Plaid Suspension / Steering clicking issue.

[fsabek]

I am not sure if I am having the same issue. So I took delivery of my MSLR three weeks ago with the 21 summer tires and been driving them carefully till I get the 19 AS hopefully next week
anyways ever since I took delivery I notices when I am reversing or turning especially when car and or tires are cold a jolt or thudd but not click which I felt is like when a tire skids and tractions intervene to stop it. Always explained it from the summer rubbers in the cold. very pronounced when reversing while still cold and turning while reversing. never in straight line. Again not click more like traction jerking to stop tire skid. I am assuming that will go away when I get my 19s all seasons or at least hope so.

 

[M4H4X]

Hey @ViperGuy my Plaid is making the exact same sound --

Did you ever figure out what was causing yours? Was it the subframe?

 

[Greeney]

Hey @ViperGuy my Plaid is making the exact same sound --

Did you ever figure out what was causing yours? Was it the subframe?

Identical conditions and sound on mine. Have an appointment on the 17th.

 

[SWSPB]

Any update my man? I have the same issue.

The left rear trail link is being replaced. They say that's the noise but that's just not true. The rear link does pop though and I'm glad they are taking care of that but I'll just have to ride with the tech and show them as they are two distinctly different sounds. That'll happen on 2/4/22.

When they diagnosed the rear link they bumped a ride height sensor out of alignment. I felt that about a 100 yards down the road. The suspension had bottomed out, it felt bumpy and the car leaned. I made a u-turn and they fixed it. Thumbs down as that might have ruined the damper if I had not noticed that right away and who knows what they would have blamed that on. Major tumbs down actually.

I'm getting a new front seat due to a ripple in the cover on the backrest. Thumbs up for that for now but we'll see. I'm not very confident this will happen in a timely manner.

The repair of the rattle in the rear hatch was done with a zip tie which failed 20 miles down the road. I took the thing apart when I got home and fixed the defective clip with a bit of hot glue and moved a wire out from under the clip which prevented that clip from seating properly in the first place. That was so obvious! I really don't get why they missed that wire being under that clip. Works great now but still have a rattle in the front door. I best take care of that myself I think.

They gave me an $800 service credit for an issue with the front wheel wells. The edges of the fenders are rippled, both. They blame it on the ppf installer but they were there before and I have proof in a picture but that pic is not good enough for them. The 800 will buy a couple of tires. I'm good with that and fix this myself as it should only take a bit of TLC to bend these back to somewhat normal.

My overall experience at Tesla in Charlotte, NC is a very mixed bag. Willing people to help, got me a loaner, where very polite but they are hampered by some incompetence in their shop it seems.

I am a picky customer but it's a $100k car from a company that's worth a trillion dollars and I should be able to be picky. I'll give them some time to get the clicks fixed...we'll see.

Sorry this got a bit long. I'll post again after the 4th to let you know about the front left clicks.

 

[Greeney]

I posted in the other thread, but mine went in for this issue and it appears they were successful at fixing it.

 

[Wildcat]

I am not sure if I am having the same issue. So I took delivery of my MSLR three weeks ago with the 21 summer tires and been driving them carefully till I get the 19 AS hopefully next week
anyways ever since I took delivery I notices when I am reversing or turning especially when car and or tires are cold a jolt or thudd but not click which I felt is like when a tire skids and tractions intervene to stop it. Always explained it from the summer rubbers in the cold. very pronounced when reversing while still cold and turning while reversing. never in straight line. Again not click more like traction jerking to stop tire skid. I am assuming that will go away when I get my 19s all seasons or at least hope so.

fsabek, your description is spot on to what I have in my MS Plaid. Did you take it in to Tesla Service?

 

[fsabek]

fsabek, your description is spot on to what I have in my MS Plaid. Did you take it in to Tesla Service?

After I switched to the 19 all season shindig I can’t improvement.

 

[fsabek]

significant improvement I meant

 

[glide]

Same issue with my LR after less than 1K miles. Over a month to get a service appointment.

This company is the worst. $100K vehicle and they can’t even torque bolts to spec.

 

[SWSPB]

Had my service appointment. The next day they said they fixed the clicks but the car is still there...for a week now actually! I'm driving a 2019 MX loaner in the meantime. That thing feels like it's falling apart (has around 21k on it.) Rattles and shakes when accelerating, tag expired!, very dirty inside and out, some drivetrain components are lose as they clunk and rock when you stop and then start moving again - feels like a motor mount issue on a car with 200,000 miles on it. Driving this car as a loaner, when mine is in for suspension issues, is certainly not inspiring any confidence in the service department being able to diagnose/fix their own cars or even care about how their customer perceives Tesla quality. A classic dealership, owned and operated independently would...they have to make a good impression to keep their customers...not so Tesla it seems.

Anyway...I digress...I'll update this when I get to test drive it and let you know if the clicking is indeed gone. My hunch: I don't think they replaced the link as they said it takes quite a while and they need to align it too, yet the car was only for an hour or so inside the shop by what I could tell via the location marker on the app. They may have just torqued things to correct specs and hope for the best. If that messes with the alignment I don't know. I'll see.

