News for Model X owners with the dreaded shudder

[Hans Allis]

I'm not certain they ever actually shipped an X without SAS.

They didn't. They were supposed to, but it seems they either didn't get that working reliably or didn't like the ride quality without it.

...
What are the actual downsides to the shudder i.e. what does it do to the car in the long run, if any? Is it better to have the suspension in Low and have the tires burn out or risk getting the shudder issue?...

IANAM, but my gut says there's a chance of extra wear and tear on the front drive shafts. The joints in that drive shaft are at a sharp angle which causes them to not turn smoothly when force is applied.

 

[Kacey Green]

Same, my car came back from SC with Suspension on Low, no wonder the ride was smoother than I was used to since delivery in late August! I have it back on Standard again.

What are the actual downsides to the shudder i.e. what does it do to the car in the long run, if any? Is it better to have the suspension in Low and have the tires burn out or risk getting the shudder issue?

Does the MS & M3 have the shudder issue too? It's crazy that they haven't fixed the issue despite knowing about it for so long!

My Model S 90D had half-shafts and Jack shaft replaced for shudder

 

[Peteski]

What are the actual downsides to the shudder i.e. what does it do to the car in the long run, if any? Is it better to have the suspension in Low and have the tires burn out or risk getting the shudder issue?

The tyres will not necessarily "burn out" with suspension set to low. It all depends on what static camber settings your car has. Newer cars coming from the factory are now optimised around the low setting, hence default set to always low, and I can now confirm even tyre wear over 10k miles set on low. Your local SC should be able to set your static camber to suit the lower ride height if they haven't already done that.

The shudder is basically due to excessive wear in the driveshaft joints because of the angle they sit at higher ride heights. In the long term it would almost certainly get worse and possibly fail completely at some point. May also fail MOT (or whatever mandatory roadworthiness tests you may have over the pond).

 

[gavine]

Visually, I'm generally not a fan of lowered cars, but I have to say that the X looks way better to me on low vs. standard.

 

[Kacey Green]

The tyres will not necessarily "burn out" with suspension set to low. It all depends on what static camber settings your car has. Newer cars coming from the factory are now optimised around the low setting, hence default set to always low, and I can now confirm even tyre wear over 10k miles set on low. Your local SC should be able to set your static camber to suit the lower ride height if they haven't already done that.

The shudder is basically due to excessive wear in the driveshaft joints because of the angle they sit at higher ride heights. In the long term it would almost certainly get worse and possibly fail completely at some point. May also fail MOT (or whatever mandatory roadworthiness tests you may have over the pond).

My car was built in August and shipped in standard, picked up Saturday. It started production after the rumors of the new parts.

What level is this thing supposed to be set to? The service center is the one that set it to low.

 

[bayx]

My car was built in August and shipped in standard, picked up Saturday. It started production after the rumors of the new parts.

What level is this thing supposed to be set to? The service center is the one that set it to low.

Yup, I have the same question! If the SC set it to low, do they think that the newer builds have the same shudder issue too? Or would the factory know better because it came with the setting in Standard?

 

[mal_tsla]

There's a reason why Standard is called Standard.

Low is for high speeds, more efficient aero, etc.

The SC are setting cars to Low as a bandaid so we don't need to drive with our cars shaking every time we accelerate.

I leave it at low and hope a real fix comes soon.

 

[Pandamoanium]

Anyone here worried about this not having a fix before warranty is up?

 

[MP3Mike]

Anyone here worried about this not having a fix before warranty is up?

As long as you have opened a case with Tesla on the issue and they have confirmed the problem before your warranty expires you should be covered. But if you are close I would push to get something in writing.

 

[DarkMatter]

That is exactly what they said during my last service: they don't have a fix yet, but they'll put it in my case notes and put in that Engineering is working on a fix, so it'll be covered even if I run through my warranty before the fix comes out. And that's what my paperwork reflected afterwards.

 

[Peteski]

There's a reason why Standard is called Standard.

Low is for high speeds, more efficient aero, etc.

The SC are setting cars to Low as a bandaid so we don't need to drive with our cars shaking every time we accelerate.

I leave it at low and hope a real fix comes soon.

While I agree you should be able to use "standard" ride height without driveshaft issues, for about 99% of my driving on road low is actually preferable. It still has reasonable ground clearance, ride quality is the same and handling is notably improved. Only time I raise it up is off-road or approaching very steep ramps i.e. vary rarely.

 

[Peteski]

My car was built in August and shipped in standard, picked up Saturday. It started production after the rumors of the new parts.

What level is this thing supposed to be set to? The service center is the one that set it to low.

Best to run it "low" unless you actually need more ground clearance for whatever reason. My tyre wear has been fine for the last 10k miles (Feb 18 car). Perfectly even wear across the rear tyres and actually fractionally more outer tread wear on both fronts. So if I had run "standard" ride height I would have had more uneven tyre wear on all 4 wheels. Also no acceleration shudder so far at this mileage.

