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"Refreshed" Model S model VIBRATION tracking and information thread!!!

What version of "Refreshed" Model S do you drive?


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UPDATE:

My car was already in service by the time I found this thread. After receiving the car back, I have confirmed my vibration is only during the 35-48 MPH range and will do it anytime even not under hard acceleration. I had only had about 100 miles on the car when I first posted and was not accurately understanding when the vibration was actually happening.

The service center initially acted like they never heard of this issue. They verified with me in the car test drive the car does have a vibration. They concluded this was "normal" based on another car in service having the same issue.


Yeah, thats their standard procedure. I was handled exactly the same way when I complained about my MS Plaid a few months ago. They must all be trained on this script.
 
Strange. Mine is 452 and I have it bad.
Did you do a lot of launches early on? I think I read somewhere that the drive shaft or the CV joint (I think) damages itself under that torque. Steel grades balance strength (resistance against breaking) and ductility at the expense of one another. Strengthen it too much and it becomes brittle. Don’t strengthen it and it twists (ductility) easier. Ductility can and will deform the shape of the shaft. Lack of strength will break it.

I dont know what steel tesla uses for the drive shafts. My theory on this is that if this is indeed the cause for the vibration, then the steel grade used by tesla for those components under high torque aren’t matched properly in their strength vs ductility ratio - low on ductility, high on strength? Yes there is also the asymmetric placement and drive shaft angles that lay added stress. If the components were sourced from existing designs that did not take into account the driveshaft angle induced torque, then…

The physics of this (TWIP - Twinning induced plasticity) have been addressed in the early 2010s to balance drive shafts by twisting the surface, leave the core untwisted in drive shafts for high speed trains that handle a lot more torque.

I hope someone in Tesla’s drivetrain group knows about this :)
 
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Yeah, thats their standard procedure. I was handled exactly the same way when I complained about my MS Plaid a few months ago. They must all be trained on this script.
Interestingly I had an issue with my door handle freezing (not being able to open the door) if the door was partially closed. They gave me the same “it’s normal” answer because another car in service had the same issue.

Then I went and opened a brand new car door myself (they gasped in horror) and showed them it’s not normal. That took some readjusting on their part. The tech in the service center decided to apply common sense and did a full tear down / testing of each component of my door and found a poorly built wiring harness that was to blame.

Apparently a lot of cars have that poorly built door wiring harness. They ordered me a new one and it’s fixed now.

However, it’s their easy propensity to quickly try to resolve the issue that is the problem - leaving the onus of investigation to the owner.
 
Did you do a lot of launches early on? I think I read somewhere that the drive shaft or the CV joint (I think) damages itself under that torque. Steel grades balance strength (resistance against breaking) and ductility at the expense of one another. Strengthen it too much and it becomes brittle. Don’t strengthen it and it twists (ductility) easier. Ductility can and will deform the shape of the shaft. Lack of strength will break it.

I dont know what steel tesla uses for the drive shafts. My theory on this is that if this is indeed the cause for the vibration, then the steel grade used by tesla for those components under high torque aren’t matched properly in their strength vs ductility ratio - low on ductility, high on strength? Yes there is also the asymmetric placement and drive shaft angles that lay added stress. If the components were sourced from existing designs that did not take into account the driveshaft angle induced torque, then…

The physics of this (TWIP - Twinning induced plasticity) have been addressed in the early 2010s to balance drive shafts by twisting the surface, leave the core untwisted in drive shafts for high speed trains that handle a lot more torque.

I hope someone in Tesla’s drivetrain group knows about this :)

I would suspect it's not a problem with the metal in the half shaft strength or being damaged. I had mine replaced and the vibration went away. I then drove the car carefully for a few days, without any hard launches, and the problem still came back in less than five days. Maybe tolerances in the CV joints being too lose and causing vibrations? Something like moving grease around in the joints.
 
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I would suspect it's not a problem with the metal in the half shaft strength or being damaged. I had mine replaced and the vibration went away. I then drove the car carefully for a few days, without any hard launches, and the problem still came back in less than five days. Maybe tolerances in the CV joints being too lose and causing vibrations? Something like moving grease around in the joints.
But it also can't be just caused by the half shafts, since ~50% of cars don't seem to have the vibration. Something unique in the manufacturing tolerances of the cars (motor mount positions, suspension position, etc) AND the half shafts. Otherwise, replacing the half shafts alone would give a 50% chance to eliminating the vibrations.
 
I would suspect it's not a problem with the metal in the half shaft strength or being damaged. I had mine replaced and the vibration went away. I then drove the car carefully for a few days, without any hard launches, and the problem still came back in less than five days. Maybe tolerances in the CV joints being too lose and causing vibrations? Something like moving grease around in the joints.
Hmm yes that does cast doubt on my theory.

I don’t take very kindly to that :)
I hope this gets sorted out soon though.
 
Questions...

Is anyone driving a refresh MS mainly in chill mode, like 99% of the time?

If so, are any still experiencing the drive shaft vibrations?
I really don’t think it’s correlated with damage due to load. Parts aren’t worn out. You can turn the vibration on/off with motor bias in track mode and it happens under no load conditions. I mean, not to me, I’m vibration free and driving it hard all the time albeit an inch lower than stock. I don’t vibrate on medium either.
 
I’ve had to take my car in 3 times for other stuff and it’s been exhausting. It’s all fixed now but the effort of taking the car in multiple times, getting appointments pushed around willy-nilly , ubering around for days while it’s there is so disruptive.

I can’t imagine what you guys have to go through to have the same conversation with an uncooperative / clueless SC and have to come back again and again for the same issue.
 
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I’ve had to take my car in 3 times for other stuff and it’s been exhausting. It’s all fixed now but the effort of taking the car in multiple times, getting appointments pushed around willy-nilly , ubering around for days while it’s there is so disruptive.

I can’t imagine what you guys have to go through to have the same conversation with an uncooperative / clueless SC and have to come back again and again for the same issue.

I'm on service #4 to address delivery items. I'm hoping they'll fix my center console light, some suspension creaks, and my passenger handles randomly sticking out this time. Maybe also the yoke buzzing? I'm not hopeful about that. Maybe something with the vibration as well?

It will be at least service #5 to fix the passenger window making it difficult to close the door.
 
I really don’t think it’s correlated with damage due to load. Parts aren’t worn out. You can turn the vibration on/off with motor bias in track mode and it happens under no load conditions. I mean, not to me, I’m vibration free and driving it hard all the time albeit an inch lower than stock. I don’t vibrate on medium either.
An inch lower! Wow. I set mine to 5 mm and I think that lowered the car 0.75". It almost never vibrates with that drop, except if I go to medium.

What did you set your links to?
 
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