Model 3 LR brakes power

[show_stoppa]

On average, rental cars are pretty new, and have the factory tires on them. While these cars are not sports cars, they perform mid pack for the average car on the road. Generically saying every single rental has crappy, dangerous tires is not true.

I would highly suggest the OP takes some additional driver training to give them the skills they need and confidence in their car. In just a day you can go from "but the car just wouldn't stop despite all my efforts." to a much more advanced observation on what actually happened, which means you can actually work on solving it when driving. A remarkable percentage of drivers have no idea how effective the brakes are or how to use ABS and never apply the brakes anywhere near fully.

Yah. I have been renting rentals over the weekend and doing highway driving to get used to the new fancy stuff. Hard to unlearn the past 8-10 years of stick car driving, where you can judge the speed of the car based on which gear you are in, and where you always apply full brakes, rather than light pressure due to power brakes stuff. Never knew driving these fancy automatic new cars with power steering and brakes was so much difficult.

I think it also comes down to a person getting used to a car. Every time I rent something, it feels different and you have to adjust yourself to the accelerator and braking sensitivity, not to mention the width and hood length.

 

[gearchruncher]

But I agree with your point, they are not necessarily crappy, they're just not very good. They often favor comfort and low noise instead of traction.

That's just a different trade off. You're not buying the highest performance tires either- you're buying all seasons, which themselves are a compromise, when ultra performance tires exist that are amazing in the wet and cold. OEM's have to make some really tough compromises, and Michelin is one of the best in the business at making great all around tires.

We shouldn't be scaring people as if stock tires on a Tesla might lead to a car that won't stop.

What all seasons did you pick vs the MXM4's and how much shorter do they stop than the OEM tires in various conditions?

 

[gearchruncher]

Never knew driving these fancy automatic new cars with power steering and brakes was so much difficult.

Are you saying your previous car literally didn't have power assisted brakes or power steering? There's only been a few cars in the last few decades without power steering and even fewer without power brakes. They were all lightweight performance cars.
What were you driving before?

 

[GtiMart]

I think some of you are misunderstanding what I said. I'm not trying to push people into thinking MXM4 tires are crappy either. Since you ask, I replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ because our winter is long enough and I wanted an all season (ultra high performance) so I could put them on when mornings are still cold without fear of driving off the road. I had full summers on my previous WRX and they were dangerous when temperatures got close to freezing, especially on wet pavement. I have not specifically tested braking performance compared to MXM4. I do know that the MXM4 is optimized at least partially for low noise whereas the AS3+ is more optimized towards good grip at the expense of some noise.
NOTE: I probably have driven a maximum of 15k kilometers on them and they are pretty used up so they are not optimized for durability either

Rentals I drove had tires that squealed when cornering and didn't hold the road well, compared to what I'm used to. I don't rent sports cars so I get whatever they have to give me. My driving style in a rental is pretty different than when I drive my car, to adjust for that.

Again, I am not trying to scare anyone, it's just my personal experience. I did say my experience was not exhaustive.

 

[show_stoppa]

Are you saying your previous car literally didn't have power assisted brakes or power steering? There's only been a few cars in the last few decades without power steering and even fewer without power brakes. They were all lightweight performance cars.
What were you driving before?

I wasn't driving in the US. Moved here a few years ago. Now getting a car as I have moved upstate from the city where there is no public transport.

 

[gearchruncher]

My driving style in a rental is pretty different than when I drive my car, to adjust for that.

Fastest car in the world is a rental car!

Why A Rental Car Is The Fastest Car You'll Ever Have

The next race of the season was taking place at Sebring Raceway in Florida. It was five in the morning. I brushed my teeth and readied myself for a big day on track. But when you are staying in a hotel full of race team members — all driving rental cars — the battle to the racetrack can...

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[show_stoppa]

I think some of you are misunderstanding what I said. I'm not trying to push people into thinking MXM4 tires are crappy either. Since you ask, I replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ because our winter is long enough and I wanted an all season (ultra high performance) so I could put them on when mornings are still cold without fear of driving off the road. I had full summers on my previous WRX and they were dangerous when temperatures got close to freezing, especially on wet pavement. I have not specifically tested braking performance compared to MXM4. I do know that the MXM4 is optimized at least partially for low noise whereas the AS3+ is more optimized towards good grip at the expense of some noise.
NOTE: I probably have driven a maximum of 15k kilometers on them and they are pretty used up so they are not optimized for durability either

Rentals I drove had tires that squealed when cornering and didn't hold the road well, compared to what I'm used to. I don't rent sports cars so I get whatever they have to give me. My driving style in a rental is pretty different than when I drive my car, to adjust for that.

Again, I am not trying to scare anyone, it's just my personal experience. I did say my experience was not exhaustive.

So upstate NY is pretty similar to Canada. I am thinking of getting the winter tyres. And will likely have them on for 7 months out of the year. For the remainder I will either keep the all seasons as they might work in mild /cool summers, or maybe try trading them in for a different set.

