If you do tape, try not to tape around the square cutout on front center as that’s where water drains when the seep hole can’t keep up or clogs up as on this video.
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Ripped Undercarriage Composite from the rain?
- Thread starter SnickySnacks
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ASo after my first problem, here: Paint chip on wheel at delivery
I've run into another one.
It's been raining a lot in Texas lately. Today I went on a short drive (city roads/frontage roads only, driving slow due to the traffic and heavy rain) to the movies. Switched lanes to avoid puddles as best I could, but came out from the movies and heard scraping from underneath the car.
Seems to be the same problem as described here:
Undercarriage Composite Tray Ripped | Tesla
I'm not happy, to say the least. My car is barely two and a half weeks old and parts are already ripping and falling off it -_-
No, i haven't bottomed it out or anything. There's no damage anywhere else except that one piece of composite.
I assume it got water between the composite and body and ripped, but man does that seem like poor design.
Other parts of the undercarriage and even the portion of the composite that is physically lower to the ground than this piece are perfectly fine.
Pictures for the curious:
*grumble*
I want to love this car, but man...
Thanks so much for the reply and info. It is in the back and not sure about bolts missing. It’s hard to tell. I called Tesla and they are going to send out a mobile repair truck to fix it so in the mean time I held it together with Gorilla tape and seems to be holding so far. Disappointed in the material they chose to use for the undercarriage but no matter, it doesn’t change my love for Tesla and my car.
Olds442
Member
we should start a poll and see who goes through the most undercarriage covers in the 4 year warranty period.
how can this not be plastic or better? this is the same material mfgs use on the interior of a trunk. i cannot see it standing up to the grease and grime that an undercarriage is regularly exposed to, let alone being a puddle scooper and taillight tub.
this needs a redesign based on the taillight tub effect alone. very sorry to see this thread, wow. i feel like i would not drive my 3 in the rain now until it's replaced with something that works.
how can this not be plastic or better? this is the same material mfgs use on the interior of a trunk. i cannot see it standing up to the grease and grime that an undercarriage is regularly exposed to, let alone being a puddle scooper and taillight tub.
this needs a redesign based on the taillight tub effect alone. very sorry to see this thread, wow. i feel like i would not drive my 3 in the rain now until it's replaced with something that works.
JeffK
Well-Known Member
Didn't know this thread existed. Had mine replaced about a month after getting my car. Fell apart after the very first rain even though I avoided all possible puddles. Mine was replaced under warranty, but yeah this thing needs to get redesigned after we've all had them break in the same spot..
Michel3
Love those Aero's
It is ridiculous that we should avoid rain puddles. Living in a rainy country this is completely impossible.
Tesla needs to put in a more durable material as soon as possible.
Tesla needs to put in a more durable material as soon as possible.
JeffK
Well-Known Member
Michel3
Love those Aero's
I did. I send this text:
Dear @elonmusk, I'm really looking forward to my #Model3 but it's completely ridiculous that the #undercarriage material is so weak that we should avoid rain puddles. Living in a rainy country this is completely impossible. ™@Tesla needs to put in a more durable material #ASAP.
I take delivery of my M3 this Friday, and living in Seattle this shield is a worry.
Does anybody know if it needs to flex? Is there any reason you can see that the shield can’t be rigid? I’m good with fiberglass and/or carbon fiber (built and flew my own plane)....
Does anybody know if it needs to flex? Is there any reason you can see that the shield can’t be rigid? I’m good with fiberglass and/or carbon fiber (built and flew my own plane)....
I’m in Auburn and have had my 3 since late August. Doing okay so far but admittedly somehow haven’t driven in rain a lot yet.
JeffK
Well-Known Member
If Tesla doesn't engineer a solution to this I wonder if someone will ever make aftermarket versions...
