Sure, that’s why they call them accidents not intentionals. Stuff happens - some people are smart enough to learn from them, some aren’t. I’m sure the OP is in the first category.
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Oops, driving car in icy condition and car slipped on ice and hit a curb hard
- Thread starter samchops
- Start date
Sure, that’s why they call them accidents not intentionals. Stuff happens - some people are smart enough to learn from them, some aren’t. I’m sure the OP is in the first category.
My guess - just a guess - is the OP never had summer tires before, and never had any reason to even think about them.
Lots of people are probably unfamiliar with the concept of a tire that should never be used below freezing. Or at least, it wouldn't occur to them they'd ever have such tires. If you're not into performance driving there is little reason to ever have summer tires on your car. Most passenger cars don't come with them, and if you show up with a typical car at a tire shop asking for replacement tires, they're not even going to discuss summer tires with you.
OP "should" have considered that a "Performance" model might come with summer tires, checked the tire model on the sidewalls, etc - but I can totally see this not occurring to many people, especially for an AWD sedan (not a sports car).
I'm guessing the Tesla delivery staff didn't warn the OP about the tires, and in my opinion that is just as big a failing. To me that is inexcusable in Denver. Maybe Tesla did warn and the OP forgot, but my guess is there was no warning given. It really ought to be a standard part of their delivery procedure (when applicable), it's such a trivial and obvious thing for them to do, and could easily make the difference in preventing accidents like this.
Edit: @samchops Thanks for following up about the repairs and sharing the bill. I hope you're getting some winter worthy tires now too!
Lots of people are probably unfamiliar with the concept of a tire that should never be used below freezing. Or at least, it wouldn't occur to them they'd ever have such tires. If you're not into performance driving there is little reason to ever have summer tires on your car. Most passenger cars don't come with them, and if you show up with a typical car at a tire shop asking for replacement tires, they're not even going to discuss summer tires with you.
OP "should" have considered that a "Performance" model might come with summer tires, checked the tire model on the sidewalls, etc - but I can totally see this not occurring to many people, especially for an AWD sedan (not a sports car).
I'm guessing the Tesla delivery staff didn't warn the OP about the tires, and in my opinion that is just as big a failing. To me that is inexcusable in Denver. Maybe Tesla did warn and the OP forgot, but my guess is there was no warning given. It really ought to be a standard part of their delivery procedure (when applicable), it's such a trivial and obvious thing for them to do, and could easily make the difference in preventing accidents like this.
Edit: @samchops Thanks for following up about the repairs and sharing the bill. I hope you're getting some winter worthy tires now too!
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Europe has different standards, in Europe you have to have winter tires on from September to April/ winter season months, it’s mandatory. Because if you get into an accident and you didn’t change out your summer tires, you would be at fault and your insurance would not pay for your damages due to your negligence. Same thing would apply in the USA when they investigate your tires being summer rated you you crash during cold climates, you would be at fault. Summer tires in the scolder climate , you basically shredding your tires and the compound of the summer tires become harder and lesss grip. Michelin make pilots for A/S and Pilots for summer high performance. My old BMW had summer tire and I always be r drive below 60 degrees so I don’t shred or damage the summer tires. You can read up about summer tire be all season. Summer for warmer temps and get winter tires for winter months or temps. Here on the northeast we change out summer tires to winter tire before thanksgiving and put the summer back on in April.
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
Well it would never occur to me to have all-season tires and I've never discussed such a thing with any tire shop. 
But as far as I can tell, Tesla makes no mention of the temperature restrictions during purchase, and most deliveries are done with little or no human contact, and most pre-sales activities like test drives with staff experts are non-existent. The word "Summer" is not found anywhere on Tesla.com, nevermind any explanation of it:
Even an owner diligent enough to read the entire Owner's Manual will only see this little buried snippet about using chains or whatever if you crave even more traction than "the ultimate driving control" that it came stock with:
I empathize with the OP, the overwhelming majority of people just buy a car with the tires it comes with and then replace them whenever the shop tells them to, with whatever the shop tells them to. And OP's home of Denver isn't exactly Fargo. It's just a regular city where people drive regular cars with regular tires all year long without ever knowing or caring about tire types.
