StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
That has not been my experience at all and I run on a lot of broken, rough roads. You don't have the 18" wheels I suspect. I was very wary of the low profile on the 19" and 20" wheels.
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Model 3 Tire Pressure
- Thread starter Stellavator
- Start date
That has not been my experience at all and I run on a lot of broken, rough roads. You don't have the 18" wheels I suspect. I was very wary of the low profile on the 19" and 20" wheels.
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
I do in fact have the 18” wheels. After noticing how rough the car ran I checked into Tesla overinflating tires and sure enough they were at 49 PSI and it ran terrible. I lowered PSI to 45. It it still ran a little rough. Lowered to 40 and it was great but TPMS always coming on.
I found out later that even Elon recommendation was 39 PSI for more comfort. I can’t do that because of Tesla’s crap TPMS implementation. If they don’t want to adjust the altitude reading fine, just lower the damn threshold for the low pressure alarms.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
That was Musk's tweet to someone with the early production harder suspension who wanted Tesla to swap out suspension components. It was a nice way of saying "Just deal with it", not a tire experts opinion.
The stuff I read here just boggles my mind and doesn't agree with my experience with our two Model 3's (one LR and one P3D-).
What tires are you running?
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
First the factory Michelin’s and now the Bridgestone LM001 winter performance tires, which surprisingly are superior to the Michelin’s.
Sorry that my experiences don’t validate yours.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't expect it to. The Bridgestones are known for being stiff tires. And I've never liked stiff tires, the air should provide the support to a supple carcass/sidewall. I'm not surprised you find them too hard. I didn't find the Michelin MXM4's to start to feel harsh until above 46 PSI. But some people just like a more cush ride. I like tire feedback as long as it's not harsh.
Nguyenning
Member
This thread explains a lot... no idea why I took delivery and all my tires were 50 PSI...
Gonna lower then to 43 sweet spot it seems
Gonna lower then to 43 sweet spot it seems
TexasTeslaRacing
Member
Higher than normal psi could lead to abnormal wear patterns in the middle of your tire. I would stick with the recommend psi +- 3-4psi. This will give you the most mileage out of your tires.
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
If you like to drive and corner hard, 45-46 PSI is about optimum. This is with the Michelin MXM4's but the same held true for the Pirelli Sottozero II's I ran last winter. This also gives noticeably more range and efficiency than 43-44 PSI, a bigger difference than one might assume from the relatively small change in pressure. These pressures, like almost all pressures, are quoted cold, before driving. 46 PSI might read 50 PSI after some hard driving. Use a good gauge to measure pressure because the TPMS doesn't account for altitude differences.
You will get a bit better efficiency at 50 PSI cold but, unless you are doing an extreme amount of hard cornering, it will probably wear the center of the tread faster than the sides. 50 PSI cold will translate to around 55 hot but this doesn't exceed the manufactures maximum rated pressure of 50 PSI cold (because the maximum pressure is designed to accommodate the kind of pressure increase due to temperature rise). However, your stopping distances will increase and the ride will be pretty firm.
Most of us don't have an air pump at home.
I top off for free with nitrogen at Costco to keep them at 45; was only necessary as the winter weather set in, so far.
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
I use a bicycle pump. It is much easier and quieter than getting my air compressor fired up. It’s about 8-10 pumps per PSI for 20s. More for 18s of course. I don’t worry about moisture in the tires this way (I’ve seen significant moisture come out of compressors at the gas station...seems the lines sometimes exit at a low point...or they never drain the condensate?). And eventually I will have mostly nitrogen in the tires.
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Knightshade
Well-Known Member
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Everyone already has mostly nitrogen in the tires
Yes. That was my point...and it just gets better and better over time. Not a big believer in the nitrogen fill though presumably it does eliminate one or two subsequent pump top ups from that small proportion of quick diffusers (oxygen...)...
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Yeah- "pure" nitrogen for free (including your time) is probably worth doing- otherwise IIRC when consumer reports tested it versus regular mostly-nitrogen-anyway air it amounted to "saving" like 1 psi per year in pressure loss
gilscales
Banned
I recently changed my tires to 255/40/19 Continental DWS06 Extremecontact's and after break in they are FAR superior in comfort, handling, ride, load carrying and I run them at 45 psi cold, I recommend them in a 255/45/18 size for your 18's if priority is comfort while improving everything els EXCEPT range, you will take a 10 to 12% hit in range
StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
I've seen service station air hoses expel quite a bit of water (which is why I avoid using them). If you need to air up at a service station It's best to take a key or other implement to expel a good blast of air before airing up. If you see a blast of water/air come out, move on. I've seen liquid water come out of at least 3 or 4 different service statiion hoses and purging the hose only gets so much of it out.
The 12.1.1 upgrade rocks!
I installed the 12.1.1 update on my car, and the TPMS reset works! Just to experiment, I tried setting the pressures at the Elon Musk suggested 39 PSI. It showed up as 36 PSI on three of the tires and 37 PSI on the fourth. After driving for about 10 or 15 minutes, the low tire pressure warning came on. All the tires were now showing 37 PSI; it was fairly cool when I did this last night, so the tires warming up didn't change the pressures much. I then parked and did the TPMS reset on the Service Menu, following the directions, and started driving. Less than a minute after I started driving the screen said that the new pressures were now the norm, but it still showed the low pressure warning. I drove another 10 or 15 minutes back home with no change. After I got home, I let the car lock itself, then I got back in, turned it on, and the TPMS warning was gone. My guess is that I probably didn't need to drive the extra 10 or 15 minutes after doing the TPMS reset to make the low pressure warning go away. I think if I had just turned the car off and back on, it probably would have eliminated the low pressure warning message.
I'm very happy with this change!
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