SideWall Tear After 20 Miles! -- Advice Requested

[jerry33]

What did the Michelin shop say when you showed them the tire? I kind of expected, with 20 miles, they would have concluded it was a quality control issue and replaced it for you.

The photograph didn't appear to be a QC issue, just a road hazard and bad luck.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Well since the pothole was the likely culprit along with potentially a weak sidewall near the rim? I thought 50% was fine, and I did this over the internet. Here is a photo of another Model S driving by the pothole the next day and a close up of the pothole. As you can see from the Model S photo, it is very easy to hit your left wheel in the rim. This intersection is quite busy with cars and cyclists, so folks aren't likely to notice the pothole. I was driving at night.

I also find it odd that this driver's left light is out or my iPhone has some very strange timing lag properties.

But you said you didn't feel hitting a pothole. Maybe it's just having lived in the midwest, but I don't think I'd ever come to a conclusion where "I went looking and found a pothole that I'm not even sure I hit, but it looks like something I might have hit, so that certainly is the problem with this brand new tire I just purchased and have barely driven on." The chance of it being a quality or installation issue seems orders of magnitude more likely than a pothole you may or may not have hit and certainly didn't feel.

Glad TireRack worked something out for you, though.

Note: The LEDs on the taillight appear to be out because they're being refreshed. They toggle on and off faster than the eye can see, but if the shutter speed on your camera is fast enough it can catch the period when they're off.

 

[Owner]

A lot of things in life generally aren't black and white. So perhaps this tire was on the lower of the quality spectrum and I hit the pothole without feeling it. I'm fine with the 50%.

I am kind of in agreement with you Gizmotoy in that it is more commonly that I knowingly run over something and then think "relief, no damage" later. But the location of this pothole is too telling for me to not believe it was a factor.

But you said you didn't feel hitting a pothole. Maybe it's just having lived in the midwest, but I don't think I'd ever come to a conclusion where "I went looking and found a pothole that I'm not even sure I hit, but it looks like something I might have hit, so that certainly is the problem with this brand new tire I just purchased and have barely driven on." The chance of it being a quality or installation issue seems orders of magnitude more likely than a pothole you may or may not have hit and certainly didn't feel.

Glad TireRack worked something out for you, though.

Note: The LEDs on the taillight appear to be out because they're being refreshed. They toggle on and off faster than the eye can see, but if the shutter speed on your camera is fast enough it can catch the period when they're off.

 

[markb1]

If the pothole cause that gash in the tire, I'm surprise it didn't cause any rash on the rim.

 

[jerry33]

If the pothole cause that gash in the tire, I'm surprise it didn't cause any rash on the rim.

The tire protects the rim flange from damage unless it cuts through the sidewall in two places.

 

[strider]

Turns out you can't buy the road hazard warranty within the 14 day period if you already had a road hazard.

They did sell me a replacement tire at 50% off though.

Note that the Continentals have a "free" factory road hazard warranty. Only on replacement tires though - doesn't apply to the first set from Tesla. I've used it twice now.

 

[Owner]

Oh, I did not know that, can you outline the details of the warranty?

Note that the Continentals have a "free" factory road hazard warranty. Only on replacement tires though - doesn't apply to the first set from Tesla. I've used it twice now.

 

[pete8314]

This kind of thing is just going to keep happening as long as your running around with low profile tires. Only solution is to have a bigger sidewall. Try switching to 19s.

This is the same thing my SC Manager tells me whenever I moan about not having the 21's. When I was last there he'd just switched out some 21's for 19's as the owner had 4 deflations in the space of a couple of months. Not sure if they were driving down the same pothole every time though. I'm sure it depends on lots of factors (driving style, state of the roads etc), but the pothole pictured below is not uncommon around here, especially after a lot of ice or rain. As you can see in the photo, it's been patched (badly, using cold-lay tarmac that'll eventually just get squeezed out), which is exactly what they do here. So I'm still slightly regretful about not going for the 21's, but less sad about all the money I would have spent by now on rim fixes and new tires.

 

[darthvdr]

Oh, I did not know that, can you outline the details of the warranty?

