Single Tire has zero tread after 15K miles. Other tires fine

[Lychee]

My late 2021 Model 3 SR+ rear passenger tire has zero tread now, while other tires are fine.

I had the rear driver side tire replaced due to a nail last October at 8000 miles, and the tread depth on the rear passenger tire was 9, while all others were 7. Tesla did not recommend any tire rotation at the time. I have driven 7k miles since, and the other three tires look great with normal tread. I am scheduled for service this week. Any chance this would be covered by warranty? Any ideas on what would cause a single tire to have no tread? Tire pressure is 42 on all tires.

No uneven tread warning given, just noticed when approaching the car today.

 

[dsgerbc]

Any favorite left turns you like to floor the car at every day?
Otherwise, it's pretty weird. I do see a bit of tread on the ouside(?), so it looks like camber wear a bit. But for camber to eat the tire like that in 7k miles it'd have to be pretty severe, and severe camber wear looks different.

 

[karkrazy]

Suspension failure (total speculation and pulling it out of the air)

 

[fholbert]

The wheel is not true?

Jack the car up enough to spin the tire. Put something next to the sidewall about 1/2” away, note the gap. Spin the tire, the sidewall should stay a constant distance.

 

[XPsionic]

Your car needs an alignment, and a new tire of course.

During the alignment, a competent technician will tell you if there's any suspension damage.

 

[Lychee]

Your car needs an alignment, and a new tire of course.

During the alignment, a competent technician will tell you if there's any suspension damage.

Do you think this would be covered under warranty? I have never hit a curb, no accidents, etc. The only thing I can think of is a factory issue and when they checked the tread last fall, they measured the outer most part

 

[Lychee]

Any favorite left turns you like to floor the car at every day?
Otherwise, it's pretty weird. I do see a bit of tread on the ouside(?), so it looks like camber wear a bit. But for camber to eat the tire like that in 7k miles it'd have to be pretty severe, and severe camber wear looks different.

haha - I am thinking it came from the factory with an alignment or other issue. I am hoping Tesla will correct the issue and cover it. I am guessing this is why this tire had a 9 for tread (outside measurement I am guessing), while the others were 7 last fall.

 

[jjrandorin]

Do you think this would be covered under warranty

Alignment wont be covered under warranty. Tesla doesnt even cover it on a new car unless its reported VERY shortly after taking possession (like 100 miles or less something like that)

haha - I am thinking it came from the factory with an alignment or other issue.

That is entirely possible, and maybe even likely, but there is no way for you to prove that. There is absolutely, positively, zero way to prove "I never hit a curb or anything".

Its not much different from when people have a window crack, with an impact point, and say "I never heard anything / nothing ever hit my car". Even if the alignment was wrong from the factory (again, that is entirely possible, even likely), "I picked it up last year with an alignment issue" is a tough ask for coverage. Tesla might have some discretion in this, I dont work for them or anything so I dont know, but I can guarantee if you go in there all "fire and brimstone" like " You NEED TO XXXX" the answer is going to be no.

 

[804son]

It would be best to show a picture of all 4 tires, "Normal tread" is a big of a subjective term with out pictures. If one tire was replaced, make sure you identify the replaced tire.

 

[gtgarner]

My late 2021 Model 3 SR+ rear passenger tire has zero tread now, while other tires are fine.

I had the rear driver side tire replaced due to a nail last October at 8000 miles, and the tread depth on the rear passenger tire was 9, while all others were 7. Tesla did not recommend any tire rotation at the time. I have driven 7k miles since, and the other three tires look great with normal tread. I am scheduled for service this week. Any chance this would be covered by warranty? Any ideas on what would cause a single tire to have no tread? Tire pressure is 42 on all tires.

No uneven tread warning given, just noticed when approaching the car today.

My Michelin PS4's do that very thing.

My Falken Azenis FK510's don't.

However, I will never go back to the Falkens. They are just tooooo loud. The Michelin PS4's are quiet as a church mouse.

 

[Lychee]

Alignment wont be covered under warranty. Tesla doesnt even cover it on a new car unless its reported VERY shortly after taking possession (like 100 miles or less something like that)

That is entirely possible, and maybe even likely, but there is no way for you to prove that. There is absolutely, positively, zero way to prove "I never hit a curb or anything".

Its not much different from when people have a window crack, with an impact point, and say "I never heard anything / nothing ever hit my car". Even if the alignment was wrong from the factory (again, that is entirely possible, even likely), "I picked it up last year with an alignment issue" is a tough ask for coverage. Tesla might have some discretion in this, I dont work for them or anything so I dont know, but I can guarantee if you go in there all "fire and brimstone" like " You NEED TO XXXX" the answer is going to be no.

Tesla said that the wheel wasn't balanced. They could not explain why the other tires had a tread depth of 6 and the rear passenger was a 0 or why the wheel wasn't balanced. They did a free alignment (front was slightly off), but I had to pay $370 for a replacement tire. They didn't know why a tread alert wasn't given either. I really don't understand how the tire went from a 9 to a 0 in 8000 miles and am disappointed it wasn't covered, but it is what it is. I will keep a close eye on the tires from now on. Thankful I noticed the tread was gone before the tire went completely.

 

[Lychee]

It would be best to show a picture of all 4 tires, "Normal tread" is a big of a subjective term with out pictures. If one tire was replaced, make sure you identify the replaced tire.

Tesla measured the tread today - three tires were a 6 and one a zero. By identify the replaced tire, do you mean in the system? If so, I am not sure how to check if service did that. I am going to keep a close eye on the tires now to see if this new one wears faster as well.

 

[Lychee]

Your car needs an alignment, and a new tire of course.

During the alignment, a competent technician will tell you if there's any suspension damage.

