Roadside Assistance - First Experience

[EdCBC]

Good to hear lots of others have rubbed curbs, my model 3 right side wheels are ground down too. looking at the Michelin website I see the Primacy tires can be mounted on wheels from 7.5 to 9 inches wide. Are the base 18" wheels 9 inches wide? If so would 7.5 inch wheels make the tires hit curbs before wheels? Seems to me that would be a good thing for us curb rubbers.

I have replaced ground off metal with Goop epoxy filler on one of my wheels, then painted over with blue to match the body. looks better till I hit another curb. Just painted over damage on the other.

 

[FelixtheCat]

I'm just waiting for one of the Tesla aftermarket parts companies to sell a good set of curb feelers for Tesla...

 

[Santa]

My flat tire experience is 180º worse than the OP's. My M3 got a flat tire on a highway in the MA/RI border on a Saturday night. The Tesla Roadside Assistance number was responsive. However, they told me they do not have the mobile service with loaner tires running on weekends. They could only tow my car to the nearest Tesla service center, which is in Warwick, RI. This was going the opposite direction from my home. The service center that was on my way home was in Dedham, MA. I ended up paying an extra $180 to have it towed to Dedham.

There are several issues with towing the car. First, the tow truck only has room for the driver and one extra person. I had to passengers. How was I supposed to safely bring my passengers home? I ended up calling Lyft for them. Have you ever have Lyft pick you up in the middle of a highway? Very tricky. Secondly, the service center was closed on Sundays, so a simple flat tire grounded my car for more than 2 days. On that Sunday, I also contacted two other big tire stores within walking distance from the Dedham service centers. Neither of them were familiar with the Tesla tires and would not repair/replace it. If they could, I would have to pay towing to their store.

I wish Tesla supply their cars with spare tire. Their repair kit is a joke, their own service advisors told me the spray does not work on M3 tires because of the silencing foam in the tire. Or, have their tire loaner service available 24/7. For my peace of mind, from then on, I carry a pump and a rope kit.

 

[adjacentengels]

Just want to point out that Roadside Assistance is completely different from support from the Service Center. I had a good experience with RA the one time I needed it, but have had nothing but poor support from the SC on multiple instances. Once they actually start working on the car it's usually pretty good, but the days or weeks without any communication before someone is actually crawling through the car is just inexcusable.

 

[radiocycle]

Yeah, there's a lot of 'curb feelers' you can buy but they're all junk I'm afraid...

 

[Cjbabie]

Rimsavers are fantastic. lots of colors, easy to install, works well and well worth the cost under $99 for all for wheels.
Go Rimbladesusa.com Below is a before and after.

I wish I had known about these, I have rim rash all over!

 

[Cjbabie]

In the future, if you change your tires to another type but not the original factory brand/type, they won’t provide the loaner wheel. That’s what Tesla told me.

What will they give you to get you going?

 

[bbmistah]

I use auto park whenever I can to avoid curb rash

 

[Torquer]

I curbed mine twice in the first 24 hrs. Now I actually look for a single space and use autopark - and when i can't find one I use the reverse camera lines. I've never seen an M3 with pristine rims but that's no consolation at all!

Used road assistance twice and it is awesome.

 

[Momentum1]

I've had my LR MX for about 2 months. I absolutely love driving the car, although I'm still having difficulty judging the distance to the curb. I've curbed the rims twice already. Today I pulled over to the side of the road to check something out, and didn't realize I was within an inch of the cobble stone edging. I backed up a little, and the tire pressure warning light came on. I punctured the side wall of the tire - there's about a 1.5" hole! I drove about 50 feet to a safe area, and called Tesla Service. No humans available, you have to request service from the Tesla App. No, I wasn't happy about that, but I didn't have much choice. I figured the rest of my day was lost, and this was going to be a real PITA. I entered my information into the Tesla App at 3:50 PM. Within 5 minutes, I received a text from Tesla, acknowledging my request for roadside assistance. A few minutes later, I received a text stating that Roadside Assistance (actually, a private company working for Tesla) would be at my car within 55 minutes. They will loan me a tire and a rim, install it on my car, and I'll have to go to the Service Center to pick up my new tire and have it installed. Sounds like a great idea to me! The Tesla Roadside guy shows up, tells me to put the car in JACK mode, jacks up the car, removes my wheel, puts on the loaner (the rim is painted red because people used to keep the loaners!), has me turn off Jack mode, and we're done. Amazing service! Within 1 hour of my reporting that I punctured my tire, I had a loaner wheel on my car, and was back on the road.