My car is still there as I've mentioned, as the radar had broken but that really belongs elsewhere on this site but here is that story anyway if you are interested:

I had confirmed with them a couple of days before this appointment that they have a radar unit in stock as I don't want to waste a 1.5 hour trip each way not getting anything resolved with the radar if it's indeed defective. They said they have it in stock actually...so I took the car to Charlotte the next day. Long story short, the radar they had in stock was not the correct one. This doesn't really surprise me based on my past experience. How hard is it to check with the parts guy or girl to make sure that the radar you have in stock matches a given VIN before you say you have it in stock?

So here we go again...another plunder caused by incompetence or carelessness, I don't know which. What fun it is to own a 100k Tesla! It's just so hard to go back to slow ICE cars! Maybe I should??? Also...bought more Tesla stock today in the dip...what a love-hate relationship this is!

I'll be back with more.

 

[THX723]

My hunch: I don't think they replaced the link as they said it takes quite a while and they need to align it too, yet the car was only for an hour or so inside the shop by what I could tell via the location marker on the app. They may have just torqued things to correct specs and hope for the best. If that messes with the alignment I don't know. I'll see.

Everything thus far in this thread is pointing to the resolution of issue by re-torquing (or replacement of) the bash plate; nothing to do with the suspension arms/links.

 

[glide]

Had mine in for service and they said the noise was due to an issue with the front sway bar, for what it’s worth.

We’ll see if that fixes it.

 

[New TMS]

Just picked up S LR this Saturday. Started to hear the clicking sound today after 150 miles. Have set up a service appointment. Let’s see what comes back

 

[F10w3r5]

I'm having the same clicking issue in my 22 MSP with 1k miles on it. My first service appointment to fix the variety of finish issues and paint issues that came with the car is this Wednesday. Hopefully they can take care of this too. I know it's common, but a little pissed to have spent $150k on a car and having these issues.

 

[Jp617]

Picked up a Model S LR on 3/22 same clicking sound after around 250 miles or so. Service appointment is set for 4/22. I will report back when I get more information.

 

[Jp617]

Picked up a Model S LR on 3/22 same clicking sound after around 250 miles or so. Service appointment is set for 4/22. I will report back when I get more information.

I had the service appointment on 4/19...rescheduled from the original 4/22. See the videos below...curious if this is similar to what folks are experiencing .... Service Center (SC) had the car for 3 hours. According to them they retorqued the bash plate and also looked at suspension in general and could not find anything. SC mentioned that it might be coming from the dash area and that sound may travel to the front...they setup another service appointment for me on 5/10 so that they can get adequate time with the car and put me in a loaner car. Their plan was to remove the dash and start looking for panels that might be rubbing together. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This sounded a bit invasive, and I mentioned that next visit they should concentrate again on the bash plates and suspension areas of the car before dismantling the dash area.

Model S 2022 LR Clicking #1

Model S 2022 LR Clicking #2

 

[robert774]

I had the service appointment on 4/19...rescheduled from the original 4/22. See the videos below...curious if this is similar to what folks are experiencing .... Service Center (SC) had the car for 3 hours. According to them they retorqued the bash plate and also looked at suspension in general and could not find anything. SC mentioned that it might be coming from the dash area and that sound may travel to the front...they setup another service appointment for me on 5/10 so that they can get adequate time with the car and put me in a loaner car. Their plan was to remove the dash and start looking for panels that might be rubbing together. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This sounded a bit invasive, and I mentioned that next visit they should concentrate again on the bash plates and suspension areas of the car before dismantling the dash area.

Model S 2022 LR Clicking #1

Model S 2022 LR Clicking #2

That is definitely what was happening to my MS LR within a few weeks of my receiving the car. The fixed it by retorquing the suspension. See the attached portion of my invoice for that service.

 

[tibook]

something very similar with my X Plaid. Currently waiting for the jack points so they can raise the car and re torque. Sounds like my SC is going in the right direction at least.

 

[Jp617]

Happy to report that it's FIXED! no more clicking sound! Greeney was right on with what the fix was. .....I had to focus them again on that area of the car. They finally removed the plate and found debris behind it...they cleaned it up and reinstalled, then torqued it. This is what the invoice looked like. I think they meant "bash" instead of "dash" ...but when they described it to me...it was exactly in that area of the car.

Thanks everyone for the support and responses!

 

[KevinLinDMD]

Posted this in the other thread. I found this page in the service manual
- Model S Service Manual (2021+) -> Suspension -> Front Suspension (Including Hubs) -> Stabilizer Bar - Front (Includes Alignment Check)

Is this the bash plate that the service center is retorquing? If so, would this be as simple a DIY as removing the plastic panels, locating the appropriate bolts and torquing to spec according to the service manual? Looks like there are 2 bolts at 60Nm, 4 bolts at 70 Nm, and 2 bolts at 10Nm.