The best advice I can give anyone is to monitor your tyre wear every 1000 miles or so to make sure they are wearing evenly at whatever ride height you are using. There will likely be a fairly wide factory tolerance (especially as this is Tesla we are talking about!) on static camber setting, so there could be plenty of variability among individual cars.

 

[mxnym]

That is exactly what they said during my last service: they don't have a fix yet, but they'll put it in my case notes and put in that Engineering is working on a fix, so it'll be covered even if I run through my warranty before the fix comes out. And that's what my paperwork reflected afterwards.

Wish I could get my service center to say that. They basically call it normal and don't fix it. I asked them about a possible engineering fix last time I was in (after this thread started) and they said they haven't heard anything and I should just keep mentioning it every visit.

 

[Pandamoanium]

As long as you have opened a case with Tesla on the issue and they have confirmed the problem before your warranty expires you should be covered. But if you are close I would push to get something in writing.

I'll need to check on it, for some reason they could not replicate it when the tech went on a drive with it. I've noticed mine occurs the most after a sharp right turn. Usually out of my neighborhood.

 

[DarkMatter]

Wish I could get my service center to say that. They basically call it normal and don't fix it. I asked them about a possible engineering fix last time I was in (after this thread started) and they said they haven't heard anything and I should just keep mentioning it every visit.

They initially said that until I mentioned that I tow from time to time. Since towing requires standard height, it will eventually need a fix.

 

[Nrazar]

Hey guys! quick update on myself. I brought my Model X 100D (build date February 2018) into the service center for un-related problems that required them to do a significant amount of work on the alignment. The steering wheel was off center but it never pulled in any direction. After picking it up a few days later, I noticed the car lost all its shudder! I replaced my half shafts twice in the past three months, but that never resolved it fully. I am so relieved, but I am sure it might come back. Could this have been an alignment problem out of the factory (Probably wishful thinking tbh)?

 

[Peteski]

Hey guys! quick update on myself. I brought my Model X 100D (build date February 2018) into the service center for un-related problems that required them to do a significant amount of work on the alignment. The steering wheel was off center but it never pulled in any direction. After picking it up a few days later, I noticed the car lost all its shudder! I replaced my half shafts twice in the past three months, but that never resolved it fully. I am so relieved, but I am sure it might come back. Could this have been an alignment problem out of the factory (Probably wishful thinking tbh)?

Quite possibly since the shudder issue is due to the geometry of the suspension and driveshafts. What was your tyre wear like before the alignment was reset? Did you have excessive wear across the tyres or loads of scrubbing? If the steering wasn't pulling to one side, then whatever wheel geometry you had must have been reasonably symmetrical, but could easily have had way too much/too little camber or excessive toe in/out. The off-set steering wheel could be due to a number of issues and potentially mess up the steering Ackermann if the rack or pinion was off-centre. Or that could simply be a steering wheel alignment issue, depending on how it fits to the column.

 

[gavine]

Hey guys! quick update on myself. I brought my Model X 100D (build date February 2018) into the service center for un-related problems that required them to do a significant amount of work on the alignment. The steering wheel was off center but it never pulled in any direction. After picking it up a few days later, I noticed the car lost all its shudder! I replaced my half shafts twice in the past three months, but that never resolved it fully. I am so relieved, but I am sure it might come back. Could this have been an alignment problem out of the factory (Probably wishful thinking tbh)?

Maybe they set the suspension to “always low” and aligned it at that setting?

 

[NHK X]

That is exactly what they said during my last service: they don't have a fix yet, but they'll put it in my case notes and put in that Engineering is working on a fix, so it'll be covered even if I run through my warranty before the fix comes out. And that's what my paperwork reflected afterwards.

I was told that they would document it and in terms of warranty, they recommended (from two different service centers) to not have it fixed yet until the permanent fix comes out. Having a documented issue in a ride along plus showing that they hadn’t fixed yet would be the best bet for coverage out of warranty.

 

[Vakil92]

I was told that they would document it and in terms of warranty, they recommended (from two different service centers) to not have it fixed yet until the permanent fix comes out. Having a documented issue in a ride along plus showing that they hadn’t fixed yet would be the best bet for coverage out of warranty.

I did not have any shudder on my MX p100d ...it was perfect .... made the mistake of having the one year service done thinking the oil in the drive units needed to be changed ... told them the car is pulling to the left ... well they did something in the alignment process and now car pulls to the right ... and vibrates like a frikkin dildo at 65mph ... it’s bloody undriveable ... to put insult to injury they quit doing the drive unit oil change several months ago ... and to top it all off I paid almost 700$ to them to for the service and now I got a 170,000$ car that drives like a 1970 Datsun with a couple of million miles on it .... very disappointing... the service guy wanted me to come on Wednesday.. but I just dropped the car off at the service center .. if I can do launch mode ... can’t drive it at performance speeds ... I have no use for the car ... at 70 mph the car feels like it’s gonna rip apart ...