Kacey Green
Member
Just got the car back from the service center, need my wife to be in a good mode to help me go out measure it to get some numbers, sorry there wasn't more light it usually does better than that in those conditions.
News for Model X owners with the dreaded shudder
- Thread starter Stavesacre21
- Start date
VikH
Supporting Member
After TSB - it will come back in what height setting? After how many miles? I have done 5k miles after the complete TSB and it has not returned in Low or Very Low.
Does Tesla officially recommend keeping suspension settings on Low - Always for pre-Raven? I've also read the Low setting impacts tire wear. Is there any truth to that? I had my shudder fixed ~6mo ago via TSB and they didn't mention height settings. I've been keeping mine on automatic lowering at 50mph and setting it to Low only if I know I'm going to accelerate hard. It feels like a dilemma between damaging the half shaft and excess tire wear.
VikH
Supporting Member
I have found slight excess camber wear driving in Low 100% of the time and Very Low in summer often. IMO, the car looks awkward at Standard height.
In my case it showed up around 7k and I have automatic lowering from standard at 55 mph. It has become really worse since then. If you set it to low all the time, shudder will show up after 10k or so depending upon how hard you accelerate. Shudder is pronounced when you kind of turn and accelerate like making a right turn from a street. It is a design issue and won't go away unless Tesla can come up with some magic workaround. I heard from SvcCenter that they are considering SW changes to limit acceleration which is unacceptable.
Please ask the Service Center if the TSB eliminates the shudder issue and see what reply you get and get them in writing.
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I was told to use Always Low. I'm 30k miles in and tire wear is still even on the original set. Things didn't start being a problem until I thought 'well that is weird, it's set to Always Low' and set it to Standard for about 10k. They got worse when towing because the software used to compel you to tow in Standard. Now it allows towing in Standard or Low. I plan to use Always Low since the worst shuddering is around 35, far lower than the lowest setting you can use for automatic lowering.
I started a separate thread about this, not realizing this one existed - my bad. I purchased my brand new X in Sept 2019 and it "shuddered" right out of the lot. Multiple chats with the local service person (who basically blew me off) and finally visited the Portland service center - who said this was a "feature" of the new drivetrain and to not worry about it unless it got worse. We don't drive it much (about 6k miles on it now), and so it hasn't gotten any worse - but is definitely still present. I can get changes in behavior by lowering the suspension, though that doesn't sound like a good long-term solution.
I have been holding off on ordering a new Tesla because of this issue and I really do not want to battle them over it.
I guess my experience would say they probably haven't fixed it yet
VikH
Supporting Member
To confirm, we are talking about pre-Raven cars. I don't see a lot of data in this thread showing that shudder has returned after the TSB. To be honest, most of the posts are from Ravens which is a different issue since they have different half shafts and susp components. There is no TSB for Raven cars.
It sounds like you drive your car mostly in Standard susp height, so that may be the problem. Prior to getting the TSB, shudder would present when accelerating hard in a straight line.
VikH
Supporting Member
I started a separate thread about this, not realizing this one existed - my bad. I purchased my brand new X in Sept 2019 and it "shuddered" right out of the lot. Multiple chats with the local service person (who basically blew me off) and finally visited the Portland service center - who said this was a "feature" of the new drivetrain and to not worry about it unless it got worse. We don't drive it much (about 6k miles on it now), and so it hasn't gotten any worse - but is definitely still present. I can get changes in behavior by lowering the suspension, though that doesn't sound like a good long-term solution.
I have been holding off on ordering a new Tesla because of this issue and I really do not want to battle them over it.I guess my experience would say they probably haven't fixed it yet
What do you mean it shuddered out of the lot? On my non-Raven car, prior to getting the TSB, my car would only shudder under medium-hard acceleration. Under normal driving and acceleration it was not present.
I suggest driving in Low suspension if that fixes the issue. It is worth the slight camber wear.
There might even be no camber wear. I'm at 30k on my tires, about 24k in Low, and still have even enough wear inside to outside that there isn't a 32nd of difference.
I bought lowering links and adjustable camber arms for rear and toe to prevent shuddering from even happening.I started a separate thread about this, not realizing this one existed - my bad. I purchased my brand new X in Sept 2019 and it "shuddered" right out of the lot. Multiple chats with the local service person (who basically blew me off) and finally visited the Portland service center - who said this was a "feature" of the new drivetrain and to not worry about it unless it got worse. We don't drive it much (about 6k miles on it now), and so it hasn't gotten any worse - but is definitely still present. I can get changes in behavior by lowering the suspension, though that doesn't sound like a good long-term solution.
