Model 3 has no spare tire

[sroy]

They do the same where I live, but not all locales will brush the sand away in late Spring. I think the issue are all the contractors running around with stuff that can fly out of the bed of their pickup trucks, or off their trailers. Half the vehicles seem to be contractors in pickups, etc.

Yeah probably half my flats were self inflicted with nails and screws I dropped in my driveway. The other half is screws and nails left on the road by others (or maybe me as well).

 

[Ofarlig]

They do the same where I live, but not all locales will brush the sand away in late Spring. I think the issue are all the contractors running around with stuff that can fly out of the bed of their pickup trucks, or off their trailers. Half the vehicles seem to be contractors in pickups, etc.

Yeah now that you say it it sounds very plausible. I am usually shocked at the amount of trucks with unsecured cargo every time im in the US. Could also explain why we don’t see it as much here since our contractors almost always use vans or something like a VW Caddy, and we have very strict laws on securing what you are transporting properly.

 

[Willy’sEV]

2 cars ago, I had a Volvo S60 with the low profile tires.
During the 3 year lease I had 3 blowouts from potholes, 1 on the left front and 2 on the right front. Bent 2 rims.
Right now we have some large potholes in our area. Can’t understand why they have not been fixed by now.

 

[FooBar]

Sorry about your flat.

The last two vehicles I owned didn’t have spare tires. It is pretty common nowadays. AAA membership is what I do instead.

But with most other cars a local tire store will have a replacement available; but NOT for Tesla. For example neither wheel works or costco has the replacement for tesla - one week special order even in the bay area but in the bay area you can go to Tesla they will have a space. If you are on a trip you are screwed if you are away from a big city. Also a local garage does not know how to repair a Tesla tire since they have some funny foam they put inside the tire. Basically that means the Tesla is great for driving around the big city you live in but if you are travelling to say Yosemite national park then you will be trouble if the you have a flat. Also after 4 years your roadside expires and you have to buy another extended warrantee for $5000 aprox.

My wofe's mercedes has a runflat tire with no space and again it was a pain when we had a puncture on a trip to national park. - Wheel works and costco at nearest town dod not have its spare. I asked them about the Tesla spare (for future reference) and they also said no.

SO yes a flat occurs rarely but it does occur. On about 30 trips I have made I nave had a puncture on 2 of them.

 

[FooBar]

Most tire stores will have sprares for normal cars , but not for Tesla. SO I checked at COstco tire and Wheel works - the tesla spare was a week of special order, but of course you can go to Tesla in a big city. So if you are travelling away from a big city then you are in trouble. Also a local garage does not know who to repair the Tesla tires as they have special foam inside the tire. I had an incident when tracelling to Yesomite national part, no repalcement tires at any tire store within 100 miles that I checked from mywife's run flat tires - I checked about tesla for future reference and they did not have the tesla tire either.

Also after you four year warranty expires so does the Tesla road side assistence. You have to buy a $5,000 extended warranty. When I asked my Tesla dealer if that include the roadside assistence they said no (I will double check if it is included). But anyway I was not planning to buy the extended warrantee. I have come to the conlcusion that Tesla is not for long trips.
When my wife's mercedes lease expires I will buy a car that has a small spare.

Tesla should have a added space for a small spare and charged $200 extra for the small spare. I would have not problems having small tire wheel well in the that in the front hood.

 

[FooBar]

OK, who has a good product recommendation for a high-quality portable compressor? Favorite tire plugs?

added: It appears that Dynaplug® Online Store | Car & Truck Tire Repair Tools may check all the boxes.

Anyone tried these and do they work for the tesla. I assume the plug are only usable if the nail is on the part of the tire that contacts the road; no tif the nail is to side. But still worth carrying

 

[daniel]

I had a 12-V compressor (not the one shown above) and it blew up when it got hot from inflating my tires. It was working on the fourth tire when it happened, but it was just topping them off, not trying to inflate a tire after a newly-repaired puncture. (Didn't actually explode, but the hose flew off with a loud BOOM!) I'm never more than 45 minutes from home here, so I gave up on portable and bought a shop compressor for topping off my tires at home.

I also have a can of Fix-a-Flat which I trust about as much as I'd trust a televangelist.

