Nail in tire, what an experience... [difficulty getting it patched due to foam in tire]

[sirwm]

I got a warning that my tire pressure was low on a tire in my 2021 Y.
I was able to see a nail head, so ok, I need a patch.
I filled the tire with air and was fortunate enough that the tire held air.

When I brought the Tesla to my local guy that works on all of my cars,
he said he could not patch the tire because the tire had a lining specific to Teslas.
This lining would not allow him to patch the tire the way he normally would.
He stated that he tried once, and after two hours gave up.


I called AAA. They stated that they would not work on a Tesla tire.

I called the Tesla 877 service number, and they told me that
most mobile service guys did not have the tools needed to fix the tire.
And the mobile guys that could fix the tire were booked for weeks.

I called the Tesla Service Center that is 13 miles from my house in NJ ( but a 45 minute drive !).
The guy there told me to come on in, so I did.
Turns out I had a nail in TWO tires.
The cost to fix EACH tire was $121.

wow... that is twice as much as I expected. Love the car, but not these prices to fix a flat...

 

[Yelobird]

Could just get a low cost plug kit. Not really that complicated. Plugged a nail in my tire 15k miles ago and never an issue.

 

[Rice&Curry]

You basically have 2 choices - ( a ) plug kit ~ $20 or (b) Modern Spare tire ~ $ 400+ to save you time and money or being stranded in a location where Tesla cannot provide timely support and spare tire under warranty.

 

[BitJam]

I think electric cars are magnetic because they attract so many nails!

I had a much better experience when I had a nail in my right rear tire. Like you, I was able to inflate the tire and get to my local tire shop. They had never worked on a Tesla before. I've only seen three other Teslas in my small rural New Mexico town and two of them had out of state plates.

I watched the worker carefully. Showed him how to use the puck for raising the car and so on. They made a flap out of a small square of the interior foam to get to the nail. IIRC, they glued the foam back down when they were done.

Total cost: $20.

 

[Abdul2021]

2 weeks ago, my tire start losing air on rear right side. Upon close inspection found a nail in center of tire tread.
First went to Sams club who declined they cant do tesla tire repairs. Went to Costco, they gladly did the repair for $11, took 2 hours though due to reglue the foam back.

 

[steve_w]

2 weeks ago, my tire start losing air on rear right side. Upon close inspection found a nail in center of tire tread.
First went to Sams club who declined they cant do tesla tire repairs. Went to Costco, they gladly did the repair for $11, took 2 hours though due to reglue the foam back.

I had a nail in the center of a rear tire on my 16 MX. I bought a set of jack pads years ago, used 1 to jack the car and took the tire to GoodYear, they fixed it for free in about an hour or so. Put it back on and no vibration. I was a little concerned about the tire not balancing properly with the foam being moved around.

 

[rjpjnk]

I had a nail hole and plugged it myself with a repair kit. Worked fine for the life of the tire. The foam in the tire makes no difference if you are plugging the tire, which is typically done from the outside. I've heard that a better (more reliable) repair method is to take the tire off and patch it from the inside, which is what a tire shop would do. This would require dealing with the foam.