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Sitting on the side of the highway with a flat tire ...
- Thread starter cinergi
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
Yeah, didn't feel like doing that to my rim. I stayed inside the car, buckled as I know the dangers of being on the shoulder.
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Towed to the service center. I had to call my sister to come fetch me as the service center was pretty far in the opposite direction of where I live (and fortunately that's with my sister right now). Otherwise I would have had to arrange a cab (which Tesla would reimburse me for). Tesla also offered to reimburse me for food or something but I reminded them I was on the side of the highway
Sorry to hear that, Ben. As someone who recently had a flat on my MS, I can certainly sympathize. However, in my case it was a nail, not a pothole that did me in. I thought initially that I would be able to fix it temporarily using the Slime repair kit. Then I made my biggest mistake... Reading the directions that came with the kit!! The first sentence of the instructions reads something like this: Remove the nail if you can. Mind you this was against my instinct not to do so. As luck would have it, the nail was staring me in the face on the top of the tire when I pulled into the Walgreens parking lot. Luckily (?), I also carried a pair of pliers in the car. So I proceeded to pull out the offending nail. I will say that the active air suspension did help out a great deal in this regard by allowing me to raise the car considerably. I think you can guess what happened next. The tire became completely flat and the Slime kit was totally ineffective in filling the hole.
At this point, I asked my wife to call Tesla roadside assistance for help. The Tesla representative my wife talked to was extremely helpful. She immediately pinpointed our location and tried to contact all the tire shops near our location. Since this happened after 6pm on a Friday night, all the shops were closed. In the meantime, I also contacted the Tampa service center for advice on the tire repair. As many Tesla owners can attest to in this forum already, every Tesla employee we have ever been in contact with have been very friendly and go the extra mile to help an owner in need, even after regular business hours. Many thanks to all who helped us that day. In the end, my beloved MS ended up on the flatbed tow truck to home. In addition to blaming myself for pulling out the nail in the first place against my initial instinct not to do so, all I can think about on the way home was I hope passing drivers don't get the wrong impression about my Tesla. Namely, it is on the tow truck not because it ran out of "juice" as in the case of the now infamous New York Times article, but rather a mundane flat tire which could happen to any ICE car too.
At this point, I asked my wife to call Tesla roadside assistance for help. The Tesla representative my wife talked to was extremely helpful. She immediately pinpointed our location and tried to contact all the tire shops near our location. Since this happened after 6pm on a Friday night, all the shops were closed. In the meantime, I also contacted the Tampa service center for advice on the tire repair. As many Tesla owners can attest to in this forum already, every Tesla employee we have ever been in contact with have been very friendly and go the extra mile to help an owner in need, even after regular business hours. Many thanks to all who helped us that day. In the end, my beloved MS ended up on the flatbed tow truck to home. In addition to blaming myself for pulling out the nail in the first place against my initial instinct not to do so, all I can think about on the way home was I hope passing drivers don't get the wrong impression about my Tesla. Namely, it is on the tow truck not because it ran out of "juice" as in the case of the now infamous New York Times article, but rather a mundane flat tire which could happen to any ICE car too.
Must have been some nail! I totally can visualize how this happened. Usually, a hole is small enough to cause a small leak. I wonder if a piece of gum or something could have slowed this down. The alternative in your case was to leave the nail in. That could have resulted in more damage maybe.
Has anyone yet found a spare donut to fit in the frunk? Does a standard wheel fit?
No, I keep my winter wheels in the back of the shop actually. If I got a flat I could either get a wheel brought to me, or flat-bed the car to the office. If I was on a road trip I would get Tesla roadside assistance to sort it out.
Personally, I wouldn't want to jack up such a heavy car with a crappy car jack on who-knows-what surface on the side of a road. Recipie for disaster. Better to do it on a solid surface with a shop jack.
Mayhemm
Model S P85+ "Lola"
I second this request. Never understood this trend of not having spares. A bit understandable in my current car (where space is at a premium) but they couldn't fit a donut in the Model S with its 60cu.ft. of cargo space? Another $300 on $120K would be a deal-breaker for too many people?
Mostly weight savings. Kinda dumb, but that's the trend.
I'm not sure there are doughnut spares made that correspond to the Model S tire sizes. And it's more like $500-$700 considering there would need to be a wheel as well as a tire--not that that should make any difference as compared to $300.
I found this thread with this picture in it posted by 3lectronica. Looks like the diameter is the limiting factor. Perhaps one could fit it if placed at an angle. Not possible with a standard rim, but maybe a donut which while having the same diameter tend to be considerably thinner.
ToddRLockwood
Active Member
This is not so unusual on sport sedans in the $100K territory. Aston Martin and Maserati do not supply spares either. Flats are relatively rare on today's high performance tires. Also, it would take quite a jack to lift even one corner of the Model S. I've done it with a 2-ton floor jack in my garage. The Model S is heavy!
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ToddRLockwood
Active Member
I must be lucky. None of the last five cars I've owned (and drove 250K miles) left me with a flat by the side of the road. I've picked up my share of nails, but none of them made the car undriveable.
Mine have been all slow leaks as well except for one, but I would rather put on a spare than have to go to whatever tire repair place might be close to where I am or have to wait four hours like I did that one time (it was on too steep of a hill for me to use the supplied jack), or have to have the car towed.
I've had two Mercedes AMGs, and neither of them came with a spare either. Not even a donut.
In 25+ years of driving, I've had only one flat that required replacement on the road. And if I had noticed it before I got in the car and drove away, it wouldn't even have been that. The rest have all been slow leaks, easily managed.
I also find it interesting that with 10,800 miles on my 21's they haven't lost even one pound of pressure. Much more consistent than any other tire I've had.
EarlyAdopter
Active Member
The trend towards not including spares is based on the fact that most cars when they go to the crusher at end of life have an unused spare tire. Making all those spare tires and hauling them around all the time to just throw them away is a tremendous waste of resources.
Of course, that's no consolation when you pull the unlucky card and get a flat.
Of course, that's no consolation when you pull the unlucky card and get a flat.
nspollution
Member
That's common these days, though most of them have run-flat tires.
Note that a run-flat would not have helped in this situation, however.
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