 

[Rattletrap]

2 cars ago, I had a Volvo S60 with the low profile tires.
During the 3 year lease I had 3 blowouts from potholes, 1 on the left front and 2 on the right front. Bent 2 rims.
Right now we have some large potholes in our area. Can’t understand why they have not been fixed by now.

Lack of funding, especially in Northern states where the range of temperatures in a given year is so high (and still rising rapidly) that the roads are deteriorating big time. At this point, too much pavement needs replacing rather than the ongoing spot-repairs and officials have basically given up. Even some major cities in Northern states have roads that are basically post-apocalyptic condition. Tesla really needs to come out with a decent full-size truck or SUV that doesn't have power-train issues (since the half-shafts and joints system in the Model X are an engineering fail that falls apart every few years). I'm hoping the Cybertruck reaches production as it will be the perfect vehicle for driving around the crumbling dystopias some of us live in right now.

 

[KenC]

Most tire stores will have sprares for normal cars , but not for Tesla. SO I checked at COstco tire and Wheel works - the tesla spare was a week of special order, but of course you can go to Tesla in a big city. So if you are travelling away from a big city then you are in trouble. Also a local garage does not know who to repair the Tesla tires as they have special foam inside the tire. I had an incident when tracelling to Yesomite national part, no repalcement tires at any tire store within 100 miles that I checked from mywife's run flat tires - I checked about tesla for future reference and they did not have the tesla tire either.

Also after you four year warranty expires so does the Tesla road side assistence. You have to buy a $5,000 extended warranty. When I asked my Tesla dealer if that include the roadside assistence they said no (I will double check if it is included). But anyway I was not planning to buy the extended warrantee. I have come to the conlcusion that Tesla is not for long trips.
When my wife's mercedes lease expires I will buy a car that has a small spare.

Tesla should have a added space for a small spare and charged $200 extra for the small spare. I would have not problems having small tire wheel well in the that in the front hood.

Why not just get AAA? And, you can always buy a donut spare, though it will not fit in the frunk.

 

[Joey T]

I assume the reason you do not get a spare tire is because the car is so heavy that normal jacks and jack stands cannot hold the car. If you do your roadside wheel change unsafely (uneven ground, soft dirt, on top of rocks, loosen the lugnuts while the car is up) and the car falls on you, there will be international headlines that "Tesla Kills Its Owner." And then CNN will interview a sell-side analyst who will say that Tesla is negligent and should be penalized.

 

[dmurphy]

I assume the reason you do not get a spare tire is because the car is so heavy that normal jacks and jack stands cannot hold the car. If you do your roadside wheel change unsafely (uneven ground, soft dirt, on top of rocks, loosen the lugnuts while the car is up) and the car falls on you, there will be international headlines that "Tesla Kills Its Owner." And then CNN will interview a sell-side analyst who will say that Tesla is negligent and should be penalized.

Not even remotely close to the reason.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not *that* heavy of a car. Just under 4100lbs.

For reference, a BMW 330i xDrive is ~3800lbs.

The reason is twofold; 1) reduces weight (which improves efficiency) and 2) saves space. Neither of my previous Cadillacs had a spare, either. They did come with an inflator, however.

 

[Joey T]

Not even remotely close to the reason.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not *that* heavy of a car. Just under 4100lbs.

For reference, a BMW 330i xDrive is ~3800lbs.

The reason is twofold; 1) reduces weight (which improves efficiency) and 2) saves space. Neither of my previous Cadillacs had a spare, either. They did come with an inflator, however.

4769 pounds is a heavy car. Model X weighs in at high 5,000s.
Weight and space are good reasons, Especially since you need a big wheel and tire, and all the tools. You probably can't have a little silly donut on there. Carrying a giant 40 pound disc that you might use every few years is inefficient compared to waiting an hour or so for a tow truck.

As inconvenient as it is to wait for a tow truck, it's also inconvenient to change a spare tire.

 

[Daniel in SD]

compared to waiting an hour or so for a tow truck.

You need to read some of the horror stories in this thread. One hour is best case but usually you get towed to a service center.
Weight and space are good reasons and if their was some way that tow trucks could consistently have spares on hand it would be fine.
I carry a collapsible donut spare with me on road trips. It's from a Maserati which weighs just as much as a Model 3.

 

[Joey T]

You need to read some of the horror stories in this thread. One hour is best case but usually you get towed to a service center.
Weight and space are good reasons and if their was some way that tow trucks could consistently have spares on hand it would be fine.
I carry a collapsible donut spare with me on road trips. It's from a Maserati which weighs just as much as a Model 3.