Thank you. Tesla said the tire wasn't balanced. At my request, they checked the alignment and did a complementary adjustment. The front was slightly off they said. They told me they would check the suspension, but didn't say anything was wrong with it.

 

[gtgarner]

Tesla measured the tread today - three tires were a 6 and one a zero. By identify the replaced tire, do you mean in the system? If so, I am not sure how to check if service did that. I am going to keep a close eye on the tires now to see if this new one wears faster as well.

It could very well have been that you got a bad tire (soft tire) from the manufacturer - and that it's no one's fault (except maybe the tire vendor)

I received a bad (soft sidewall) Michelin PS4 before and discount tire replaced it free of charge because there is a mileage warranty on their products.

 

[804son]

Tesla measured the tread today - three tires were a 6 and one a zero. By identify the replaced tire, do you mean in the system? If so, I am not sure how to check if service did that. I am going to keep a close eye on the tires now to see if this new one wears faster as well.

Is your car a RWD, and I'm going to guess that maybe you didn't rotate the tires? Was the bald tire on the rear of the vehicle, possibly the right rear tire?

 

[kpanda17]

At this point think the OP is ahead, but for anyone else get to know rhe SC site manager (service and sales) prior to delivery as to handle and escalate issues like these
If this was mine, at a min I would have accepted free alignment and split the price of the replacement tire as to accept responsibility for not observing abnormal conditions on a new vehicle
My experience with Tesla, personally knowing this manager is key for getting what you want
They treat me like gold

 

[The Other Dan]

An out of balance wheel/tire won't do that. Especially in that short of a distance.

 

[wwu123]

When we picked up our M3 LR RWD in 2018, the two front tires (OEM Michelin Primacy MXM4) wore down to the 2mm wear bars in only 8000 miles. I attributed it to aggressive braking and cornering on my wife's part (it was her car), and just soft Tesla OEM tires in general (my Model S OEM's wore out in 18K miles). The fronts were still at 5-6mm IIRC, I think the OEM Michelin's come with less tread, maybe 8mm? I do try to have tires rotated about 1X/year, but that was so quick there was no time to really do it, plus shops will refuse to do so if the tires are too uneven. So replaced the two front tires, expecting they would always wear out twice as fast, so all four tires would need replacement at the same time.

After COVID hit, we weren't doing a lot of driving for 18 months, but fast-forward to the present - with the car odometer now at 30K miles, the OEM rears are finally hitting the wear bars, but the replacement front tires are still at a healthy 6mm (that's 22K miles on them) with no real change in my wife's driving style. Granted, the replacement tires are harder ones with a higher mileage rating, so not directly comparable to the OEM Michelin's - but there must have been something wrong with original front tires - either an alignment issue, mounting/balancing issues, or bad set of tires. However, we certainly never had an alignment done on the car.

But curious note - a number of years ago I had tires replaced at Costco on my SUV at the time, after leaving I was hearing a very soft thwack-thwack-thwack from the front, maybe feeling a bit of rotational vibration as well. I brought it back the next day, the tire dept manager was a bit skeptical - but he came out, looked at the front tires, and asked me shocked "you drove these less than a day"? Then he had one or both front tires replaced right away. I'm not sure what exactly was wrong, either the tires were mounted poorly, or maybe a wheel wasn't lugged squarely to the rotors - but clearly he could see some very abnormal wear from just a day of driving, and it wasn't about the car's alignment, just something from replacing the front tires....

 

[kpanda17]

When we picked up our M3 LR RWD in 2018, the two front tires (OEM Michelin Primacy MXM4) wore down to the 2mm wear bars in only 8000 miles. I attributed it to aggressive braking and cornering on my wife's part (it was her car), and just soft Tesla OEM tires in general (my Model S OEM's wore out in 18K miles). The fronts were still at 5-6mm IIRC, I think the OEM Michelin's come with less tread, maybe 8mm? I do try to have tires rotated about 1X/year, but that was so quick there was no time to really do it, plus shops will refuse to do so if the tires are too uneven. So replaced the two front tires, expecting they would always wear out twice as fast, so all four tires would need replacement at the same time.

After COVID hit, we weren't doing a lot of driving for 18 months, but fast-forward to the present - with the car odometer now at 30K miles, the OEM rears are finally hitting the wear bars, but the replacement front tires are still at a healthy 6mm (that's 22K miles on them) with no real change in my wife's driving style. Granted, the replacement tires are harder ones with a higher mileage rating, so not directly comparable to the OEM Michelin's - but there must have been something wrong with original front tires - either an alignment issue, mounting/balancing issues, or bad set of tires. However, we certainly never had an alignment done on the car.

But curious note - a number of years ago I had tires replaced at Costco on my SUV at the time, after leaving I was hearing a very soft thwack-thwack-thwack from the front, maybe feeling a bit of rotational vibration as well. I brought it back the next day, the tire dept manager was a bit skeptical - but he came out, looked at the front tires, and asked me shocked "you drove these less than a day"? Then he had one or both front tires replaced right away. I'm not sure what exactly was wrong, either the tires were mounted poorly, or maybe a wheel wasn't lugged squarely to the rotors - but clearly he could see some very abnormal wear from just a day of driving, and it wasn't about the car's alignment, just something from replacing the front tires....

Costco is my number one choice for tires for the last 25 years
Amazing customer service

 

[gtgarner]

Is your car a RWD, and I'm going to guess that maybe you didn't rotate the tires? Was the bald tire on the rear of the vehicle, possibly the right rear tire?

Looking at his picture and Tesla's confirmation thats not a rotation issue. Something was wrong in the area where that tire was. Either the tire or suspension or alignment or balance.

Rotating another tire to where that bad one was will only mean that he now has 2 bad tires (if the problem isn't the tire itself). It would be a good thing that he didn't rotate a bunch of good tires through that bad location.