How can you fit a spare 19 inches tire in the frunk?

[punkchip]

I'm disappointed,

I bought a standard 19" wheel + Goodyear Eagle tire, to use it as a spare tire.

It came to an astonishing 900+$ canadian dollars.

But my worst surprise is it doesn't fit, the frunk, which is where where I intended it to be! :crying:

However reading the forums, quite a few people are able to fit a 19 inches tire/wheel in the frunk. What is the trick?

For the records, i got my car august 31st, VIN 16658.

If it doesn't fit, do you think the service center would be kind a enough to give me at least a partial refund? Because otherwise it is pretty useless as it is, and I waste 900 $....

 

[tomp]

I have one in my frunk. I partially deflated it in order to get it to snug all the way down.

 

[punkchip]

I have one in my frunk. I partially deflated it in order to get it to snug all the way down.

To how many psi? I read deflating too much can damage the tire.

 

[Kalud]

To how many psi? I read deflating too much can damage the tire.

Driving on a deflated tire yes, storing deflated no. The tires are not damaging themselves when stored. Imagine the Goodyear warehouse full of unmounted tires...

 

[Alysashley79]

Two things to try

1) not the best look but the one that the service guy showed me: take out the funk liner and the tire will fit with full psi it'll be snug and you'll have to rally jam it in and out but it will fit. Your frunk won't look as pretty but since your tire will take up 90% of your frunk you probably won't care and it doesn't hurt anything.

I have a primacy that I had in my frunk. Not sure if that made a difference if that tire is a different size.

2)Also the other poster is correct. Keeping a tire slightly deflated will NOT harm the tire in any way. It will only hurt your tire to drive on it in when it's not at the correct PSI so make sure you have a small aire compressor in the he back. Teslas aire compressor with slime is like $52 at the service center and while others may say that you can get them cheaper etc the slime works extremely well. And you can buy replacement slime. You can also just use the air compressor on its own to pump up your tire to needed pressure.

 

[lolachampcar]

Someone over on TM got a full 21" stock Tesla combination to fit fully inflated. It sounded like the best solution.

 

[wycolo]

Did you buy these from Tesla? Did you specify you wanted it to fit in the frunk?

The revs per mile should be the same for both 19in and 21in tires, but there are some subtle differences in diameter of different series of the same tire model. Hence getting tire from Tesla Shop.

You are inserting tire first into bottom rear of frunk and then jamming tire down the front plastic slider strip?

Two final solutions: 1. Get a well used high mileage tire with barely (or not so barely) legal tread on it. THIS should easily fit in frunk. 2. Pull out the rug and cut off the corners of the frunk tub. This will give you extra clearance in case you were supplied with an out-of-spec tub by the factory.

Letting air out of the spare so it will fit in the car is like shooting yourself in the foot, eventually the pain will reach your head.
--

 

[jerry33]

Driving on a deflated tire yes, storing deflated no. The tires are not damaging themselves when stored. Imagine the Goodyear warehouse full of unmounted tires...

However, there is a difference between storing the tire in a warehouse where the tire just sits and storing the tire in a car where the vibration can abrade it. Also if you have to force the frunk down, it will dent.

 

[KeithM]

A 19" stock wheel and tire, fully inflated fits fine in the frunk. No problem closing hood.

 

[swegman]

Some people seem to be able to fit a tire in the frunk while others can not. Could the reason be because the frunk dimensions were changed at some point since the car was released?

 

[slipdrive]

I think I will save one of the next tires that wear, and get in on a single wheel. A spare is a very good idea for road trips.

Questions: What do people use, a standard scissor jack ? Any issues removing/replacing bolts torqued to 140 ? Maybe a torque wrench is also a good idea. thanks

 

[Alysashley79]

Some people seem to be able to fit a tire in the frunk while others can not. Could the reason be because the frunk dimensions were changed at some point since the car was released?

My car was off the line AFTER the frunk dimensions were changed. My car looks like Keith's. It will accept a tires when fully inflated. But again I have a primacy not the Goodyear so not sure if that makes a difference or not.

 

[KeithM]

There are two different frunk sizes. My car was manufactured in November, 2013 and has the later frunk. To my knowledge the difference between the early and late frunk is only related to the size of the "microwave", the early cars having a larger one. I have the WeatherTech Tesla mat in the frunk. When I got the mat at the SC, we were unsure of which size would fit. The older style was much too large to fit in the microwave hole, but the new style fit fine. As I recall, the difference in microwave size was related to depth, the width being the same. I did not notice any difference between the fit of the mat in the main area where the tire in the picture is located. If this is true, the tire should fit in any frunk. FYI - the tire in the picture I posted is the Tesla supplied Michelin Primacy. It has only 3,000 miles, so there is little tread wear. It is in there because I installed a nearly new set of factory 21" wheels with Continentals and needed to bring my 19's home. (3 in the back, one in the frunk.). The 21" wheel/tire combo also fit in the frunk.

When placing the spare in the frunk, I find if the wheel is tilted slightly with the portion of the tire to the rear being low, and the tire inserted just below the two top attachment fittings for the net, that once it reaches the aft limit, the front drops down easily, but it is a snug fit. If carrying the tire as a spare, I would invert it to allow space for a jack, torque wrench and breaker bar on top. There is no problem with height to prevent closing the hood.

 

[jerry33]

My car was off the line AFTER the frunk dimensions were changed. My car looks like Keith's. It will accept a tires when fully inflated. But again I have a primacy not the Goodyear so not sure if that makes a difference or not.

Tire sizes are nominal, so there can be a significant difference in the actual measurements.