The long saga of the upgrade of my P85 nosecone version to a facelift using OEM parts is finally over, and on the best possible terms.
My many posts on the topic left out one important fact, largely because I was uncertain about the cause: after the upgrade, at speeds over 40 mph, the front end would vibrate with a resonance similar to a bent or out-of-balance wheel. It was incredibly annoying and intolerable on longer drives. But as I had new arachnid wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport tires I knew it couldn’t be that.
The folks at SDR, who did the upgrade work, said they couldn’t determine the problem and thus do anything about it. And my local Tesla service center, Owing Mills, acknowledged the problem, but refused to do anything, claiming that the modification was unauthorized, which it was, and not Tesla’s responsibility, which I understood.
So I’ve been living with this problem for months, without any apparent solution. I did hours of research on the web to find causes – tie rods, CV joints, anything that seemed possible. Then I remembered one possible solution that I should have considered from the beginning: put the car in the hands of an experienced tech/expert and let him have at it for a few days.
The one person I knew with this level of expertise was Doug Pasini of Automotive Concepts, two miles from my house. I had had a number of experiences with Doug before and his work was flawless. Whatever challenge I put before him he solved and he knew my car inside and out.
So on Monday I left the car with Doug and told him to see if he could identify the problem. I thought it might be the bumper or other facelift part rubbing and bumping on something structural. Doug took a very systematic approach.
First he taped over all of the openings on the hood and bumper to see it was some aerodynamically induced affect. No dice.
The he removed the facelift bumper, front diffuser, and even the frunk and drove the car at speed. The vibration was gone.
Next he carefully reinstalled the bumper and other parts one at a time and drove the car to see if the vibration returned. In all he did this six times with six test drives before he found the problem.
As it turned out, there wasn’t a single cause of the vibration. Some bolts and other attachments were missing and multiple parts were rubbing against each other at speed (was this sloppy work on the upgrade by SDR? -- yet to be determined but the odds are high). So he added the bolts and other attachments that were missing and added cushioning between the parts that were causing the vibration.
Result: Now there’s no vibration and the car is riding as quietly and smoothly as it did before the facelift upgrade. Total time: the equivalent hours of 4 days.
I’m grateful that I know Doug. His persistence and expertise is amazing. He is by far the best tech I’ve ever encountered and his work is worth every penny. He’s my go- to-guy for anything that my service center can’t or won’t do. If you live in the Maryland area and have issues with your Tesla that a service center can't or won't address, Doug is may be your go-to guy as well.
My many posts on the topic left out one important fact, largely because I was uncertain about the cause: after the upgrade, at speeds over 40 mph, the front end would vibrate with a resonance similar to a bent or out-of-balance wheel. It was incredibly annoying and intolerable on longer drives. But as I had new arachnid wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport tires I knew it couldn’t be that.
The folks at SDR, who did the upgrade work, said they couldn’t determine the problem and thus do anything about it. And my local Tesla service center, Owing Mills, acknowledged the problem, but refused to do anything, claiming that the modification was unauthorized, which it was, and not Tesla’s responsibility, which I understood.
So I’ve been living with this problem for months, without any apparent solution. I did hours of research on the web to find causes – tie rods, CV joints, anything that seemed possible. Then I remembered one possible solution that I should have considered from the beginning: put the car in the hands of an experienced tech/expert and let him have at it for a few days.
The one person I knew with this level of expertise was Doug Pasini of Automotive Concepts, two miles from my house. I had had a number of experiences with Doug before and his work was flawless. Whatever challenge I put before him he solved and he knew my car inside and out.
So on Monday I left the car with Doug and told him to see if he could identify the problem. I thought it might be the bumper or other facelift part rubbing and bumping on something structural. Doug took a very systematic approach.
First he taped over all of the openings on the hood and bumper to see it was some aerodynamically induced affect. No dice.
The he removed the facelift bumper, front diffuser, and even the frunk and drove the car at speed. The vibration was gone.
Next he carefully reinstalled the bumper and other parts one at a time and drove the car to see if the vibration returned. In all he did this six times with six test drives before he found the problem.
As it turned out, there wasn’t a single cause of the vibration. Some bolts and other attachments were missing and multiple parts were rubbing against each other at speed (was this sloppy work on the upgrade by SDR? -- yet to be determined but the odds are high). So he added the bolts and other attachments that were missing and added cushioning between the parts that were causing the vibration.
Result: Now there’s no vibration and the car is riding as quietly and smoothly as it did before the facelift upgrade. Total time: the equivalent hours of 4 days.
I’m grateful that I know Doug. His persistence and expertise is amazing. He is by far the best tech I’ve ever encountered and his work is worth every penny. He’s my go- to-guy for anything that my service center can’t or won’t do. If you live in the Maryland area and have issues with your Tesla that a service center can't or won't address, Doug is may be your go-to guy as well.
