I've seen some questions posted to see if anyone has had to use a Modern Spare. As (bad) luck would have it, I did on Saturday. I was traveling to Dallas from Denver and decided to detour a bit and spend the night at the hotel next to the Tucumcari, NM Supercharger. I hit a nasty piece of road debris about 10 miles from the hotel, which resulted in an instant flat tire (rear left, if that matters). Luckily I had purchased a Modern Spare kit back in October.
The jack itself was a little flimsy, as most scissor jacks are, and there wasn't quite enough clearance for a jack pad, but it didn't seem to need it. Otherwise, it ratcheted up fine, I was able to get the old tire off and the spare on. I did have to turn it a couple of times to find holes that lined up, as there are 10 on the spare, but only 5 lugs. All in all, it took me about 15 minutes to unpack, figure out the parts, and finish up.
Once I got to the hotel and put in a roadside ticket on my phone, checked in, and went upstairs. They called shortly thereafter and all they could do was tow me to the nearest Tesla service center in Santa Fe, MN, which was about 180 miles away. I was told that they would cover the first 50 miles, and I had to pay for the other 130. I was really hoping they could come repair the tire, or replace the entire wheel, but not in the middle of NM. I declined, as I had the spare, and needed some time to figure out what to do.
Without boring everyone with the details, I decided the best course-of-action was to try to head home and get as far as I could before the spare gave out. I detoured up to Las Vegas, NM where I could hit the Supercharger and look at the tire to see how it was doing. If not good, I was way closer to Santa Fe. No issues and the tire looked fine, so I pressed on to the Trinidad Supercharger staying under 65 and stopping every hour or so to let the tire "rest". Made it to Trinidad, tire still looked good, and felt fine in the back (no separation), so off I went. Ultimately, that spare made it 455 miles to my house and still looks like it can take more. I emailed Modern Spare about it and they commonly see 200-1,000 miles on their spares. Take that for what it's worth. The outside temps were between 40 and 60 degrees, which helped. I doubt the tire would have held up in summer temps.
I took it to the tire shop this morning and they found that the debris tore up the sidewall, so it wasn't repairable anyway. Luckily, I had just purchased a new set of tires a few weeks ago (after a PREVIOUS encounter with road debris), so it was a free warranty replacement.
I think I need to find some Fred Flintstone-style stone tires for the car....
The jack itself was a little flimsy, as most scissor jacks are, and there wasn't quite enough clearance for a jack pad, but it didn't seem to need it. Otherwise, it ratcheted up fine, I was able to get the old tire off and the spare on. I did have to turn it a couple of times to find holes that lined up, as there are 10 on the spare, but only 5 lugs. All in all, it took me about 15 minutes to unpack, figure out the parts, and finish up.
Once I got to the hotel and put in a roadside ticket on my phone, checked in, and went upstairs. They called shortly thereafter and all they could do was tow me to the nearest Tesla service center in Santa Fe, MN, which was about 180 miles away. I was told that they would cover the first 50 miles, and I had to pay for the other 130. I was really hoping they could come repair the tire, or replace the entire wheel, but not in the middle of NM. I declined, as I had the spare, and needed some time to figure out what to do.
Without boring everyone with the details, I decided the best course-of-action was to try to head home and get as far as I could before the spare gave out. I detoured up to Las Vegas, NM where I could hit the Supercharger and look at the tire to see how it was doing. If not good, I was way closer to Santa Fe. No issues and the tire looked fine, so I pressed on to the Trinidad Supercharger staying under 65 and stopping every hour or so to let the tire "rest". Made it to Trinidad, tire still looked good, and felt fine in the back (no separation), so off I went. Ultimately, that spare made it 455 miles to my house and still looks like it can take more. I emailed Modern Spare about it and they commonly see 200-1,000 miles on their spares. Take that for what it's worth. The outside temps were between 40 and 60 degrees, which helped. I doubt the tire would have held up in summer temps.
I took it to the tire shop this morning and they found that the debris tore up the sidewall, so it wasn't repairable anyway. Luckily, I had just purchased a new set of tires a few weeks ago (after a PREVIOUS encounter with road debris), so it was a free warranty replacement.
I think I need to find some Fred Flintstone-style stone tires for the car....
