Performance Model 3 Snow Tires/Rims

[gurtburns]

Hey Ive got an order placed for a P3D with the Performance package that comes with the Michelin PS4S 235/25/R20. Since these are a summer tire Im going to look into getting some snow tires for the winter (Pittsburgh, PA). I know Tesla sells PIRELLI WINTER SOTTOZERO 3 with either the Aero wheels or the 19" sport wheels.

Will either of those fit on the larger brakes that come with the 5k performance package?

What winter rim/tires are you guys looking to get for your performance model 3?

 

[e-FTW]

We know very little about the performance brakes and what clearance may or may not be available.
We are not even sure that the larger brakes are on the performance model (without performance upgrade package).

TBD!

 

[D3xDt3Reaction]

I'm in the Arizona desert so we don't really have winter, but I might like to put all-season tires on the P3D when it gets "cool" in case I want to make a snow trip. I know, all-seasons are kind of lame for pure performance, nor are they great snow tires, but winter tires don't seem too compatible with our climate and I don't want to swap out tires for a casual trip. Unfortunately 235/35/R20 doesn't seem to offer much in the way of all-season tires, but 245/35/R20 does. Anyone know if 245/35/R20 would work on the P3D? It's about a 1/8" difference in tire height so I can't see why not.

 

[ZeroRider]

Hey Ive got an order placed for a P3D with the Performance package that comes with the Michelin PS4S 235/25/R20. Since these are a summer tire Im going to look into getting some snow tires for the winter (Pittsburgh, PA). I know Tesla sells PIRELLI WINTER SOTTOZERO 3 with either the Aero wheels or the 19" sport wheels.

Will either of those fit on the larger brakes that come with the 5k performance package?

What winter rim/tires are you guys looking to get for your performance model 3?

I have also ordered a P3D with Performance Upgrades package and instead of purchasing an entirely new set of wheels and tires, I plan on buying these winter tires which fit perfectly on the 20" performance wheels: PILOT ALPIN PA4 N-SPEC - SIZE: 235/35R20

In addition to the car looking awesome blasting through snow on 20s, it helps avoid spending all that extra money on an extra set of wheels. Additionally, the slightly larger contact patch of the 20s might actually provide slighty better traction than a smaller sized wheel/tire.

 

[gurtburns]

I have also ordered a P3D with Performance Upgrades package and instead of purchasing an entirely new set of wheels and tires, I plan on buying these winter tires which fit perfectly on the 20" performance wheels: PILOT ALPIN PA4 N-SPEC - SIZE: 235/35R20

In addition to the car looking awesome blasting through snow on 20s, it helps avoid spending all that extra money on an extra set of wheels. Additionally, the slightly larger contact patch of the 20s might actually provide slighty better traction than a smaller sized wheel/tire.

Thats something I hadn't considered. Looks like a swap and balance costs $50-150 depending on location. Does swapping every year have any effect on the tires themselves?

We know very little about the performance brakes and what clearance may or may not be available.
We are not even sure that the larger brakes are on the performance model (without performance upgrade package).

TBD!

Yeah I guess I getting a little ahead of myself here, but since delivery is going to be Sept-Nov for me, I'd like to get a winter plan in place. I'd be surprised if the the larger brakes are not on the performance upgrade package but I guess they could be on the base performance as well.


TireRack is also showing sets for a staggered Model 3 so i wonder if the rear tires will be 275 or not.

 

[PessimiStick]

I have also ordered a P3D with Performance Upgrades package and instead of purchasing an entirely new set of wheels and tires, I plan on buying these winter tires which fit perfectly on the 20" performance wheels: PILOT ALPIN PA4 N-SPEC - SIZE: 235/35R20

In addition to the car looking awesome blasting through snow on 20s, it helps avoid spending all that extra money on an extra set of wheels. Additionally, the slightly larger contact patch of the 20s might actually provide slighty better traction than a smaller sized wheel/tire.

Having to swap tires off your rims twice a year seems like a gigantic pain in the ass, to me. I'd much rather just swap wheels.

Source: Did this with my Evo for about a year and a half before I decided it was dumb and got a second set of wheels.

 

[ZeroRider]

Yeah I guess I getting a little ahead of myself here, but since delivery is going to be Sept-Nov for me, I'd like to get a winter plan in place. I'd be surprised if the the larger brakes are not on the performance upgrade package but I guess they could be on the base performance as well.

