Put on new tires, now the car is handling weird.

[Jeff Hudson]

To answer one question posed a few times - my 3 is a LR RWD, I got it on May 8. There were no AWD cars then.

These tires have about 120 miles on them so far, I'll drive them more and see how things change. I can say I've noticed no increase in road noise, and I felt the tires by hand, they are definitely a softer rubber.

I wouldn't have a problem with putting on 4 tires, except they cost twice as much. It makes me think back to the "good old days" of the late 90s and early 2000s with my 1971 Plymouth Valiant I had at the time. I was making less money then. I'd go from worn out tires (tires were considered worn out when I got to the second layer of steel belts) to LESS worn out tires. Buying 4 new tires was something that could only possibly happen at tax refund time. Worrying about if the tires I was able to get were regular, all season, or winter tires wasn't a concern. Whichever tires were the right size and cheapest were the ones I got. Some of that old cheapness (or just plain lack of money, as it was at the time) remains, even if I can now whip out the credit card and get tires put on.

Tires are not something you should ever cheap-out on. For crying out loud, they are directly responsible for connecting you to the road surface at all speeds. Why would you ever choose to cheap-out on a tire purchase when you can afford to do it correctly?

 

[mikeband]

...I’m guessing the tires were so worn because you didn’t rotate them at 5k or 6k Miles?

...and you drive like a bat outa hell. 16K miles and 1/32"!!!

 

[more863-also]

I bet this issue is tread sqiurm. The vehicle is propped up on thick, soft winter tread that makes handling feel weird, like a gum soled boot.

 

[KathyApplebaum]

...and you drive like a bat outa hell. 16K miles and 1/32"!!!

Glad someone else noted this. I just got my tires rotated at 17k miles, and have 6/32" left on my 18" -- my husband is making snide remarks about how I need to slow down a bit. Definitely going to show him this.

 

[skyqueen]

I have 16,000 miles on my 3, with its original 18 inch wheels and tires. The rears were down to 1/32" (the fronts are at 5, they will make it through the winter), so I got a new pair of Michelin X-Ice 3's in the original 235-45-18 size for the rear of the car, and had them put on at a tire shop that does a lot of Tesla's, they are a mile from the local service center..

The tires are ok, they ride nice and quiet, but the handling is weird. The car's ass end is all over the place! Going down the highway, it shifts from side to side erratically, like I'm driving in a strong crosswind or something. It's got nothing to do with alignment, that was not touched. The old tires ran nice and straight and stable.

Is this just from new tires having to run in, or a characteristic of winter tires or something?

In the spring it will get 4 new tires, I'm considering finding a used set of OEM 19 inch wheels to buy new tires for. But I'm not paying the ridiculous $1500 for 4 wheels that Tesla charges, $100 per wheel in perfect condition is more realistic. A set of 4 tires alone for the wheels will be $1000. THAT will equal out to the $1500.

I got this from tesla customer service

The winter tires were sold out- i also have the Xice.. tire pressyshoulf be 45 psi

“In regards to Winter Tires, we are recommending Pirelli Sotto Zero tires. We have seen other aftermarket winter tires cause concerns with the Model 3. It is not required that you go through Tesla for these tires, but our engineers have advised this brand. If you wanted to have Tesla put winter tires on your Model 3, there is a Winter Tire package on our Online Store or you can go through your own tire shop and have the tires sent to the service center, or you can have a local tire shop install these as well, whichever is most convenient for you.”

 

[skyqueen]

Feom tesla

I got the Xiice since pirellis sold out

 

[pdq]

I have 16,000 miles on my 3, with its original 18 inch wheels and tires. The rears were down to 1/32" (the fronts are at 5, they will make it through the winter), so I got a new pair of Michelin X-Ice 3's in the original 235-45-18 size for the rear of the car, and had them put on at a tire shop that does a lot of Tesla's, they are a mile from the local service center..

The tires are ok, they ride nice and quiet, but the handling is weird. The car's ass end is all over the place! Going down the highway, it shifts from side to side erratically, like I'm driving in a strong crosswind or something. It's got nothing to do with alignment, that was not touched. The old tires ran nice and straight and stable.

This has nothing to do with driving a Tesla. Regardless of car manufacturer, when you replace tires, you replace ALL 4 at the same time. Having regular tires on the front and snow tires on the rear will indeed cause the squirrely behavior that you are talking about. And, from a safety perspective, in some cars it can cause things like anti-lock brake and traction control not to perform to spec. Cars are very sensitive to tires and when you "Mix & Match" you are inviting trouble.

 

[Atari2600]

Hi I wanted to add my two cents. I’ve had this problem EVERY time I had my wheels repaired at a shop in Mesa. I think it’s because they use the pneumatic sockets to tighten down the rim. The back end feels squirrelly and unsafe!
They didn’t seem to notice but I went home, jacked up the car, loosened the lugs and tightened them back up with a lug wrench. Problem solved! Every time too. It’s got to be some way that they’re tightening the lugs. I don’t use them anymore and haven’t seen the issue come back.

Every time? So a wheel repair shop does not know how to install wheels and you keep going back?

 

[Atari2600]

I got this from tesla customer service

The winter tires were sold out- i also have the Xice.. tire pressyshoulf be 45 psi

“In regards to Winter Tires, we are recommending Pirelli Sotto Zero tires. We have seen other aftermarket winter tires cause concerns with the Model 3. It is not required that you go through Tesla for these tires, but our engineers have advised this brand. If you wanted to have Tesla put winter tires on your Model 3, there is a Winter Tire package on our Online Store or you can go through your own tire shop and have the tires sent to the service center, or you can have a local tire shop install these as well, whichever is most convenient for you.”

