There's nothing wrong with your alignment, most likely. This is a chronic issue with the Michelin OEM tires used by Tesla.
It does NOT occur with the OEM Pirelli 19" tires.
Don't waste your money with an unneeded alignment.
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Plaid 21” rear tire woes - factory defect?
- Thread starter KOL2000
- Start date
It does NOT occur with the OEM Pirelli 19" tires.
Don't waste your money with an unneeded alignment.
n2mb_racing
Active Member
Great info! Do you know if I can start the claim process when I develop the slow leak or do I need to wait for some sign of delamination or failure? I'm at the very slow leak phase, which no other visible damage.^^^^^^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tesla has next to zero support for Michelin's chronic tire failures, but they'll gladly sell you a new set of rear tires for well over $1k . . . as they have for so many already.
To get new tires at Michelin's expense simply file a claim here, or via their telephone number:
Michelin Tire Support & Michelin Customer Support | Michelin
Need Michelin tire support or Michelin customer support? Access our contact information here, and get the answers to all of your Michelin questions.www.michelinman.com
Eventually you'll get a set of replacement Michelin OEM tires (they are often on back order--hmmm, I wonder why?) and you should only have to pay a token amount of money for mounting and balancing the new tires, usually around $40 or $50 total.
*****Of greater importance: someone is going to get hurt when one of these tires lets go at high speed.*****
These tires need to be off the road and replaced, via a NHTSA safety recall, ASAP. To get a recall NHTSA needs DATA; let's help get them the data they need as only a small percentage of people will follow thru--most people just buy new tires and move on. PLEASE file a formal input here; it only takes a minute or two:
Report a Safety Problem | NHTSA
File a complaint with NHTSA if you experienced a vehicle, tire, car seat or equipment safety problem that could be a safety defect.www.nhtsa.gov
Thanks!
Maddening, isn't it? They know they have this issue, but since fixing it likely requires admitting they screwed up somewhere in the component design process Tesla's answer seems to be "budget $1-2k annually for tires and move along." I'm mounting my 20x10 square setup next week and will be installing N2itive lowering links and rear camber arms at the same time. I absolutely did not want to touch the suspension on this car or lower it (it's plenty low enough) due to warranty a$$-pains that I'm sure will follow, but I also can't afford to wrangle with Tesla while or drop $2k per year on tires given my average of about 20k miles driving per year.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tesla has next to zero support for Michelin's chronic tire failures, but they'll gladly sell you a new set of rear tires for well over $1k . . . as they have for so many already.
To get new tires at Michelin's expense simply file a claim here, or via their telephone number:
Michelin Tire Support & Michelin Customer Support | Michelin
Need Michelin tire support or Michelin customer support? Access our contact information here, and get the answers to all of your Michelin questions.
Is this working for folks? Also, that link has like 8 contact options. Which one did you use?
Not sure tesla will help with tire warranties (but don't quote me on that). Discount tire will though.
Thanks for sharing this. We developed our bolt specs based on the bolt type and coating. Curiously that torque spec is inline with grade 8.8 galvanized bolt. The EPC indicates it is a 10.9... As verified on the cars we have encountered as well. Thus the spec we call for is inline with a grade 10.9 fastener and would not be "way over torqued" but actually be what is called out for that grade steel in that application.
Of note, most (almost all?) tire dealers/technicians are not well schooled in diagnosing microscopic internal tire defects leading to tread delamination as caused by improper tire design and/or construction. Instead, they seem to be far more likely to blame "improper alignment" for any odd looking tire failure that rolls into the shop . . . that's the easiest path for the inadequately informed tire tech.
That said, I have had decent results at Discount Tire, but only AFTER Michelin HQ got involved with their own Michelin Field Engineer. At first, from DT it was, "We see a lot of Teslas like that because of bad alignment" because that's ALWAYS their "go to" for any tire defect that shows up . . . . To be blunt, they are most certainly NOT getting graduate level education on tire engineering or technology before they're a customer-facing employee at DT.
Odd how those same technicians never have an explanation as to why the OEM 19" Pirelli doesn't have those "alignment" problems despite being on the same cars with the same factory alignment specs . . . . And let's not get into the bias introduced by their sampling method: all they see if tires with problems. They don't know or understand the tire failures they DON'T see (like the Pirelli 19" OEM's on the Plaid).
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Pretty sure the factory torque spec take into account the material the fastener is bolted into which is aluminum. I wouldn't deviate from the factory specs.
Don't know, don't care.
If Tesla's alignment spec is "xxxxx" then the OEM tires need to be able to accept "xxxxx," as intended. Michelin has just introduced an new "EV" tire that perhaps is better able to handle the unique loads imposed by EV's, and I think it's already spec'd as the OEM tire by Mercedes--perhaps Tesla should consider that tire for OEM instead of what they're using now . . . .
You never read the model x groups do you? 22" pirellis do this same thing on the MX. But it's probably Michelin's fault that Pirellis fail on the SUVs too.
Will await the results from this research study conducted by one of the "graduate level educated molecular tire engineers".
Hayseed_MS
Spreader of "Endless Non Sequitur"
You are on to something. Maybe Michelin and pirelli really do not know what is going on and it is Goodyear pulling the strings.
SucreTease
Teslarian
And pulling all the strings behind the scenes is Big Tire.
emailforbrett
Member
The Camaro ZL1 has adjustable camber arms so the car can be driven on the streets and then the wheels can be cambered more aggressively for track use. The Track setting for their rear tires is -2.0. Coincidentally that is the “normal” fixed angle for our Refresh S’s that Tesla recommends. …at Medium height…we ride in Low all the time over 35 MPH so our camber is even more negative than the Chevy in Track Mode. So it would seem we are theoretically running all day long in “Track Mode”, if you will. Can any tire withstand that sort of abuse? That’s why I opted to replace my rear arms for the adjustable ones and set the camber to a more neutral angle for daily driving. I’ll let you know in a year how my tires have been holding up.
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