Side of car scraped against cobblestone, NO marks?!

[eIon]

The border of my driveway is made up of cobblestone. It starts off narrow and widens as you drive in. While reversing in, the side of my black 2021 SR+ scraped against the cobblestone. However upon inspection, there seems to be NO marks, scratches, dents of any kind? Considering the sound I heard (my heart dropped...), you can color me suprised!

Is the exterior made of some kind of material that can handle a slight grind against cobblestone? Should I even be shocked? Am I just lucky? In any event I’m very grateful there are no marks!

 

[garrett5688]

Did you look at both sides?

 

[eIon]

Did you look at both sides?

Yes!

 

[father_of_6]

After reading a handful of posts about it, I sprayed my car down with a pressure washer the other day... a 25 degree nozzle. Sadly, it flaked paint off on a handful of spots of the rocker panel. I'm pretty sure the paint *is* sub-par on a Tesla, confirming what many have already stated.

My guess is that the scraping you heard was *under* the car, not on the side. I feel pretty strongly that if your paint rubbed cobblestone, you would absolutely have damage.

 

[JIM-M]

Have you looked at the wheel edges ? it sticks out from the tire generally on Teslas. It can make a horrible sound (so I am told )

 

[stopcrazypp]

Have you looked at the wheel edges ? it sticks out from the tire generally on Teslas. It can make a horrible sound (so I am told )

Ditto on that. I would check the wheels also (and tires). It probably scraped there, not the paint.

 

[stopcrazypp]

After reading a handful of posts about it, I sprayed my car down with a pressure washer the other day... a 25 degree nozzle. Sadly, it flaked paint off on a handful of spots of the rocker panel. I'm pretty sure the paint *is* sub-par on a Tesla, confirming what many have already stated.

Pressure washers can strip off paint if it had been chipped from road rash, which rocker panels easily do. Especially without mud flaps on Model 3: in the first short trip I made, the rockers and areas behind the wheels were already covered with road grime. If the roads I travelled were rocky, I can easily see there being small chips in the paint, which a pressure washer can get into and strip off a larger section.

It really depends on the distance, angle, and psi you are using. I think most people recommend using a 40 degree and lower pressure if using a power washer for cars. After all, pressure washers are designed to quickly strip paint off surfaces (like concrete for example). It just needs a tiny break in the paint and it can get underneath and strip off a much larger section.

 

[MikeyC]

After reading a handful of posts about it, I sprayed my car down with a pressure washer the other day... a 25 degree nozzle. Sadly, it flaked paint off on a handful of spots of the rocker panel. I'm pretty sure the paint *is* sub-par on a Tesla, confirming what many have already stated.

My guess is that the scraping you heard was *under* the car, not on the side. I feel pretty strongly that if your paint rubbed cobblestone, you would absolutely have damage.

I was also thinking: check the wheels. But what size pressure washer were you using? I'd never use a 25 on a car: I'd use a 40 and even then, only at a distance. A 25 degree nozzle can be like a sandblaster, particularly on washers with higher PSI.

Mike

 

[eisenb11]

Here is my test for a pressure washer - if you can hold your hand under the nozzle, you're good to go. If it hurts more than a tiny bit, turn it down.

 

[father_of_6]

The pressure washer is 2000 PSI. It's my own dumb fault... the nozzles even have little drawings on them - the 40 degree nozzle shows a car, the 25 degree shows a fence. I was being careless. For the most part it was fine, but I saw a little white speck on the rocker panel that wasn't coming off, so I got in closer and "boop", "boop", "boop" - 3 more little white specks appeared. The other side of the car has a long white scratch on the rocker panel... probably from a pebble on "blast-off".

Sorry to derail the thread. One thing to note is that my car is MSM (Midnight Silver Metallic), but the paint damage is stark white. I've had small dings on cars in the past and they aren't typically as prominent. I do believe that Tesla has a lot of room for improvement on their paint. To their credit, they seem to continue to make improvements in many directions, as well as new product lines (Cybertruck, Semi, Solar).

Probably the edges of the wheels are what scraped (*lucky*!).

 

[eIon]

Thank you all for your responses. Much kinder than some other forums I’ve been on (non-Tesla oriented, but so toxic that I hesitate to post much anywhere anymore) so I really appreciate that. Will check it out again tomorrow in the daylight!

 

[valaeyron]

I back into my garage with my M3 MSM...mainly because the 14-50 outlet is back there. cutting it too close, I have gently rubbed the rear fender up against a bare wooden IKEA shelf (the kind that is not painted, just bare”... 3mm long, maybe 5mm. It did rub off paint. I guarantee you cobblestone would be worse if there was contact.