Roadster rear toe links

[thefortunes]

Glad you're back on the road. -3.0 sounds a little extreme and think you have the number wrong, I can't push mine past -2.5/-2.6 with all the shims pulled! Same with the Elise... Do you have the adjustable suspension or the stock Bilstiens? If adjustable you can stiffen the springs, if the stock Bilstien non-adjustable I'd throw those in the trash and get some quality shocks put on there.

Checked the readout - left is -2.9 and right is -3.0. Stock Bilsteins.

Since we will be replacing the springs (and possibly shocks) he didn't think it made sense to adjust at this point.

Any recommendations Wiztecy (or anyone else) for replacement springs/shocks? Probably not looking to upgrade to adjustable unless it isn't a significant $ difference (which I doubt).

 

[wiztecy]

What is your budget you'd want to spend?

Just to clarify are your shocks adjustable?

You can have them rebuilt and new springs purchased which would be the most cost effective route.

The next inexpensive way would be going the Nitron 1-way route, but you'll need to customize / fabricate the driver's side shock / abs mount.

If you're shocks are sagging that bad, that can throw your camber off on negative side as what you're seeing.

 

[JohnGarziglia]

I finally got my roadster into the Tesla service center. I am told that the alignment was out of whack. But, when they tried to adjust the tie rods, they found that both of them and the control arms were seized and cannot be adjusted. Rather they must be replaced. I have to wonder if there is anything I could have done maintenance-wise to avoid this, or whether it is just something that happens for a roadster that is driven year round.

 

[thefortunes]

I finally got my roadster into the Tesla service center. I am told that the alignment was out of whack. But, when they tried to adjust the tie rods, they found that both of them and the control arms were seized and cannot be adjusted. Rather they must be replaced. I have to wonder if there is anything I could have done maintenance-wise to avoid this, or whether it is just something that happens for a roadster that is driven year round.

Wiztecy or Henry can probably answer your question better than I about what could/should be done to prevent the issue, but I am surprised that my car with 63k miles (driven year-round in snowy/salty Wisconsin) would be OK but yours in Virginia would not.

There certainly was some surface corrosion on the tie rods but applying some penetrant (WD-40?) allowed adjustment.

I hate to say it but I would have a second (Lotus or good independent) shop take a look before I spent the $$ on all new parts.

 

[JohnGarziglia]

Wiztecy or Henry can probably answer your question better than I about what could/should be done to prevent the issue, but I am surprised that my car with 63k miles (driven year-round in snowy/salty Wisconsin) would be OK but yours in Virginia would not.

There certainly was some surface corrosion on the tie rods but applying some penetrant (WD-40?) allowed adjustment.

I hate to say it but I would have a second (Lotus or good independent) shop take a look before I spent the $$ on all new parts.

Thank you for your observations on this. I just talked to my BMW mechanic of 27 years who I trust implicitly. He says he sees this all the time (with BMWs of course) -- that one way to address it is to take it to a suspension specialist who will carefully heat up the parts and then try to work them loose and unfreeze them but that is an iffy procedure that will take time and may or may not work. His advice was that given the Tesla estimate of a little less than $1,000 for parts and labor, just to get the parts replaced as I might spend several hundred dollars trying to get them worked loose and still end up having to get new parts.

 

[ML Auto]

Its easy to use a torch to heat up the threads on the tie rods, as they are easily accessible on the roadster, front and rear. Being from Wisconsin, it was almost mandatory to use heat when doing alignments on any car driven year round. I'm not sure why anything with the control arms would be involved, as the camber is adjusted by shims between the upper ball joint mount and the spindle, and the toe is adjusted strictly thru the tie rods. Several hundred dollars to get them loose??? It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes extra to get them free. It sounds like Tesla is just lazy and trying to sell you a bunch of parts. Try a big tire place that does alignments.