Horrible 21" front tire wear

[Mikischu]

Hi everyone.

What is the tire life you are getting from your P85D 21" tires?

My car was fitted with the 21" rims and Michelin PS2 tires on November 12, 2015 and after 5500km/3400 miles, the outer edges of the front tires are bald. The rear tires have even wear and look reasonable for the milage covered.

I feel this is very unreasonable as I'm not an aggressive driver. We have a 3 month old baby so we have been in the super careful slow driver mode since last year when my wife was pregnant.

We have only tried insane mode maybe a dozen times and always on straight roads, never done any race tracks or anything even close to that.

Tesla Hong Kong are checking my wheel alignment and have said that they found nothing wrong. They are saying it is normal since the car is heavy. They also say that Hong Kong roads might be wearing out tires faster, but compared to other local drivers, my wear rate is crazy. The service guys have also tried to blame narrow parking spaces that might require more turns of the wheel to get in (Seriously?)

This isn't my first car, nor is it my first "high performance" car either, so it is not a case of an inexperienced driver not knowing how to handle the car. We don't keep heavy items in the frunk and the trunk only has a baby stroller and the charging cables.

What do you think I should do with this situation?
What do you think is a reasonable outcome here?

 

[WarpedOne]

1. Misaligned wheels. Get a second opinion if the first one claims everything is OK.
2. Do you or your wife have a habit of turning the steering wheel while car is stationary? This behavior is more common with female gender and older people.

 

[lolachampcar]

There is an alignment problem.
I've got almost 20K miles on my P85D. To my surprise, the fronts do wear slightly faster than the rears but only by the narrowest of margins. There has to be something drastically wrong with the alignment.

 

[Mikischu]

Not sure I can get a second opinion on the alignment now. Tesla has got the car, so they could have already corrected the alignment then run the test again to get good results. They've had the since Friday morning. It's Tuesday night here now.

We never turn the wheel while stationary. This is something I was taught way back when I was a learner driver. My wife hardly uses the car and she doesn't do it either from what I've seen.

I do expect my front tires to wear out faster than the rear tires. This is normal as they undergo more driving stress (stopping, turning etc). But this wear rate is crazy. I'll need 4 sets of tires a year. Crazy...

I've suggested they look at my average power consumption figure. If I'm wearing out my tires so quickly due to crazy driving, my power number should also be crazy compared to other drivers in Hong Kong. The lady who spoke to me on the phone tried to say that things like using air conditioning would spoil my number. I said assume I don't use aircon. That way my number will be a worst case scenario. I kind of feel like she was just trying to think of any reason to throw out that data point.

 

[CHG-ON]

I think they are full of it. Something is definitely wrong. I would escalate the issue. Yes, the 21's do wear quickly. But certainly not that fast and the uneven wear is a dead giveaway that either your toe or camber are out.

 

[Mikischu]

Any suggestions who to escalate this to?
The service guys have emailed me back saying tire wear is not covered under warranty and we have found nothing wrong with your car to explain a mechanical cause.

I should add that my rear tires are in great shape. Even wear pattern and still have plenty of meat on them. Any adverse road conditions or driving should of also had some impact on them too.

 

[Owner]

Front tire wear is really odd. Did you read my post about rear tire wear? “Normal” Tire Wear

 

[sorka]

Tesla Hong Kong are checking my wheel alignment and have said that they found nothing wrong.

Please post the alignment sheet that Tesla gave you or it didn't happen. Them just telling you the alignment is fine would never fly in my book.

 

[cytranic]

I've got 10k miles so far on my tires... The outter fronts are a little more worn than the back, but I'll get another 10k out of them. Perhaps more.

 

[jpet]

Hi everyone.

What is the tire life you are getting from your P85D 21" tires?

My car was fitted with the 21" rims and Michelin PS2 tires on November 12, 2015 and after 5500km/3400 miles, the outer edges of the front tires are bald. The rear tires have even wear and look reasonable for the milage covered.