 

[gearchruncher]

I wasn't driving in the US.

Then PLEASE go get additional training. If the cars you are used to are so low-tech that they don't even have assisted brakes which have been standard in the USA for 60 years, driving in the USA in one of the most advanced cars ever made will require a whole different skill set. You need to know what your car is capable of, and you need to drive it like other people on the road drive their cars.

This doubles even more since I see you bought "FSD"- which is anything but Full Self Driving and really requires you to know what a car can and cannot do to be used safely. If you are worried about your car not stopping despite your best efforts, FSD is not a product for you. Just basic cruise control sounds like a big step from what you are used to, much less radar cruise control or ABS.

 

[show_stoppa]

Then PLEASE go get additional training. If the cars you are used to are so low-tech that they don't even have assisted brakes which have been standard in the USA for 60 years, driving in the USA in one of the most advanced cars ever made will require a whole different skill set. You need to know what your car is capable of, and you need to drive it like other people on the road drive their cars.

This doubles even more since I see you bought "FSD"- which is anything but Full Self Driving and really requires you to know what a car can and cannot do to be used safely. If you are worried about your car not stopping despite your best efforts, FSD is not a product for you. Just basic cruise control sounds like a big step from what you are used to, much less radar cruise control or ABS.

Yes I took additional training. Went to the driving school. I also passed the DMV driving test to get the state license too. And been practicing with rentals every weekends on highways. But yes compared to someone who has been driving in the US, every day for multiple years, I have much less experience. I typically drive at the posted speed limit instead of 15 mph above it, and keep a larger tailing distance than regular drivers just to be extra cautious.

As for FSD, I only got it because I wanted to test the technology for myself, rather than actually using it regularly. I know it is nowhere even close to calling itself an actual 'FSD' (I have spent a good number of years of my life studying image segmentation and sequencing problems, so am aware of how mature the current state of the art is.)

 

[show_stoppa]

Okay. Had to come back and update this thread with my latest experience.
I just test drove a Model 3 LR (the Tesla service center is just 2 min walking distance away but I didnt know that you could actually ask for test drive).

I can now confidently say that driving the Model 3 on Sports Steering with Hold regenerative braking is very close to driving a manual transmission car without a power steering. Since coming to the US I have driven different rentals, from Mazda SUVs and Kia Sedans to BMW series-5. Yes cars like BMW series 5 feel super super premium from the inside, but you never truly fully feel in control of the car. The cars are either too long, or too wide, the steering wheel feels too loose, and the brakes and acceleration feels hit and miss depending on the road you are driving.

As opposed to that the Tesla feels just about the right size and you feel in full control of the car. The hold regenerative braking is a game changer and I dont think I ever used brakes despite driving on the highways for 30 mins. You can basically feather the accelerator to slow down or speed up the car, just like driving a manual transmission in a fixed gear. The only difference is, in manual transmission, if you are too slowed down, you have to switch to a lower gear and accelerate the car and then switch back to a higher gear. But in Tesla you can immediately accelerate without any additional steps. As for the steering wheel in sports mode, it doesnt feel loose at all.

I had kind of given hope and thought that the older car experience was completely gone. I am glad Tesla has the braking and steering options and you feel just at home.

P.S: I never felt the need to engage the auto pilot even once as I was having so much fun

 

[tm1v2]

@show_stoppa Glad you connected with the car!

I only had manual transmission cars before our Teslas, and my first car had manual steering too. I very much get what you're saying! I never liked how automatics drove and refused to ever buy one.

 

[show_stoppa]

@show_stoppa Glad you connected with the car!

I only had manual transmission cars before our Teslas, and my first car had manual steering too. I very much get what you're saying! I never liked how automatics drove and refused to ever buy one.

Same. I had heard from pretty much everyone how easy it was to drive an automatic with power steering and everything, but I always felt like there was something missing. I just never felt like I had full control over everything.
With Tesla, it is hard to explain this in exact words, but let me try. Basically, when driving a car , one needs to not just think that they are sitting in the drivers seat and turning the steering and pressing accelerator or brakes. One needs to feel that the entire car is a part of them and then turn and accelerate and decelerate the car accordingly. I just never got that feeling with any of the cars that I have driven, since my original beatup manual transmission car. But I got that feeling for the first time, in a long time today with the Tesla on sports steering and hold regen braking.

 

[metroplex]

Without getting into too technical of a discussion about brakes vs tires, it looks like the M3LR does 70-0 in 172 ft according to Car and Driver, with the MXM4 stock tires. The M3P does 70-0 in 147 ft with the Michelin 4S. As a comparison, Car and Driver got 178 ft from the Fusion Sport with stock Badyear F1 Asymmetric All Seasons. Car and Driver tested the Fusion Sport again with the optional summer tires (Conti ContiSportContact 5) and got 155 ft from 70-0. I will attest that the Badyear F1 tires that are still on my Fusion Sport are trash tires. back will kick out in the rain. So I'd say the M3 isn't too far off at all from "normal" cars.