Plaid 21” rear tire woes - factory defect?

[dk79]

I am guessing whenever suspension goes into lowest ride height e.g highway driving, it causes negative camber and causes this kind of tire wear. There is an option under suspension settings to always go to lowest ride height. I have unchecked it and will run the car in medium height setting. Will see how that goes. Couldn't find ps4 for the rear so got falken azenis fk510 from discount tire, replaced all 4.
$1570 for falken vs $2100 for ps4 from Tesla.

 

[WilliamG]

I am guessing whenever suspension goes into lowest ride height e.g highway driving, it causes negative camber and causes this kind of tire wear. There is an option under suspension settings to always go to lowest ride height. I have unchecked it and will run the car in medium height setting. Will see how that goes. Couldn't find ps4 for the rear so got falken azenis fk510 from discount tire, replaced all 4.
$1570 for falken vs $2100 for ps4 from Tesla.

The car drops to low automatically at ~highway speed, irrespective of your suspension settings.

 

[headcase]

The car drops to low automatically at ~highway speed, irrespective of your suspension settings.

Yeah, unlike on my last Model S, the refresh always defaults to low now on the highway and I’ve been having to turn it off when I can. I was doing that before seeing this thread, simply because I knew the lower ride height tended to wear out the tires faster on the previous cars, and also for better comfort.

Been hoping Tesla would enable us to set a preference in a future update.

 

[dk79]

The car drops to low automatically at ~highway speed, irrespective of your suspension settings.

You are right above 60mph goes from medium to low automatically regardless of the setting.
I will be ordering adjustable camber arms for the rear, n2itive is making them.

 

[Supersix]

I wish I would have seen this thread earlier. I had what I thought was a normal flat tire and it turned out the tire was starting to come apart on the inside edge. Three of the 4 tires were showing some cupping issues. It really sucks to have these issues at 14k miles. I've decided to get new 20inch wheels and all season tires from TSportline. I'm driving the car more miles than I anticipated and I don't really want to be replacing tires every 6 to 12 months. I haven't read through the entire thread yet, but it sounds like most of the issue is ride height? Tesla really needs to address this. Hopefully everyone experiencing this issue makes Tesla aware of it.

 

[KOL2000]

Jealous of the folks here getting more than 10k from their rear tires!! I'd be very pleased with that. I think getting Michelin or Tesla to pay attention to this is hopeless though.

 

[MrPlaidz]

Yikes, this thread has me worried. I'll be doing a thorough inspection of my '22 Plaids tires tonight.

 

[dk79]

My buddy has plaid on stock 19s with 13k miles stock pirellis 70% tread left after 13k miles and no inside edge wear. After talking to him I
bought Tesla plaid oem 19 inch wheels and tires new from ebay came off 2022 plaid, will install these and should be fine. Will cancel the order for rear camber arms.

 

[dk79]

My buddy has plaid on stock 19s with 13k miles stock pirellis 70% tread left after 13k miles and no inside edge wear. After talking to him I
bought Tesla plaid oem 19 inch wheels and tires new from ebay came off 2022 plaid, will install these and should be fine. Will cancel the order for rear camber arms.

Sorry not 70%, 50% tread left

 

[headcase]

My service center wants to charge me to replace the tires, even though there is only 11k miles on them. Before my appointment, any argument for why I shouldn’t be paying for replacements?

 

[headcase]

Let us know what you find out TSLA Pilot. I have gone through 3 rear PS4s now with the same issue. They keep replacing under Discount Tire's hazard warranty, but it still costs me $150 each time and puts my car out of service for 2-3 weeks each time due to unavailability of tires. Massive PITA...has anyone used PZero's and noticed anything similar?

Interesting. Did you decide to purchase your PS4 replacements at Discount Tire instead of Tesla primarily so you could leverage the hazard warranty thru Discount Tire? Also, how did the warranty cover? Was it just due to premature wear and stated air pressure loss, or was it much worse than that? (e.g. inner belt partially exposed, etc?)

Perhaps this is the way to go, until a better solution comes along (e.g. Tesla allowing us to default back to the medium suspension ride height like we had in the pre-refresh Model S, adding aftermarket adjustable rear camber arms, etc.).