My staggered 21" PS2s have 20K kms now and I'll probably be able to get another 20K kms out of them. Even wear for both the front and rear tires. My average consumption is 235 Wh/km. I've even done a track day with them which is clearly visible on the sides of the front tires. The alignment of your front tires is probably off.

I can forward you the details of my P85D's alignment but I believe it's in Dutch so might not be easy to understand.

 

[jerry33]

Please post the alignment sheet that Tesla gave you or it didn't happen. Them just telling you the alignment is fine would never fly in my book.

Some Hunter alignment machines had the wrong specs installed. This caused very rapid tire wear. Perhaps his hasn't been upgraded.

 

[Mikischu]

Thanks to everyone for your responses and tips. I will try to talk to Tesla again. Unfortunately the service in Hong Kong really sucks and in general there isn't much if any consumer protection here.

Will visit the service centre today and ask for the alignment report.

 

[Owner]

Thanks to everyone for your responses and tips. I will try to talk to Tesla again. Unfortunately the service in Hong Kong really sucks and in general there isn't much if any consumer protection here.

Will visit the service centre today and ask for the alignment report.

Show them my blog....

 

[jpet]

Here's my report (in Dutch). You can see the before, the min and max specs and the after.

 

[Edmond]

Very nice jpet, thank you.

Just to confirm, 'Eerste' is French for 'Where your car began', and 'Laatste' is 'Laatest measurement' (op uw auto)? :j

 

[bredi]

IMO - Tire companies are regressing and part of a "racket". Tires just don't last as long as they used to. Why? Advancements in chemistry and materials should gain mileage AND performance. Or, they just no longer know what they are doing and just throwing rubber to the road. Literally.

Class action time.

Your issue may be different. But I couldn't resist. Flame away...

 

[Mikischu]

Spoke to Tesla HK today. Seems that they can not print out a report from their machine. Not sure if this is a lie.

Also they need to ask permission before they can even release the wheel alignment specs for the car.

Still trying to find a resolution. So ends day 8 of my car sitting in the service centre.

 

[jerry33]

IMO - Tire companies are regressing and part of a "racket". Tires just don't last as long as they used to. Why? Advancements in chemistry and materials should gain mileage AND performance. Or, they just no longer know what they are doing and just throwing rubber to the road. Literally.

Over the past few decades, tire and wheel manufacturers have promoted low profile tires as stylish and sexy. This has been very effective because you can see hundreds of posts here about how good looking tires that are not much more than rubber bands around a wheel are, and how people don't mind paying more to get this look. However, with low profile comes shorter life and more easily damaged tires.

When you manufacture a passenger tire, in order to make it strong enough to hold the air pressure that carries the load, you get enough flexing cycles to last about 130k km (80k miles). Add a performance compound and low profile and the miles before the tread wears off is significantly reduced. The tire is also more prone to pothole and curb damage. This low profile trend is very wasteful because most of the material that goes into a tire is in the casing and the belts. Although tires can be recycled, it's an expensive process and needs about 500,000 tires per day to make economic sense, so most tires end up in a tire dump site which often catches on fire.

Ideally, the tread should wear out around the same time as the casing wears out, but tire technology has a very long way to go before it can do that on high performance tires. If there were 70% aspect ratio tires and wheels I could put on my Model S, they would be on tomorrow.

 

[Owner]

Spoke to Tesla HK today. Seems that they can not print out a report from their machine. Not sure if this is a lie.

Also they need to ask permission before they can even release the wheel alignment specs for the car.

Still trying to find a resolution. So ends day 8 of my car sitting in the service centre.

I insist on getting alignment reports. Have to admit, it helps to have my blog behind me.

 

[jpet]

Very nice jpet, thank you.

Just to confirm, 'Eerste' is French for 'Where your car began', and 'Laatste' is 'Laatest measurement' (op uw auto)? :j

It's Dutch but you got both right.