Rear lower control arms being cut through due to the chains!

[bishoppeak]

Thanks for the thorough updates.

 

[Leewx]

Thanks for the post. Can I ask what brand of cable chains were you using? Someone has said Z chains are approved by Tesla. Does anyone have the approval statement by Tesla? Seems to me that Z chains would cause the same problem since they also have a cable on the backside of the tire holding the chains in place.

 

[GHammer]

Thanks for the post. Can I ask what brand of cable chains were you using? Someone has said Z chains are approved by Tesla. Does anyone have the approval statement by Tesla? Seems to me that Z chains would cause the same problem since they also have a cable on the backside of the tire holding the chains in place.

The original chains sold and approved by Tesla were Z-Chains however after getting reports like these they retracted the approval and removed them the Tesla store and replaced them with the current TrakSport. I believe Thule also makes a chain that is only supported on the outside of the tire although it doesn't have the Tesla blessing.

 

[sorka]

Thanks for the post. Can I ask what brand of cable chains were you using? Someone has said Z chains are approved by Tesla. Does anyone have the approval statement by Tesla? Seems to me that Z chains would cause the same problem since they also have a cable on the backside of the tire holding the chains in place.

The Z-Chains ARE the ones that I had that caused this damage.

 

[ggnykk]

Was underneath my MS this morning and noticed this equally on both sides on the bottom of the control arms:

It's at about a 45 degree angle pointing down. There's literally nothing I can from suspension fully compressed to full extended that would get remotely close to this. The closest thing is the rim of the wheel itself and the only thing that lines up with that angle but there's no sign of rubbing on the inside of the rim. It's at least an inch away from it.

It's even on both sides. I'm completely stumped. But I remember someone posted something similar a while back. Not sure if it was the same part.

The only reason I checked is there was another post recently about a rear lower control arm failing so I got paranoid and decided to check. Glad I did.

The other parts damaged are the wishbone links which are cheap. The control arms are going to be expensive.

are you saying that it was caused by snow chain on the tire??

 

[sorka]

are you saying that it was caused by snow chain on the tire??

Yes.

 

[Leewx]

The Z-Chains ARE the ones that I had that caused this damage.

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll be buying the Tesla Trak chains $350

 

[Leewx]

The original chains sold and approved by Tesla were Z-Chains however after getting reports like these they retracted the approval and removed them the Tesla store and replaced them with the current TrakSport. I believe Thule also makes a chain that is only supported on the outside of the tire although it doesn't have the Tesla blessing.

Thanks for the info!

 

[snellenr]

Interesting... I bought the Z-chains (still listed as "recommended" in the user manual when I last checked) last winter. I haven't had to use them for real, but when I put them as a test I did notice that the cable hooked over something on the upper suspension. After I checked all around behind the tire and freed the inside cable, there was quite a bit of extra slack in the tension cables on the outside.

Any opinions or thoughts on whether double-checking the inside cable carefully will be sufficient to prevent this kind of damage?

I've looked at the TrakSport chains as an alternative but their cost and reports of them randomly falling off the tires keeps getting in the way of actually ordering them...

 

[Rama]

Don’t feel bad Sorka, I did the exact same thing. Used the wrong chains. Luckily I somehow managed to only mess up one side.