I got a nail in one of my tire. Went to my usual place, America Tire, and it was closed (sunday). Took it to two places, both refuse to fix it. They said, they don't do tesla tire with the foam in it. Ended up at Sears, they fix it. A day later, it was leaking at the nail spot. Took it back, they re-patch it....leak again...errrr. At that point, they refunded me and gave up. I then took it to America Tire and two other place, all said they don't work on a tire once someone touch it....>< Now I am stuck with a leaky tire. I got quoted a replacement tire from $250-$280. Is that a reasonable price? There are other cheaper brands, but I think I should keep it the same...until all are worn out. Any suggestions?
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Nail in Tire...fixed 2x still leak
- Thread starter chumanji9
- Start date
The tire is difficult to replace. It is a custom original equipment tire made for Tesla and not sold in stores. It has a foam sound-dreading interior core that can interfere with plug patches. You should just take it to a Tesla service site and get a new tire from them. It will cost more.
If you replace it with a Tirerack tire(any generic tire store) it will weigh a pound or two less than your Tesla tire on the other side. That will be bad for driving, etc...
Alternatively, you could replace all four tires with commercial tires, Michelin Pilot 4S is a popular set of replacement tires. Again, it will cost more, but those tires can be fixed if you get a nail in one...
If you replace it with a Tirerack tire(any generic tire store) it will weigh a pound or two less than your Tesla tire on the other side. That will be bad for driving, etc...
Alternatively, you could replace all four tires with commercial tires, Michelin Pilot 4S is a popular set of replacement tires. Again, it will cost more, but those tires can be fixed if you get a nail in one...
Your example of Sears refunding your money is likely why all those other places don't repair foamed tires as they did the same previously. I'll bet that local Sears will soon have a policy of not patching them after their experience with your vehicle.
It is possible to patch foamed tires, but you have to remove a significant portion of foam and "Dremel" out any glue residue for the patch to stick. It's not simple, prone to error, and complicates balancing which is why many stores don't patch foamed tires (and Tesla is not the only foamed tire user).
The best bet is to replace it if filling it up every few days is intolerable. If the tire is fairly new, it's a simply 1:1 swap. If your car has some miles on it, you may want to look at replacing the entire axle (2 tires). You didn't say if you're holed tire is on the front or rear, or if you have a RWD or AWD...For a RWD I would certainly put the new tires on the rear as they wear the fastest. For AWD, the wear is more even front to back but I would still put them on the back.
It is possible to patch foamed tires, but you have to remove a significant portion of foam and "Dremel" out any glue residue for the patch to stick. It's not simple, prone to error, and complicates balancing which is why many stores don't patch foamed tires (and Tesla is not the only foamed tire user).
The best bet is to replace it if filling it up every few days is intolerable. If the tire is fairly new, it's a simply 1:1 swap. If your car has some miles on it, you may want to look at replacing the entire axle (2 tires). You didn't say if you're holed tire is on the front or rear, or if you have a RWD or AWD...For a RWD I would certainly put the new tires on the rear as they wear the fastest. For AWD, the wear is more even front to back but I would still put them on the back.
@chumanji9,
The proper way for this repair is to actually “cut out” a square of the foam insert where the nail is and the patch will go, remove the road debris, plug/patch the tire and then ‘re-glue’ the cut out foam piece back in over the patch. There are videos on you tube. Not sure if Sears or wherever you had it done followed this procedure or not. A lot of shops don’t want to deal with it due to the length of time for the procedure. They’d rather just plug it and be done.
https://youtu.be/6OHs6CamTrQ
Ski
Thanks for the suggestion and ideas. I ended up replacing just the one damage tire. Big-O-Tire, had to order it...and it was deliver the next day. I think I would probably replace these with tires without the foam when they wear out. I only have 5k miles on my car...so it would be a while, and that is also why I decided to just replace the one damage tire. When I gave it to Sears, they seem to be aware of the foam inside and mentioned it takes a long time. Hearing that and being a big box store, I assume it was all good. My guess, they probably didn't clean the foam off good enough for the patch.
A lot of people don’t know this but Discount Tires will plug it for free and they do a good job or you can go to Autozone and get the plug kit and plug it yourself.
I keep a Flat tire Plug kit with a jack and jack pads for issues like this in the trunk.
One last thing, make sure you check the torque on those wheels, the Sears at UTC years ago did a job on a friends car, when he got in the road his wheels just came off.. on ramp onto the 805 freeway.
Fred
I keep a Flat tire Plug kit with a jack and jack pads for issues like this in the trunk.
One last thing, make sure you check the torque on those wheels, the Sears at UTC years ago did a job on a friends car, when he got in the road his wheels just came off.. on ramp onto the 805 freeway.
Fred
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I just want to clarify something. You most certainly CAN buy tesla spec tires from TireRack. Same exact OE tires.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?tireIndex=0&autoMake=Tesla&autoYear=2018&autoModel=Model+3+Performance&autoModClar=Performance+Brakes&width=235/&ratio=35&diameter=20&sortCode=59853&skipOver=true&minSpeedRating=V&minLoadRating=XL
scroll down and you will see several different ps4s tires...one of which says TO tesla, Acoustic tech.
It seems like it would be important to have foam tires on both sides of the axel. If your new tire does not have foam, you will have trouble since the weights of the two tires are quite different. If it does have foam, then you are ok.
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