I have been holding off on ordering a new Tesla because of this issue and I really do not want to battle them over it.I guess my experience would say they probably haven't fixed it yet
Christine600
Supporting Member
Haven't accepted delivery of my vehicle yet. Plan to take it straight from Tesla to the shop to install everything before I start using my car. N2itive Launches Rear Control Arms for Tesla Models S/X! is where I got the product. Don is the owner and he is extremely helpful and informative. Spoke with him via email, text, and a phone call before making my purchase.
edit: I have a VIN, delivery will probably happen within the next week. Will take before and after pictures and post an update.
davezforce
IG @davezforce
I have the unplugged performance lowering brackets in my X that I installed with 34 miles on my car. They also just released adj camber arms, they should be arriving shortly and I will install and have the car aligned. Since the new update I have it set to always default to low, so I will have it aligned on low.
How many miles do you have on your car now? Any shudder? That's what I plan to do. Put the lowering links on, align my car in the low or standard height setting and always keep it there. Just depends on how low it is after the links get put on.
davezforce
IG @davezforce
VikH
Supporting Member
Do you scrape or tires scrape? Seems like that would be a really low ride height. I assume Very Low would be bottoming out.
Do you find to have max power in Low suspension? I find that I get max power when in Very Low. The latest software update may change this for better or worse.
davezforce
IG @davezforce
I have not scraped anything (yet) thank God, I am very cautious when in very low tho. I mostly use that pulling into parking lots and parking. (Wish there was a setting drop to very low on park) Now when driving on the new “default to low” setting it’s basically like driving on the old (pre bracket) very low. It does make the suspension feel like it’s bottoming out on the bump stops at times over big bumps tho, so I tend to switch off default to low around town, and then use default to low for highway. Still playing with the new settings. I might just end up leaving it switched off and let it adjust it self from standard and low. It does look awesome tho lol.
So an update on my prior post. I visited the Portland service center on Monday and had a chat with the folks there. I learned that Tesla has indeed redesigned the powertrain to resolve the shudder problem. However, they are still installing the "old" parts, or at least were still doing so last Sept when my Model X was built. Didn't take much discussion before they agreed to order the new parts and fix the problem on my vehicle - scheduled for about three weeks from now.
They state that it doesn't completely resolve the problem as there will always be some shudder at high power settings, but it is supposed to eliminate it at all levels other than the extremes. We shall see - I'll report back here.
Impression I got was that Tesla simply will not do a recall to fix this problem - you have to directly request it, and it helps to state that the "problem is getting worse". Otherwise, they are content to let you drive with it as-is until either something wears to the point of actually requiring repair, or the customer complains.
As for driving at "low" - I live on a rather steep hill where we do see winter. I don't have the option of avoiding driving with power, and the vehicle shudders all the way up the hill. Driving at "low" suspension helps reduce that shudder, but isn't an option during winter when you need the snow clearance.
I can see from the above posts that people are exploring third-party solutions. I can't speak to the relative behavior of those versus the Tesla solution, but there are obvious warranty issues with going that direction. I'll try to provide an update on how the Tesla fix works once it is installed.
They state that it doesn't completely resolve the problem as there will always be some shudder at high power settings, but it is supposed to eliminate it at all levels other than the extremes. We shall see - I'll report back here.
Impression I got was that Tesla simply will not do a recall to fix this problem - you have to directly request it, and it helps to state that the "problem is getting worse". Otherwise, they are content to let you drive with it as-is until either something wears to the point of actually requiring repair, or the customer complains.
As for driving at "low" - I live on a rather steep hill where we do see winter. I don't have the option of avoiding driving with power, and the vehicle shudders all the way up the hill. Driving at "low" suspension helps reduce that shudder, but isn't an option during winter when you need the snow clearance.
I can see from the above posts that people are exploring third-party solutions. I can't speak to the relative behavior of those versus the Tesla solution, but there are obvious warranty issues with going that direction. I'll try to provide an update on how the Tesla fix works once it is installed.
In your circumstance I would suggest Always Low, then set a geofenced High for your home. The small distance of wear from the High section compared to the lower wear from Low everywhere else should get you the best possible wear, I suspect.
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