrive until 7:00 p.m.?”


I never received a reply. A week later I sent another text message and an email seeking more information and didn’t receive a response to either.


I went to the address, a business park, on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend at 4:00 p.m. The place was pretty much deserted. I had been given the unit number as #103. The directory showed a cosmetic company at that unit. Most units had the business name prominently on the widows and doors. #103 showed nothing. I drove to the business parks on either side, thinking I had noted the address incorrectly. Nothing.


I went back and checked the door. It was locked. I spotted another door, tried it, and the door opened. There were two guys inside, apparently enjoying something on a computer screen. I introduced myself. One said, “Oh, you’re here for a tire pick up.” I said “No, I’m here to have winter wheels installed.”


They directed me to the back of the unit. The installation was quick. Maybe 20 minutes. Then they went to load the dirty wheels into the car. They got two into the trunk before I stopped them and asked for a box cutter so that I could dig some cardboard out of the garbage bin of a neighbouring business to protect my car.


THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE BAGS TO COVER DIRTY WHEELS BEFORE PUTTING THEM INTO A CAR!


Even Canadian Tire, Midas, and Costco covered my old wheels before they put them into a car.


One of the guys got some tire-sized, cardboard rings from their shop that provides some protection for the back of the folded back seat, but still the dirty tires were rubbing against the white interior of my TM3.


When I told them about replying to their text message and never getting a response they said, “Oh, we use the computer to send text messages, but we can’t receive text messages.”


When I said they had not responded to my email they said they would have to go check their email.


They torqued the lug-nuts. Unlike every other place where I have had wheels put on, they did not tell me to bring the car back for re-torquing after 50 km or so.


I didn’t bother.

On the other hand, both the wheels and tires appear to be circular. :)

Pretty poor service for a $2,700 (plus taxes) purchase.
 
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Reactions: bolero
Why not just purchase your winter tires at Costco? Easy, professional and worry free.
Were you able to do this with a LR? None of the winter tires Costco sells are XL rated so I'm finding zero matches in the configurator.

EDIT:
Nevermind even if I change to a base Model 3 it shows no matches. Manually selecting 235/45/18 only shows two winter tires with a 94 load rating.
 
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I just ordered four 245/40/19 Michelin xice xi3 tires from Lougheed Acura for my Tesla model 3 and they were cheaper than the $350 quoted currently on the costco.ca website. I bought my winter tires and wheels for my last BMW from Lougheed Acura and used to swap them every season for $40.

The service was just as cheap if not cheaper than the other tire companies in Vancouver, plus appointments are easier to make, they had a much more comfortable waiting room with hot and cold drinks, and they washed my car. If interested just call Ronald in the parts department :)
 
I just ordered four 245/40/19 Michelin xice xi3 tires from Lougheed Acura for my Tesla model 3 and they were cheaper than the $350 quoted currently on the costco.ca website. I bought my winter tires and wheels for my last BMW from Lougheed Acura and used to swap them every season for $40.

The service was just as cheap if not cheaper than the other tire companies in Vancouver, plus appointments are easier to make, they had a much more comfortable waiting room with hot and cold drinks, and they washed my car. If interested just call Ronald in the parts department :)
Did you get Mag Wheels also from there. May I ask what you whole package totaled?

Thanks!
 
Dang.. sorry to hear about that experience! Sure isn’t convenient, I’m surprised they don’t accommodate people on the island. Doesn’t seem like a big deal for them to send a few truckloads of tires over and run a mobile tech around installing them.

Basically the main reason I bought the same set from tesla is for convenience.. I live in east van and the hermont people are coming to my house tomorrow to install tires. I got a similar but not the same text from them. It was a little more clear that the time frame is 11:30am +2 hours.

I asked about bags and same answer no bags. I guess they assume since it’s installed at home they don’t need to bag it..

They also said they would take away and store the tires... $120 per season!!! Crazy.. so $20 a month to store tires. No thanks.
 
Yes I also ordered the Replika R241 19” wheels with the Michelin XICE XI3 245/40/19 tires from Lougheed Acura. I also had Replika wheels for my winter setup on my previous BMW and was pretty happy with them.

I also went with the OEM Tesla tire pressure monitors that are $106 each. I know some of the other tire companies offer non OEM Tesla TPMS for around $60 each. I didn’t look into non OEM Tesla TPMS but I assume you could also go that route and save around $200.

My total cost including install for this 19” setup was $2,950 before the Michelin $70 mail in rebate.
 
Yes I also ordered the Replika R241 19” wheels with the Michelin XICE XI3 245/40/19 tires from Lougheed Acura. I also had Replika wheels for my winter setup on my previous BMW and was pretty happy with them.

I also went with the OEM Tesla tire pressure monitors that are $106 each. I know some of the other tire companies offer non OEM Tesla TPMS for around $60 each. I didn’t look into non OEM Tesla TPMS but I assume you could also go that route and save around $200.

My total cost including install for this 19” setup was $2,950 before the Michelin $70 mail in rebate.
Yikes that's a steep bill. I'm looking to get a similar setup in 18". Wonder how much it will cost me.
 
I priced it our before I decided on the 19" wheels if you want to go for the 18" Replika 241 wheels and the Michelin XICE XI3 235/45/18 it is $2,400 with non Tesla TPMS and $200 more for the Tesla TPMS.
That's what approximately what I'm looking at piecing it together from multiple places..hmm..

My plan is to have the winters on the OEM Aeros and move the all season (and later summers) to the Replikas. Guess I'll give Lougheed Acura a call and see what they price me at to do all the work.