I think the problem is that Tesla (many times) acts like the world is southern California, where dealerships are plentiful. I have had two flat tire experiences, one time needing a tow. No problems, but I am in a high population area.

I imagine there are many times were people wait hours and hours, and then weeks to get the new tire.

 

[TBrownTX]

Full sized spare - check!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

waiting an hour or so

If you're lucky.

I don't typically carry the spare around town (I do usually carry it on road trips). But I always have a vice-grips, emergency patch kit, and bicycle pump, jack, jack adapters, etc. in case of emergency. I'd definitely avoid jacking up the car if I could but sitting around twiddling my thumbs for hours isn't my idea of fun.

That said I've only once had a puncture that disabled my vehicle (not the Tesla), and that was nearly immediate and irreparable. So I'd be waiting for a tow if I were around town in that situation.

Full sized spare - check!

You should bring your generator too, just in case.

 

[KenC]

4769 pounds is a heavy car. Model X weighs in at high 5,000s.
Weight and space are good reasons, Especially since you need a big wheel and tire, and all the tools. You probably can't have a little silly donut on there. Carrying a giant 40 pound disc that you might use every few years is inefficient compared to waiting an hour or so for a tow truck.

As inconvenient as it is to wait for a tow truck, it's also inconvenient to change a spare tire.

A silly donut works. How does a tow truck solve your problem? They often don't have a Tesla spare. Then when they tow you to a tire shop. They are either closed, or they don't have the correct replacement tire, or they won't work on patching your tire since it has foam. Better to be self-sufficient, particularly when you are on a road trip. You can't always rely upon others.

 

[Az_Rael]

But with most other cars a local tire store will have a replacement available; but NOT for Tesla. For example neither wheel works or costco has the replacement for tesla

I have better luck with Discount/America's Tire for in stock Tesla tires. And they are pretty common stores. For your hypothetical Yosemite scenario, the Merced America's Tire has the 19" tires for my Model 3 in stock, (although not a brand I prefer, but one that would get me going). Sure I have to get towed to Merced, but from Yosemite the options are going to be limited for tire shops no matter what. Oakhurst has a decent sized tire shop that also appears to have a good selection of the Tesla sized tires. You can also get tires sized slightly off from the OEM tires that will still fit. I am currently running Michelin tires on my Model 3 that fit that aren't the stock size as they didn't make the variety I wanted in the stock size. Discount Tire has a calculator that can tell you if a similar tire can fit the car. You can also get run flats installed. If you aren't carrying a spare, you need to have plan A, B, and C. If you are really worried, carry a spare.

The noise reducing foam is pretty common, so I would expect any competent tire store to be able to patch those.

AAA is where it is at for roadside assistance as I stated before. I can be towed up to 200 miles on my plan.


I mean, all these issues you are going to have with any car with no spare and performance oriented tires. We had this same issue with our Audi and Lexus before the Tesla. I guess if you consider that a deal breaker for a road trip car, fair enough, but it would eliminate a lot of makes to choose from.

 

[dmurphy]

4769 pounds is a heavy car. Model X weighs in at high 5,000s.
Weight and space are good reasons, Especially since you need a big wheel and tire, and all the tools. You probably can't have a little silly donut on there. Carrying a giant 40 pound disc that you might use every few years is inefficient compared to waiting an hour or so for a tow truck.

As inconvenient as it is to wait for a tow truck, it's also inconvenient to change a spare tire.

But it’s not 4,769lbs. It’s 4,072lb curb weight for the M3 LR AWD & M3P. The SRs (and previous RWD) are lighter than that.

Vehicle weight is NOT an issue. Isn’t with brakes or stopping or road damage or any of that. It just isn’t nearly as much as everyone thinks it is.

Look, our Enclave tipped the scales at almost 5000lbs curb weight and had absolutely no problem with a compact jack and a donut.

It just isn’t a thing.

 

[TBrownTX]

You should bring your generator too, just in case.

LOL - for the record it sits in my garage. I figure I’ll just have a family member bring it to me if I get somthing I can’t patch or limp home with. Otherwise it’s easy to swap in my garage and get to drive my car while I wait for a new tire or wheel to show up.

Tim