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
My brother lives in Seattle with a Model 3 and has had not problems so far in 3k miles of driving with a lot of I-5 driving. I had him check his bolts, which is really all you can do. He hasn't blasted through any puddles either but has driven in the rain - though nothing torrential probably.
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
All I can say is that it is far from clear exactly what sort of conditions would cause this to happen. And, I have had no issue with this cover myself (in SoCal!). Count me as not shocked that there would be negative reactions on Twitter though!
Ideally this happens to someone with a dash cam, they notice the scraping right away, save the dash cam footage, post it, and demonstrate a set of conditions that would cause this problem. (Obviously not ideal for the person it happens to!) Then people can judge for themselves. It is not clear to me what expectations people have for what they “should” be able to drive through without issues. It is probably different for everyone.
Ideally this happens to someone with a dash cam, they notice the scraping right away, save the dash cam footage, post it, and demonstrate a set of conditions that would cause this problem. (Obviously not ideal for the person it happens to!) Then people can judge for themselves. It is not clear to me what expectations people have for what they “should” be able to drive through without issues. It is probably different for everyone.
JeffK
Well-Known Member
I think it's because you called it out as "ridiculous" instead instead of offering constructive criticism such as suggesting it was an unfortunate engineering mistake and they should work to correct it.
Michel3
Love those Aero's
No, I didn't. I called it out as "completely ridiculous". Which it is, if you can't drive through a puddle. Puddles do happen when it rains. It's not possible to always avoid them.
Yet I believe I was constructive when I suggested that "™@Tesla needs to put in a more durable material #ASAP."
What astounds me is the vehement denial and the stigmatisation of me as someone who was putting up #FUD and #false info. Just because I have given some criticism. What narrow-mindedness!
JeffK
Well-Known Member
You have to word it in a positive or non-argumentative light for people to accept it, especially Tesla fans.
Or you can use one of those management techniques by sandwiching the negative comment in between two positive ones.
"Model 3 is the greatest car I've ever owned, unfortunately the bottom falls off when wet so hopefully that'll get addressed, but otherwise when it's not raining it drives great!
"(The emoji really helps as well)
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Welcome to Twitter! Agreed with above that the more positive the message, the less likely it is you will encounter negative feedback.
Do you have your Model 3 yet?
If you don't (same advice if you do already have it, I guess), when it arrives, I recommend:
1) Check all the bolts are adequately tight but don't overtorque them. 13 total for the rear cover, 7 (2 shared with rear aero) for the rear bumper cover on the bottom (plus two torx up above in the wheel arch), and about 8 (I'd have to recheck the count - there are a couple bolts off center, in the middle area of the cover, which I missed the first time) in the front aero cover.
2) Enjoy your car.
3) Enjoy your car some more.
4) Install the Teslacam USB stick.
5) Drive through some puddles.
6) Enjoy your car some more. It's really quite good, though not without flaws.
7) If you encounter issues, or suspect damage, immediately press the save on the USB stick and report back here!
I would say you need to wait a minute before you press save. As unless they have changed things it doesn't save the current minute worth of activity. (So you could lose exactly what you were trying to save.)
Olds442
Member
I have a driveway that's slightly uphill. today i washed it, nose facing up. (it came out beautiful of course) After drying i turned it around and backed up the drive, got out and looked from the back and yeah, nice stream still coming out by the time i got there. It holds some water. There was plenty in the street and running up to where i had stopped.
I was able to reach a couple bolts and they were good but i'll check all the bolts @AlanSubie4Life mentions tomorrow. From the looks of things it's all up nice and solid but, it's worth a double check.
I also noticed I could possibly use a few of those plastic clips in the wheel wells. I'll try to grab some locally tomorrow.
I was able to reach a couple bolts and they were good but i'll check all the bolts @AlanSubie4Life mentions tomorrow. From the looks of things it's all up nice and solid but, it's worth a double check.
I also noticed I could possibly use a few of those plastic clips in the wheel wells. I'll try to grab some locally tomorrow.
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