Wiki Model S Delivery Update

[jebinc]

I read that article too. For what it's worth, C&D and Edmunds test have one thing in common, and that's Cargos Lago. Now FYI, I've been watching him for over 4 years now and really like the guy, but he is the only one I've seen say they Plaid is unstable at those speeds. Perhaps I've missed some, but people like Tesla Plaid Channel who repeatedly take the car to 150+mph have never complained about it.

Now regarding how Tesla could address this, I think it would be quite simple, depending on the direct cause. As @lolachampcar has highlighted in the past, sometimes the yoke combined with the harsh acceleration will result in driver induced oscillations, causing the car to feel more unstable than it actually is. I think the main problem Carlos had with the car isn't exactly the wandering itself, but rather the steering feel, which compounded any wandering that may have been caused by the yoke. So it's likely that Tesla could send out an OTA update, and just firm the steering up more, and that would fix it. At the very least, I think it's what Tesla should try first before making any major changes.

Time will tell….

 

[jebinc]

Cricket and gush post, sans gifs…

 

[jebinc]

Just checked inventory in the Seattle/Portland area and there is a “Plethora of Plaids” (“PoP”) available for those interested. Even one’s with white interiors!

 

[uthatcher]

I read that article too. For what it's worth, C&D and Edmunds test have one thing in common, and that's Cargos Lago. Now FYI, I've been watching him for over 4 years now and really like the guy (he's an excellent journalist), but he is the only one I've seen say they Plaid is unstable at those speeds. Perhaps I've missed some, but people like Tesla Plaid Channel who repeatedly take the car to 150+mph have never complained about it.

Now regarding how Tesla could address this, I think it would be quite simple, depending on the direct cause. As @lolachampcar has IIRC highlighted in the past, sometimes the yoke combined with the harsh acceleration will result in driver induced oscillations, causing the car to feel more unstable than it actually is. I think the main problem Carlos had with the car isn't exactly the wandering itself, but rather the steering feel, which compounded any wandering that may have been caused by the yoke. So it's likely that Tesla could send out an OTA update, and just firm the steering up more, and that would fix it. At the very least, I think it's what Tesla should try first before making any major changes.

I’ve had my Plaid to maximum velocity. The rate at which the car reaches it makes me have zero doubts about whether it would hit 200 MPH, and I do I understand the difficulty of achieving that speed exponentially increases as speed increases.

Also, there was zero stability issues. As in zero. Although I admit I take certain risks, I am also very cautious and would immediately bail on any high speed run if the car felt any bit unstable. If the Plaid was capable of 200 I would incrementally work my way up to it at one of the half-mile or mile events.

 

[EndlessPlaid]

I’ve had my Plaid to maximum velocity. The rate at which the car reaches it makes me have zero doubts about where it would hit 200 MPH, and I do I understand the difficulty of achieving that speed exponentially increases as speed increases.

Also, there was zero stability issues. As in zero. Although I admit I take certain risks, I am also very cautious and would immediately bail on any high speed run if the car felt any bit unstable. If the Plaid was capable of 200 I would incrementally work my way up to it at one of the half-mile or mile events.

Exactly! And also with car reviewers, not saying this case is true here btw (although I think I picked up a smidge of 'not-big-into-EVs'; just a little bit), there is always the question of if they are impartial or not towards EVs. This can be extremely hard for so called "gear heads" to do, as they've become very entrenched in ICEs, and frankly hate the thought of EVs taking over. So there's that, and it is a possibility.

That is sooo awesome to hear btw! Yeah I mean there have been countless street races on uneven roads, etc... where I'm watching it, and the yoke is dead, and the driver isn't having to correct anything. This article actually surprised me. It's possible that test car may have a bad alignment.

 

[jebinc]

Exactly! And also with car reviewers, not saying this case is true here btw (although I think I picked up a smidge of 'not-big-into-EVs'; just a little bit), there is always the question of if they are impartial or not towards EVs. This can be extremely hard for so called "gear heads" to do, as they've become very entrenched in ICEs, and frankly hate the thought of EVs taking over. So there's that, and it is a possibility.

That is sooo awesome to hear btw! Yeah I mean there have been countless street races on uneven roads, etc... where I'm watching it, and the yoke is dead, and the driver isn't having to correct anything. It's possible that test car may have a bad alignment.