I wasn't told about this either. Where did you get this information?

 

[Gizmotoy]

Oh, I did not know that, can you outline the details of the warranty?

I wasn't told about this either. Where did you get this information?

Continental almost always gives you a road hazard warranty on their tires. The trick is it's only good for the first 1.6mm of wear, or 12 months, whichever comes first.

Depending on when you purchased, you should be able to pull the exact warranty card from TireRack (thanks TR!): http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...Model S Performance&autoModClar=&tab=Warranty

As noted above, this doesn't apply to OEM tires (the ones your car was delivered with).

 

[Laurent]

I went ahead per this forum's advice and bought the Pilot Super Sport's for the rear.
After only 20 miles of driving, I got a crack in the sidewall. A very long detailed story around this saga, but I will leave that to another day.[/COLOR]
I discovered upon investigation that there was a pothole less than one mile away from the point where the tire pressure gauge hit in. But I did not hear or feel the pothole, so I likely just scrapped the edge.
I am now concerned about the durability of this brand, and may just switch back to the Continentals. Michelin's 800 number is not available on the weekends.
Here is a photo of the cut. Advice more than welcome!

I had a very similar problem yesterday on my way back from Indian Wells. I stopped by Tejon Ranch and hit a pothole on Laval Rd (you'll see it if you're coming from the south). An hour later, as I was leaving, I got the "very low tire pressure, pull over" warning. Lo and behold, there was a crack in the sidewall and I could hear the leak. Not ideal when it's past 9pm and you're in the middle of nowhere, 300 miles away from home. So I took out my $40 Slime Flat Tire Repair Kit and temporarily "fixed" the tire. The safe thing to do would have been to drive to Bakersfield 30 miles away and go to a tire shop in the morning but I didn't feel like it so I just kept driving, recharging at Harris Ranch and then Gilroy. I had to re-inflate the tire twice along the way but it held until I got home at 3am. I called Tirerack this morning and they're shipping me a replacement tire at 50% off.

 

[Owner]

I had heard that you couldn't use a tire repair kit very effectively on a sidewall cut. But you managed to drive around 300 miles filling it only twice, which is not awful. I need to get myself a kit.

I had a very similar problem yesterday on my way back from Indian Wells. I stopped by Tejon Ranch and hit a pothole on Laval Rd (you'll see it if you're coming from the south). An hour later, as I was leaving, I got the "very low tire pressure, pull over" warning. Lo and behold, there was a crack in the sidewall and I could hear the leak. Not ideal when it's past 9pm and you're in the middle of nowhere, 300 miles away from home. So I took out my $40 Slime Flat Tire Repair Kit and temporarily "fixed" the tire. The safe thing to do would have been to drive to Bakersfield 30 miles away and go to a tire shop in the morning but I didn't feel like it so I just kept driving, recharging at Harris Ranch and then Gilroy. I had to re-inflate the tire twice along the way but it held until I got home at 3am. I called Tirerack this morning and they're shipping me a replacement tire at 50% off.

 

[taraquin]

All Teslatires should be XL-rated and have rim-protectors (also makes the sidewall thicker close to the rim), that should make unfortunate accidents like this a lot less common. To bad we don`t get XL-tires for stock...

 

[jerry33]

All Teslatires should be XL-rated and have rim-protectors (also makes the sidewall thicker close to the rim), that should make unfortunate accidents like this a lot less common. To bad we don`t get XL-tires for stock...

Agreed with the rim flange protectors (although they do trap heat--not great for high speeds). However, the difference between SL and XL is that the carcass cords are very slightly thicker (or sometimes a stronger material) so that the tire can be used at higher air pressures. The only extra protection you get from XL is that you can use the higher pressures which will help protect against pothole damage.

 

[Matthew Groff]

I keep getting cracks on my sidewalls too. Second set this has happened to, almost identical tear as the first set. Looks scary but I was able to drive past the recommended milage on the other set. Both on drivers side rear tires.

 

[URBAN LEGEND]

Michelin is king. Been on those since 2012 on numerous fast cars. This is an isolated incident.