 

[Betheclub98]

My service center wants to charge me to replace the tires, even though there is only 11k miles on them. Before my appointment, any argument for why I shouldn’t be paying for replacements?

I’m not aware of any magic statement that will get Tesla to contribute. Their standard line is that they don’t warranty tires. The certs available from Discount Tire seems to be the better route if you can park your car until the 21” 4S’s finally get back in stock.

That being said, are we giving up on the idea that this is something other than camber wear? I’m still of the belief that the wear is too precise to be due to camber settings - regardless of ride height. I will defer to those more knowledgeable, but I’ve seen camber wear on BMWs for years and it’s nothing like this and never results in a shredded tire.

 

[Russell]

I’m not aware of any magic statement that will get Tesla to contribute. Their standard line is that they don’t warranty tires. The certs available from Discount Tire seems to be the better route if you can park your car until the 21” 4S’s finally get back in stock.

That being said, are we giving up on the idea that this is something other than camber wear? I’m still of the belief that the wear is too precise to be due to camber settings - regardless of ride height. I will defer to those more knowledgeable, but I’ve seen camber wear on BMWs for years and it’s nothing like this and never results in a shredded tire.

Did the tires on the BMW have the same load ratings? The sidewalls on the 4Ss look very stiff.

 

[Ash83]

Thank you I will fill them up ASAP. much appreciated!

Check the sticker on the door, mine says 40 for the 21". if you have a problem in the car you need to find it not try to mask it by over inflating the tires based on some advice online.

 

[xEvoLveDx]

I don't remember all the details but I did see/read something in the past about how the rear active dampener connectors/lines could have been installed/fastened incorrectly from the factory which allows the rear tire to rub the lines and cause damage. I previously used a cell phone camera/light to snap a pic without removing the wheel so I could get a good look at this area to make sure I don't see any tire wear marks on the lines. I did notice that my driver side lines/connector was installed slightly different than the passenger side so there is less clearance from the tire on my driver side. Luckily mine doesn't seem to rub so I didn't take it in to complain. My 2021 Plaid with 21 inch wheels/tires are wearing just fine at ~7600 miles but I will keep an eye on them.

 

[SoCal Buzz]

I don't remember all the details but I did see/read something in the past about how the rear active dampener connectors/lines could have been installed/fastened incorrectly from the factory which allows the rear tire to rub the lines and cause damage. I previously used a cell phone camera/light to snap a pic without removing the wheel so I could get a good look at this area to make sure I don't see any tire wear marks on the lines. I did notice that my driver side lines/connector was installed slightly different than the passenger side so there is less clearance from the tire on my driver side. Luckily mine doesn't seem to rub so I didn't take it in to complain. My 2021 Plaid with 21 inch wheels/tires are wearing just fine at ~7600 miles but I will keep an eye on them.
View attachment 839832

It was this post. Probably more likely the tire would wear down the wire, not the other way around.

2021+ Model S and Model S Plaid Refresh Issues Thread

I got the update, but now getting “dashcam viewer unavailable” when I try to open the viewer…anyone else solved this one yet? Maybe I have to reformat the usb drive again? I encountered the same problem. Tesla recommended rebooting the system. I haven't done that yet. After that, I'll...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Betheclub98]

Did the tires on the BMW have the same load ratings? The sidewalls on the 4Ss look very stiff.

I don’t recall the load ratings on thr BMW tires, but they were probably not as high as these. But that still wouldn’t explain the lack of gradual treadwear, would it? The tread depth here was extremely even across the width of the tire up until half-an-inch from the inside sidewall.

 

[Gixx1300R]

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

I would suggest filing a complaint

 

[Betheclub98]

I took this photo with the tire off. What do we think could be rubbing here besides the tire?

Here is my very rudimentary representation of what could be happening:

 

[1100MCM]

Couldn't find ps4 for the rear so got falken azenis fk510 from discount tire, replaced all 4.
$1570 for falken vs $2100 for ps4 from Tesla.

That’s the biggest regret I have on my Model 3 Performance: going cheap and installing Falkens instead of PS4s. It was definitely a downgrade on noise and handling. I guess you do get what you paid for. I won’t make that mistake on my Plaid.