I hope a year from now we are not still talking about this like a TBD future item (e.g., feature complete FSD and level 5 autonomous driving by year-end). Somehow, I think we might still be. Time will tell!

Edit: “I want to believe…”

 

[EndlessPlaid]

I hope a year from now we are not still talking about this like a TBD future item (e.g., feature complete FSD and level 5 autonomous by year-end). Somehow, I think we might still be. Time will tell!

I hope so too! For the record, I really doubt there is any issue, and if there is, I'm sure the fix will come with the SW update that unlocks the car. The car is absolutely aerodynamically engineered for 200+, so it's just a matter of validation and tuning; much of which I suspect is already completed and will roll out in said update.

 

[jebinc]

I hope so too! For the record, I really doubt there is any issue, and if there is, I'm sure the fix will come with the SW update that unlocks the car. The car is absolutely aerodynamically engineered for 200+, so it's just a matter of validation and tuning; much of which I suspect is already completed and will roll out in said update.

You replied before I could get my gif up!

 

[uthatcher]

Exactly! And also with car reviewers, not saying this case is true here btw (although I think I picked up a smidge of 'not-big-into-EVs'; just a little bit), there is always the question of if they are impartial or not towards EVs. This can be extremely hard for so called "gear heads" to do, as they've become very entrenched in ICEs, and frankly hate the thought of EVs taking over. So there's that, and it is a possibility.

That is sooo awesome to hear btw! Yeah I mean there have been countless street races on uneven roads, etc... where I'm watching it, and the yoke is dead, and the driver isn't having to correct anything. This article actually surprised me. It's possible that test car may have a bad alignment.

Yeah I would suspect bad alignment. Tow can have a huge impact on stability, that probably where I’d look first if they were so inclined to do so. Which, most likely, they’re not.

Speaking of which, I just rotated my tires after about 6000 miles on 285’s on all 4 corners. Perfect wear. No cupping, no inside wear, no anything negative. I was pretty happy about that. Also did our Y and the same scenario, perfect wear.

 

[EndlessPlaid]

Yeah I would suspect bad alignment. Tow can have a huge impact on stability, that probably where I’d look first if they were so inclined to do so. Which, most likely, they’re not.

Speaking of which, I just rotated my tires after about 6000 miles on 285’s on all 4 corners. Perfect wear. No cupping, no inside wear, no anything negative. I was pretty happy about that. Also did our Y and the same scenario, perfect wear.

Awesome! Great to hear! Yeah I agree could be toe angle. Did you wanna gush more lol?

 

[uthatcher]

Awesome! Great to hear! Yeah I agree could be toe angle. Did you wanna gush more lol?

LOL, I thought the alignment info and C&D bashing would be good gushing. I’m about to call it a night, might have to save it all up for tomorrow.

 

[EndlessPlaid]

LOL, I thought the alignment info and C&D bashing would be good gushing. I’m about to call it a night, might have to save it all up for tomorrow.

Oh ok man sounds good lol!

 

[lolachampcar]

Speaking of which, I just rotated my tires after about 6000 miles on 285’s on all 4 corners. Perfect wear. No cupping, no inside wear, no anything negative. I was pretty happy about that. Also did our Y and the same scenario, perfect wear.

If anyone needed evidence that @uthatcher is an animal, this should do the trick! I think he is enjoying his new toy. Meanwhile, us chickens out here have 7500 miles on our Plaids (275 MPS4s all the way around) and still have tons of tread left. In this instance, I'll take the under achiever title.

and before I forget, Lewis was bad fast this last weekend. Goodon'm.

WRT stability, I'm using finger tips north of 130 with my Plaid. I run the car low all the time and have it lowered another 1/2" beyond that. The damping definitely follows speed with rebound in particular firming up at very high speeds. As others have pointed out, Tesla has built a car with no front in aero lift which was, in the bad ole days, the primary source of high speed instability. I also agree that there is way to large a sample source of owners doing upwards of the top speed in the car. If there was a stability problem, there would be a bunch more of them in the dust bin. All that said, Plaid is a hugely heavy street car which must be kept in a straight line at speed or very carefully coerced into a direction change, managed throughout the process and then slowly returned to going straight. If owners are surviving at 150 then it is highly likely they will do so at 200 in the proper venue especially if Tesla further firms things up with the damping when they change the limit. As always, just my opinion.

