M3 LR Ground clearance

[garycat]

I've recently purchased a MY3 LR with 19" wheels, but the route to my house's parking area has a hump in the lane that is quite severe, Before buying I gave it a test with two blocks of wood 140mm high and a long plank 2875mm on top of them. It looks like I had just about 10mm clearance on the more severe bump,

After collecting the car I checked the clearance and it is actually more like 130mm, the 140mm blocks of wood don't fit at all. There's like a plastic sill running the length of the car between the wheels that protrudes lower than the battery.

Maybe its the 19" option wheels, or maybe Tesla measure the 140mm ground clearance at the centre line of the car. Either way, I get a painful grinding noise as I drive over the hump.

Are the plastic sills supposed to be sacrificial and there to protect the battery, or is there something I can fit to the sills that will take the brunt of the scraping?

 

[TechnoWatch]

Can you get the speed bumps to be within regulation? They should be no taller than 100mm - The Highways (Road Humps) Regulations 1999

 

[TechnoWatch]

Re-reading though, you say hump.... is it a private road? Can you add material to the road surface to smooth out the hump?

 

[init6]

Maybe its the 19" option wheels, or maybe Tesla measure the 140mm ground clearance at the centre line of the car. Either way, I get a painful grinding noise as I drive over the hump.

Model 3 Ground Clearance

Hello, New to the forum. I test drove a Model 3 LR yesterday and loved it so much that I'm desperate to get one. But the issue is that we live at the end of quite an inclined and bumpy bridal path and I'm concerned that I'll end up scrapping the bottom of the car each time I go up or down it...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[TechnoWatch]

Thanks @init6 I missed that thread!

That looks like a private road, the approach I would take would be to build up the lower part before the hump to effectively form a couple of smaller humps. It looks like the road surface is already patched tarmac, so should be fairly easy to get some more tarmac laid to build it up. Perhaps ring around some local people that do tarmac drives and drop kerbs as they may be able to use some excess/extra from when they are doing another job and you may get a good price.

 

[init6]

The post I linked to dealt with the OP's specific question that I quoted.
A photo of the OP's hump would likely give better answers.

Edit: apologies if the OP does have a hump, I meant the one in the road

 

[Dangerous Fish]

The wheel option makes very little difference to ride height. Between the 18" and 20" wheel options the ride height difference will be about 2.5mm.
Have you checked what actual part of the bodywork is scraping on the hump with someone outside the car observing?
If you have mud flaps fitted, they will be the first thing you'd hear and too a certain extent they are sacrificial.
There are also other small pastic trims behind the wheel arches low on the car which will scrape on humps before the sills or battery pack.

 

[garycat]

The wheel option makes very little difference to ride height. Between the 18" and 20" wheel options the ride height difference will be about 2.5mm.
Have you checked what actual part of the bodywork is scraping on the hump with someone outside the car observing?
If you have mud flaps fitted, they will be the first thing you'd hear and too a certain extent they are sacrificial.
There are also other small pastic trims behind the wheel arches low on the car which will scrape on humps before the sills or battery pack.

I guess that's the next step, how do I convince the Mrs to crawl on her hands and knees peering under the car?

 

[init6]

I guess that's the next step, how do I convince the Mrs to crawl on her hands and knees peering under the car?

Place your mobile phone in line with the highest point of the hump and the drive over the hump while recording video.

 

[Overworked]

I guess that's the next step, how do I convince the Mrs to crawl on her hands and knees peering under the car?

Thats an easy one. You get on your hands and knees and get her to drive if you want to avoid the more expensive costs of two divorce lawyers.

 

[garycat]

Thats an easy one. You get on your hands and knees and get her to drive if you want to avoid the more expensive costs of two divorce lawyers.

No wait, I've just remembered I have summon mode, divorce averted!

 

[MrBadger]

No wait, I've just remembered I have summon mode, divorce averted!

Hopefully you don't have a recent car without USS as summon is not currently implemented on those - that would be a double shock to the other half when they found out that you spent ££££ on something that doesn't currently work properly.

 

[init6]

Hopefully you don't have a recent car without USS as summon is not currently implemented on those - that would be a double shock to the other half when they found out that you spent ££££ on something that doesn't currently work properly.

It didn't work properly even with USS