But as far as I can tell, Tesla makes no mention of the temperature restrictions during purchase, and most deliveries are done with little or no human contact, and most pre-sales activities like test drives with staff experts are non-existent. The word "Summer" is not found anywhere on Tesla.com, nevermind any explanation of it:
Even an owner diligent enough to read the entire Owner's Manual will only see this little buried snippet about using chains or whatever if you crave even more traction than "the ultimate driving control" that it came stock with:
I empathize with the OP, the overwhelming majority of people just buy a car with the tires it comes with and then replace them whenever the shop tells them to, with whatever the shop tells them to. And OP's home of Denver isn't exactly Fargo. It's just a regular city where people drive regular cars with regular tires all year long without ever knowing or caring about tire types.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Your link says
Not the best English, but I read it to mean that performance is increasingly impaired as ambient goes below 44F
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SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Denver is closer in weather to Fargo than it is to Thousand Oaks.
Denver, Colorado Monthly Snowfall from 1882 to Present - thorntonweather.com
Denver, Colorado official monthly snow totals from 1882 to present from the National Weather Service.
www.thorntonweather.com
Notice that at the moment in Denver it is 23F, and winter is just starting.
ODWms
Member
I can attest no mention of summer tires / temperature restrictions were made at delivery, and I talked extensively with more than one Tesla employee during that interaction. I learned more about it afterward, online in places like this. Luckily for me, I’m in Central Florida, where temperatures rarely if ever get into the 30s, certainly not during the daylight or evening hours when I‘d most likely be driving.
Having said all that, I absolutely love the Michelin PS4s. I’m on my 2nd set, and I will continue to run them on the car. Hands down best tire setup I’ve ever experienced.
Having said all that, I absolutely love the Michelin PS4s. I’m on my 2nd set, and I will continue to run them on the car. Hands down best tire setup I’ve ever experienced.
rpiotro
Active Member
My wife's SLK350 (R172) is equipped with Pilot sports. UHP summer tire. If the temperature is approaching 40°F and the roads are wet the tires spin very easily. Not exactly confidence building.
Is that the tire you are referring to?
OP, Very likely that you don’t need the whole steering rack to be replaced. Probably only the inner tie rod. This part is not sold separately by Tesla, but you can find it on eBay, or aftermarket on rockauto.com. You can also potentially repair the wheel for less than the cost of a new one. Or get a used wheel.
I guess you're making a good point that most people have had all-season tires and have no experience with performance tires. It's like when the 3 first came out, some people complained about the short OEM tire life, and that's because most people had never driven a car with the ability to go from 0-60mph in less than 5 secs.
Tesla Insurance dings me if someone cuts me off, or stops to exit quickly without turn signal. The same company allows people to buy cars with "summer only" high performance tires in areas that are subject to winter weather. Somehow the performance cars need to tell the driver not to drive if they have incorrect tires on. This should be counted in the way that FSD disengagements are dealt with for FSD Beta cars. If you keep driving with summer tires in freezing wet and snowing conditions too many times, the car will be shut down at its home location. Not fair to the rest of us who have to buy insurance and share the road with these vehicles. Ignorance is no excuse. Ex commercial driver where I have seen way to much of this through the years.
Hey there,
I'm sorry to hear about your incident. It's good that you're okay and that the damage seems limited to the wheels.
Given the symptoms you described — the grinding noise and the car pulling to the left — it's likely that your wheel alignment is indeed affected. The impact might have caused misalignment or even damage to the suspension components.
When you go for your appointment, besides checking the alignment, it's advisable to have them inspect the suspension components, especially on the side where the impact occurred. This could include checking for any bent control arms, damaged struts, or other issues that might be causing the pulling and noise.
As a fellow Tesla owner, I'd also recommend considering a set of TESERY's Tesla Model 3 snow chains for future winter driving. They're designed to provide extra traction in icy conditions, offering a layer of safety in situations where slipping might occur.
You can find more about these snow chains here: Tesla Model 3 Snow Chains.
Best of luck with your appointment, and I hope everything gets sorted out smoothly.
I'm sorry to hear about your incident. It's good that you're okay and that the damage seems limited to the wheels.
Given the symptoms you described — the grinding noise and the car pulling to the left — it's likely that your wheel alignment is indeed affected. The impact might have caused misalignment or even damage to the suspension components.
When you go for your appointment, besides checking the alignment, it's advisable to have them inspect the suspension components, especially on the side where the impact occurred. This could include checking for any bent control arms, damaged struts, or other issues that might be causing the pulling and noise.
As a fellow Tesla owner, I'd also recommend considering a set of TESERY's Tesla Model 3 snow chains for future winter driving. They're designed to provide extra traction in icy conditions, offering a layer of safety in situations where slipping might occur.
You can find more about these snow chains here: Tesla Model 3 Snow Chains.
Best of luck with your appointment, and I hope everything gets sorted out smoothly.
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