 

[modizzle]

Any new owners get a SSD to replace the USB stick?

 

[Jabbahop]

Finally got a NF vin assigned this morning after following here for months. Thanks to everyone posting I haved leared alot.
This will be my first Tesla and cant wait.

Ordered May 1
Model SLR Black with white interior fsd
19” Tempst wheels
RN 1148
NF4624
EDD Dec 28-31

Hope you LOVE your first Tesla.

Yeah I would suspect bad alignment. Tow can have a huge impact on stability, that probably where I’d look first if they were so inclined to do so. Which, most likely, they’re not.

Speaking of which, I just rotated my tires after about 6000 miles on 285’s on all 4 corners. Perfect wear. No cupping, no inside wear, no anything negative. I was pretty happy about that. Also did our Y and the same scenario, perfect wear.

really to happy hear about your wear issues. That is one of my concerns given the past history of Model S tire wear, the cost of the tires, and the staggered sizing making rotation more of a challenge.

 

[IamGaryGnu]

Any new owners get a SSD to replace the USB stick?

There's a lot of talk on this on this forum and others. I'm still a future owner, and went back and forth, and actually ordered an SSD and then cancelled and went with SD cards (i think sandisk endurance max or similar terminology). there's a whole "debate" - some folks swear by SSD, others the sticks/SD cards (acdtually, TF cards).
My rationale was 1) the beast comes with a usb stick and not an ssd 2) tesla's manual basically talks about usb sticks or TF cards and lastly, you can't even buy an SSD from Tesla, but you CAN buy a USB stick.
I BELIEVE the TF cards are supposed to survive temperature extremes better. The SSDs can come in larger sizes, so can have a larger area to write, ergo perhaps less writing fatigue.
FWIW I bought 2 endurance max cards - the 32gb to hold my roughly 2gb of music - that thing was $11, and the adapters were $12!!!!! the other card was 256gb and that is for the glove box.
they both have fairly long warranties and a LOT of write cycles, i think the 256gb is good for something like 13,000 hours or 130,000 hours or something crazy.
i wouldn't mind replacing the sentry footage annually - i would VERY much mind losing video if i needed from an accident or for a police report.
i can give links if you really want

 

[uthatcher]

Hope you LOVE your first Tesla.

really to happy hear about your wear issues. That is one of my concerns given the past history of Model S tire wear, the cost of the tires, and the staggered sizing making rotation more of a challenge.

Yeah, the wear is great. The car actually has close to 12,000 miles but I put the Signature square setup on 6000 ago. I mention this because my original 21’s also show no signs of uneven wear, so I really didn’t think the new setup would wear badly. And they didn’t.

 

[impastu]

If anyone needed evidence that @uthatcher is an animal, this should do the trick! I think he is enjoying his new toy. Meanwhile, us chickens out here have 7500 miles on our Plaids (275 MPS4s all the way around) and still have tons of tread left. In this instance, I'll take the under achiever title.

and before I forget, Lewis was bad fast this last weekend. Goodon'm.

WRT stability, I'm using finger tips north of 130 with my Plaid. I run the car low all the time and have it lowered another 1/2" beyond that. The damping definitely follows speed with rebound in particular firming up at very high speeds. As others have pointed out, Tesla has built a car with no front in aero lift which was, in the bad ole days, the primary source of high speed instability. I also agree that there is way to large a sample source of owners doing upwards of the top speed in the car. If there was a stability problem, there would be a bunch more of them in the dust bin. All that said, Plaid is a hugely heavy street car which must be kept in a straight line at speed or very carefully coerced into a direction change, managed throughout the process and then slowly returned to going straight. If owners are surviving at 150 then it is highly likely they will do so at 200 in the proper venue especially if Tesla further firms things up with the damping when they change the limit. As always, just my opinion.

I have yet to watch the post-race interviews. I hope that Lewis was a good sport. Terribly bad luck at the end. But exciting finish. My heart was thumping.

 

[impastu]

Yeah, the wear is great. The car actually has close to 12,000 miles but I put the Signature square setup on 6000 ago. I mention this because my original 21’s also show no signs of uneven wear, so I really didn’t think the new setup would wear badly. And they didn’t.

12k miles in five months is impressive...

 

[uthatcher]

12k miles in five months is impressive...

100 mile daily commute in addition to regular daily driving and trips adds up.