I have Nokian HAKKAPELIITTA R3 winter tires installed by Tesla's service center and they said no problem.

And I had 4 installed and inflated them 3 PSI higher than my other tires as Nokian, Pirelli and others recommend. At 47 PSI handling is great. When it's get in the lower 20s the PSI drops to 45.

 

[Eric Meyer]

You have mixed tires and should consider full set. Its unsafe condition and the tire shop should have provided proper advice. They don't sell single shoes. Just saying- Replace front the other tires to match your new tires and problem will be gone. Also, have the alignment checked with high quality shop.

 

[timk225]

I went back to the tire shop and got new shoes for the car again today. An OEM pair of Primacy MXM4 98W Extra Load 235-45-18 tires for the rear. Now the back end is nice and tight again. The car handles like a go-kart. Cost me an extra $190 but it was worth it.

Good timing too, because I finally got my 30 free trial of autopilot again today. While on the PA Turnpike, heading to the tire shop with the winter tires, the EAP was constantly making steering corrections right, left, right, left, every time the rear end would squirm to one side or the other.

Then once I had the new tires on the car, it took about 5 resets of standard - low - standard regen, two 2-button resets of the screen, and getting in and out of the car a few times before the regen started working right. At first, it'd come on for maybe 2 seconds then fade down to nothing. Having to press the brake pedal all the time gets to be a pain! How did we ever drive without regen?

 

[mswlogo]

We’d all love to have our cars as tight as rails year round. But most of us know know we have to sacrifice some handling in order to grip Ice and snow and keep from driving off the road and smashing our baby or having to stay home to afraid to take it out. Of course that sacrifice would always require 4 matched tires for optimal handling and ice/snow performance.

 

[HugoBoss]

Go buy the same tires for the front rims. Don't cheap out in tires, very important especially in winter.

 

[pdq]

Hi I wanted to add my two cents. I’ve had this problem EVERY time I had my wheels repaired at a shop in Mesa. I think it’s because they use the pneumatic sockets to tighten down the rim. The back end feels squirrelly and unsafe!
They didn’t seem to notice but I went home, jacked up the car, loosened the lugs and tightened them back up with a lug wrench. Problem solved! Every time too. It’s got to be some way that they’re tightening the lugs. I don’t use them anymore and haven’t seen the issue come back.

Jimmy:
With my having maintained a personal fleet of new and older Mercedes Benzes over a 20 - 30 year period, one aspect of their Germanic mindset is that every bolt (including lugnuts) has a spec stated in Nm, which can be converted to foot pounds, and EVERYTHING is tightened with a calibrated torque wrench. That's the right way to do it. When working on them, you have the manuals out and you follow the spec. Knuckleheads earning $11 an hour working in "TIRES R'NT US" stores simply grab the air wrench and tighten till it stops. While it rarely causes the bolts to fail, it can cause the brake rotor to distort, which can cause the unstable handling you mention, especially under braking. It can also lead to premature failure of the rotors which aren't inexpensive.

Glad to hear that you are in the process of finding a shop that doesn't hire knuckleheads. You shouldn't have to undo their crappy work.

 

[timk225]

Go buy the same tires for the front rims. Don't cheap out in tires, very important especially in winter.

The fronts still have their original MXM4 tires, they are only half worn, still have decent grooves. I've driven in snowstorms with far lesser tires.

 

[HugoBoss]

The fronts still have their original MXM4 tires, they are only half worn, still have decent grooves. I've driven in snowstorms with far lesser tires.

My opinion..... Get a full set of the stock, so two more
And get a full set of the winters, so two more.

But it seems to me like you don't want to spend money on tires...... So your original problem, the wobbly feeling I have no idea. Ill just say it seems like the two different tires are what's making it feel wobbly. Maybe the cars feels the tires are different and adjust/compensates somehow causing the wobbly feeling.

 

[HugoBoss]

Jimmy:
With my having maintained a personal fleet of new and older Mercedes Benzes over a 20 - 30 year period, one aspect of their Germanic mindset is that every bolt (including lugnuts) has a spec stated in Nm, which can be converted to foot pounds, and EVERYTHING is tightened with a calibrated torque wrench. That's the right way to do it. When working on them, you have the manuals out and you follow the spec. Knuckleheads earning $11 an hour working in "TIRES R'NT US" stores simply grab the air wrench and tighten till it stops. While it rarely causes the bolts to fail, it can cause the brake rotor to distort, which can cause the unstable handling you mention, especially under braking. It can also lead to premature failure of the rotors which aren't inexpensive.

Glad to hear that you are in the process of finding a shop that doesn't hire knuckleheads. You shouldn't have to undo their crappy work.

You are very right in your above statement, there is also the danger of wheel coming loose if not torqued correctly.
Everyone should have a torque wrench in their garage and check each bolt couple days after having rims changed. I also check after about 3 months.
Model X torque spec is 129 foot pound, I'm sure S is the same

 

[HBDesiato]

I imagine you could get some squirm if you have directional winter tires and one of them is rotating the wrong way.

 

[Vancan]

Original fronts are those super efficiency, high mpg (hard compound?) tires and now you put real winters out back. Winters are made to deal with very cold temperatures, and are too soft for "warm" temperatures. Could be the reason for the weird handling... ???

 

[timk225]

All those of you who wrote these last 8 posts, catch up! I got new OEM all seasons on the rear. Read above!!! You're still talking about the winter tires!