After reading about all of the horrible experiences with Tesla service, I wasn't expecting much. I certainly was impressed with how smoothly everything went, and how fast Tesla responded. The guy who responded was polite, knowledgeable, efficient, and a nice guy. Thank you RJB Towing (Westchester, NY).

Thank you Elon for providing such a fantastic service experience!

Oh - I should mention that the first appointment I could get to have my new tire installed is 1 week from today. There's no problem using the loaner wheel, except that it doesn't look so nice with the one red rim. It would have been perfect if I could have stopped by the service center tomorrow to get the wheel exchanged, but I'm not complaining.

I made it 6 months before scraping the rims and was so peeved when I did it! But I scraped the rim on and angular curb in an odd shaped parking lot! The scrap made people jump hearing it but on appearance is pretty minor but still! I too have just learned to accept it and move on. But I know what you mean with distance judgment. I’ve had our MX 8 months now and still find it difficult parking nose first so I reverse park when I can and get that spot on thanks to all the cameras and sensors! Pity they’re not able to judge for the tyres and rims! Reverse parking is best for me anyway because I use the frunk to load all my shopping and groceries. Bit of a pain when I forget that I sometimes need to get the walker or e-scooter out from the back trunk though! Glad that Tesla Roadside assist was a good experience for you!

 

[petecrayton]

I've had my LR MX for about 2 months. I absolutely love driving the car, although I'm still having difficulty judging the distance to the curb. I've curbed the rims twice already. Today I pulled over to the side of the road to check something out, and didn't realize I was within an inch of the cobble stone edging. I backed up a little, and the tire pressure warning light came on. I punctured the side wall of the tire - there's about a 1.5" hole! I drove about 50 feet to a safe area, and called Tesla Service. No humans available, you have to request service from the Tesla App. No, I wasn't happy about that, but I didn't have much choice. I figured the rest of my day was lost, and this was going to be a real PITA. I entered my information into the Tesla App at 3:50 PM. Within 5 minutes, I received a text from Tesla, acknowledging my request for roadside assistance. A few minutes later, I received a text stating that Roadside Assistance (actually, a private company working for Tesla) would be at my car within 55 minutes. They will loan me a tire and a rim, install it on my car, and I'll have to go to the Service Center to pick up my new tire and have it installed. Sounds like a great idea to me! The Tesla Roadside guy shows up, tells me to put the car in JACK mode, jacks up the car, removes my wheel, puts on the loaner (the rim is painted red because people used to keep the loaners!), has me turn off Jack mode, and we're done. Amazing service! Within 1 hour of my reporting that I punctured my tire, I had a loaner wheel on my car, and was back on the road.

After reading about all of the horrible experiences with Tesla service, I wasn't expecting much. I certainly was impressed with how smoothly everything went, and how fast Tesla responded. The guy who responded was polite, knowledgeable, efficient, and a nice guy. Thank you RJB Towing (Westchester, NY).

Thank you Elon for providing such a fantastic service experience!

Oh - I should mention that the first appointment I could get to have my new tire installed is 1 week from today. There's no problem using the loaner wheel, except that it doesn't look so nice with the one red rim. It would have been perfect if I could have stopped by the service center tomorrow to get the wheel exchanged, but I'm not complaining.