So this is technically speculation until officially confirmed on the Tesla website, but I have a contact at Tesla (who has 6+ years at the company, very close to the Model 3 product team, etc.) who has confirmed to me that the larger performance brakes only come with the performance package. The reason I was given for this is because the brakes are so large that they will not fit inside the 18" wheels. They did mention that they will just barely fit inside the 19s. With this information, I would not recommend buying 18" wheels/snow tires until you receive official confirmation from Tesla.

Still, I'm sticking with the 20" snow tires because it doesn't make sense to me spend all that extra money on a new set of 19" wheels. Plus the PILOT ALPIN PA4 N-SPEC tires were designed for Porsche, so in addition to being quite formidable in the snow, they're still apparently really high performance on dry pavement.

 

[ZeroRider]

Having to swap tires off your rims twice a year seems like a gigantic pain in the ass, to me. I'd much rather just swap wheels.

Source: Did this with my Evo for about a year and a half before I decided it was dumb and got a second set of wheels.

To each their own! A half hour tire change appointment twice a year is far less of a pain in the ass to me than spending $3500 on the 19" wheel/snow tire package.

 

[SteveTack]

Still, I'm sticking with the 20" snow tires because it doesn't make sense to me spend all that extra money on a new set of 19" wheels. Plus the PILOT ALPIN PA4 N-SPEC tires were designed for Porsche, so in addition to being quite formidable in the snow, they're still apparently really high performance on dry pavement.

I plugged the 20" into Tire Rack the other day and it came up with those as the only choice.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/Tire...&autoYear=2018&autoModel=Model+3&autoModClar=

But for me it listed wider rears? Do we know yet if that matches the summers that come with the 20's?

 

[PessimiStick]

P3D is square. 235/35/20 on all 4.

 

[Nandrews508]

FYI - I have a P3D+ order that should be delivered soon and got this response this morning when asking if the 19inch performance wheel package would fit on the P3D+. Short answer is no and you'll have to swap out treads.

Thanks again for contacting Tesla! We spoke yesterday about your winter tires and the clearance you'd have with the performance brakes. I had to call around to a few different service centers to get an accurate answer. A couple of our agents here in the corporate office have a lot of vehicle background and history, so we have a wide variety of resources I wanted to collect. It was challenging to get a solid answer, but I don't think this is possible as of now. Of all my service technicians and lead technicians, not one of them have seen a performance M3 with winter tires on, so they were unaware if that was possible, unless they tried it. I don't want you to purchase winter tires just to have them not fit. After speaking with some more of my fellow agents, who again are very versed in mechanical workings of vehicles, I did learn that it is not going to have enough clearance to work and function properly. Like we mentioned before, the brake calipers on the performance models are already much bigger than normal, giving us less clearance in the initial design. The inner sidewall will rub against the calipers, and either very severely cause premature wear and tear on your tread, or cause a very uneven decline of your tread life. The other concern is that it may start to push on the calipers, if you were to hit a pothole or a large bump, misalignment of the calipers is a factor as well. All in all I think the safest route to take would be to not purchase the winter tires for your Performance Model 3, and maybe attempt safer driving habits during winter (not to say you don't already) just to increase your validity to safety.
Please reach out to the service center and ask to speak with a manager, if this is still something you'd like information on. You are welcome to email back or call in as well with any other questions you may have! I hope this helps you, I hope you enjoy the weekend!

 

[SteveTack]

I think the safest route to take would be to not purchase the winter tires for your Performance Model 3, and maybe attempt safer driving habits during winter

I also replied to this on Reddit.

That person's statement is dangerous advice.

 

[JeffK]

All in all I think the safest route to take would be to not purchase the winter tires for your Performance Model 3, and maybe attempt safer driving habits during winter (not to say you don't already) just to increase your validity to safety.

Wow that just shows how well they understand winter driving on summer tires.

 

[SunCharged]

Wow that just shows how well they understand winter driving on summer tires.

Yeah, driving around in snowy conditions on performance tires will get you in a lot of trouble. My Subaru WRX couldn’t even make it up my driveway with summer tires and just the slightest dusting of slick snow.

 

[spacemnspiff]

Yeah, driving around in snowy conditions on performance tires will get you in a lot of trouble. My Subaru WRX couldn’t even make it up my driveway with summer tires and just the slightest dusting of slick snow.

It probably is not for everyone, but I have been able to manage for 10 years in MD winters with a 6spd manual 350Z on performance summer tires, 275mm wide in the back and 245mm in the front. I didn't drive if there the snow on the roads were not cleared, apart from that I drove in all seasons, I let the tires warm up before pushing it. I have had my share of hairy incidents, but it wasn't terribly bad.