I've had my LR MX for about 2 months. I absolutely love driving the car, although I'm still having difficulty judging the distance to the curb. I've curbed the rims twice already. Today I pulled over to the side of the road to check something out, and didn't realize I was within an inch of the cobble stone edging. I backed up a little, and the tire pressure warning light came on. I punctured the side wall of the tire - there's about a 1.5" hole! I drove about 50 feet to a safe area, and called Tesla Service. No humans available, you have to request service from the Tesla App. No, I wasn't happy about that, but I didn't have much choice. I figured the rest of my day was lost, and this was going to be a real PITA. I entered my information into the Tesla App at 3:50 PM. Within 5 minutes, I received a text from Tesla, acknowledging my request for roadside assistance. A few minutes later, I received a text stating that Roadside Assistance (actually, a private company working for Tesla) would be at my car within 55 minutes. They will loan me a tire and a rim, install it on my car, and I'll have to go to the Service Center to pick up my new tire and have it installed. Sounds like a great idea to me! The Tesla Roadside guy shows up, tells me to put the car in JACK mode, jacks up the car, removes my wheel, puts on the loaner (the rim is painted red because people used to keep the loaners!), has me turn off Jack mode, and we're done. Amazing service! Within 1 hour of my reporting that I punctured my tire, I had a loaner wheel on my car, and was back on the road.

After reading about all of the horrible experiences with Tesla service, I wasn't expecting much. I certainly was impressed with how smoothly everything went, and how fast Tesla responded. The guy who responded was polite, knowledgeable, efficient, and a nice guy. Thank you RJB Towing (Westchester, NY).

Thank you Elon for providing such a fantastic service experience!

Oh - I should mention that the first appointment I could get to have my new tire installed is 1 week from today. There's no problem using the loaner wheel, except that it doesn't look so nice with the one red rim. It would have been perfect if I could have stopped by the service center tomorrow to get the wheel exchanged, but I'm not complaining.

Yes, it is excellent service. However the bloom may come off the rose when you get the bill for the new tire. When the exact same thing happened to me, having been in the tire business, I looked up the price of the exact OEM replacement at Discount Tire. It was literally half the price I paid for the same tire from Tesla. Obviously if you factor in the road service the delta was not that different and I remarked at the time that if you are going to drive an $80K car, it is poor form to grouse over $100. On another note: Tesla sells a tire repair kit for about $80 that would work for tires suffering minor punctures which is worth storing in the frunk. Another company sells complete replacement tire and wheel assemblies that come in a nice storage bag, which I also bought just in case. (of course this requires you are able to jack up your car and change the assembly). Having spent that $400, no doubt mine will now rot in the bag, but Semper Paratus.

 

[melnoelhorn]

My first post. I have a 2018 MX and love it.
If you need to have road side assistance, make sure that you know where the jack points are and the service person places the jack correctly. I had recent tire problem and the mechanic placed his jack on the battery. I will pick up the loaner tire tomorrow in Devon PA and hope that no damage was done.

 

[CELSIE19]

Thank goodness I am not alone with road rash wheels. I was so terribly embarrassed, I thought I had truly become the epitome of an old lady driver. Thank you, thank you all.
I have ordered new wheels and tires for the winter and will have my original wheels prettied up and order new tires next spring.

 

[jgatl]

It will cost about $100-$150 to get your rims refinished. There's a franchise called Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists that offers mobile service to pickup your wheel the morning before and have it to you the next day. They will also fixed cracked rims. I do not know if they have jacks for Teslas, so make sure you ask. I had the Service Center give me a loaner rim while I had my rim repaired (so AWRS just had to take the damaged rim out of my trunk). Once you've shelled out $150 to get them refinished, another product like Rimsavers is Alloy Gators. They take the scraping before your rim (or tire). AlloyGatorNA | The World's Premium Customizable Wheel Protection

 

[ddrmr]

I've had my LR MX for about 2 months. I absolutely love driving the car, although I'm still having difficulty judging the distance to the curb. I've curbed the rims twice already. Today I pulled over to the side of the road to check something out, and didn't realize I was within an inch of the cobble stone edging. I backed up a little, and the tire pressure warning light came on. I punctured the side wall of the tire - there's about a 1.5" hole! I drove about 50 feet to a safe area, and called Tesla Service. No humans available, you have to request service from the Tesla App. No, I wasn't happy about that, but I didn't have much choice. I figured the rest of my day was lost, and this was going to be a real PITA. I entered my information into the Tesla App at 3:50 PM. Within 5 minutes, I received a text from Tesla, acknowledging my request for roadside assistance. A few minutes later, I received a text stating that Roadside Assistance (actually, a private company working for Tesla) would be at my car within 55 minutes. They will loan me a tire and a rim, install it on my car, and I'll have to go to the Service Center to pick up my new tire and have it installed. Sounds like a great idea to me! The Tesla Roadside guy shows up, tells me to put the car in JACK mode, jacks up the car, removes my wheel, puts on the loaner (the rim is painted red because people used to keep the loaners!), has me turn off Jack mode, and we're done. Amazing service! Within 1 hour of my reporting that I punctured my tire, I had a loaner wheel on my car, and was back on the road.

After reading about all of the horrible experiences with Tesla service, I wasn't expecting much. I certainly was impressed with how smoothly everything went, and how fast Tesla responded. The guy who responded was polite, knowledgeable, efficient, and a nice guy. Thank you RJB Towing (Westchester, NY).

Thank you Elon for providing such a fantastic service experience!

Oh - I should mention that the first appointment I could get to have my new tire installed is 1 week from today. There's no problem using the loaner wheel, except that it doesn't look so nice with the one red rim. It would have been perfect if I could have stopped by the service center tomorrow to get the wheel exchanged, but I'm not complaining.

I've had two similar eperiences. My wife killed two tires in 6 months. Our tow companies aren't as prepared because it usually took two hours and then they just dropped us off at the (closed) tired shop! I finally bought a spare rim and used tire for $250 (thank you Amazon) which I keep in my shop. A month ago she did it again! Luckily I have an alligator floor jack. I had her on the road in about 45 minutes.

 

[RachH]

I too have joined the scratch my rims club. Glad to know I am not alone

 

[Ctyler]

Although I’m still annoyed with myself for rimming 3 of my 4 tires over the course of a year - I’m glad to know I’m not alone. First time was on a small rotary with a really low curb in FL (right rear) where the car jumped the curb with that wheel. Second time was when I was pulling forward from a parking space and turned right (right front) and jumped the curb there. Third time was when I was backing out from a parking space and scraped the left front tire. Finally my husband explained I wasn’t used to driving a rear wheel drive car after decades of front wheel and I needed to be more aware of the turning radius. Fingers crossed as I haven’t done it since (and then again I no longer park in those spots against the curb (where I used to park to avoid door dents on at least one side). FIngers crossed on that now too!

 

[Saguarojoe]

In the future, if you change your tires to another type but not the original factory brand/type, they won’t provide the loaner wheel. That’s what Tesla told me.

Good info. Thanks. I've replaced all four with the Tesla Michelins. Discount Tire is fantastic. Set of four cost $500 with warranty credit from Michelin.

 

[Saguarojoe]

Although I’m still annoyed with myself for rimming 3 of my 4 tires over the course of a year - I’m glad to know I’m not alone. First time was on a small rotary with a really low curb in FL (right rear) where the car jumped the curb with that wheel. Second time was when I was pulling forward from a parking space and turned right (right front) and jumped the curb there. Third time was when I was backing out from a parking space and scraped the left front tire. Finally my husband explained I wasn’t used to driving a rear wheel drive car after decades of front wheel and I needed to be more aware of the turning radius. Fingers crossed as I haven’t done it since (and then again I no longer park in those spots against the curb (where I used to park to avoid door dents on at least one side). FIngers crossed on that now too!

You are definitely not alone

 

[r0xx0r]

What will they give you to get you going?

The

What will they give you to get you going?

They provided to tow your car to nearest service center or location of your choice. So I asked them towed my car to America Tire then got my tire replaced here.