 

[Nandrews508]

It probably is not for everyone, but I have been able to manage for 10 years in MD winters with a 6spd manual 350Z on performance summer tires, 275mm wide in the back and 245mm in the front. I didn't drive if there the snow on the roads were not cleared, apart from that I drove in all seasons, I let the tires warm up before pushing it. I have had my share of hairy incidents, but it wasn't terribly bad.

Yeah, the only problem is that the current tires on the 20 inch performance wheels will literally fail at 20 degrees and aren't recommended below 40 degrees. The only real solution (for at least this winter) is the replace the summer treads with winter treads.

 

[Funkmobile]

FYI - I have a P3D+ order that should be delivered soon and got this response this morning when asking if the 19inch performance wheel package would fit on the P3D+. Short answer is no and you'll have to swap out treads.

Thanks again for contacting Tesla! We spoke yesterday about your winter tires and the clearance you'd have with the performance brakes. I had to call around to a few different service centers to get an accurate answer. A couple of our agents here in the corporate office have a lot of vehicle background and history, so we have a wide variety of resources I wanted to collect. It was challenging to get a solid answer, but I don't think this is possible as of now. Of all my service technicians and lead technicians, not one of them have seen a performance M3 with winter tires on, so they were unaware if that was possible, unless they tried it. I don't want you to purchase winter tires just to have them not fit. After speaking with some more of my fellow agents, who again are very versed in mechanical workings of vehicles, I did learn that it is not going to have enough clearance to work and function properly. Like we mentioned before, the brake calipers on the performance models are already much bigger than normal, giving us less clearance in the initial design. The inner sidewall will rub against the calipers, and either very severely cause premature wear and tear on your tread, or cause a very uneven decline of your tread life. The other concern is that it may start to push on the calipers, if you were to hit a pothole or a large bump, misalignment of the calipers is a factor as well. All in all I think the safest route to take would be to not purchase the winter tires for your Performance Model 3, and maybe attempt safer driving habits during winter (not to say you don't already) just to increase your validity to safety.
Please reach out to the service center and ask to speak with a manager, if this is still something you'd like information on. You are welcome to email back or call in as well with any other questions you may have! I hope this helps you, I hope you enjoy the weekend!

Could someone please explain how:

1.) The inner sidewall can rub against the brake calipers?
2.) How the brake calipers can rub against the wheel/tire when you hit a bump if everything is properly mounted?

 

[ronin]

FYI - I have a P3D+ order that should be delivered soon and got this response this morning when asking if the 19inch performance wheel package would fit on the P3D+. Short answer is no and you'll have to swap out treads.

Thanks again for contacting Tesla! We spoke yesterday about your winter tires and the clearance you'd have with the performance brakes. I had to call around to a few different service centers to get an accurate answer. A couple of our agents here in the corporate office have a lot of vehicle background and history, so we have a wide variety of resources I wanted to collect. It was challenging to get a solid answer, but I don't think this is possible as of now. Of all my service technicians and lead technicians, not one of them have seen a performance M3 with winter tires on, so they were unaware if that was possible, unless they tried it. I don't want you to purchase winter tires just to have them not fit. After speaking with some more of my fellow agents, who again are very versed in mechanical workings of vehicles, I did learn that it is not going to have enough clearance to work and function properly. Like we mentioned before, the brake calipers on the performance models are already much bigger than normal, giving us less clearance in the initial design. The inner sidewall will rub against the calipers, and either very severely cause premature wear and tear on your tread, or cause a very uneven decline of your tread life. The other concern is that it may start to push on the calipers, if you were to hit a pothole or a large bump, misalignment of the calipers is a factor as well. All in all I think the safest route to take would be to not purchase the winter tires for your Performance Model 3, and maybe attempt safer driving habits during winter (not to say you don't already) just to increase your validity to safety.
Please reach out to the service center and ask to speak with a manager, if this is still something you'd like information on. You are welcome to email back or call in as well with any other questions you may have! I hope this helps you, I hope you enjoy the weekend!

This sounds ridiculous.

 

[JeffK]

Check this out:
18s

19s

20s

There's no way those would fit on the 18s.

 

[ronin]

Check this out:
18s

19s

20s

There's no way those would fit on the 18s.

True, but the 19" should, right?

If they don't, well, it's then annoying to have to find an extra set of 20" for winter.