Suspension after 116k miles

[yobigd20]

I haven't been on these forums at all really since the redesign (hate it, wish it was reverted), but I thought i'd come back to post what my suspension looks like after 116k miles given all the recent controversy. (side note, in case anyone's interested, I've have my drive unit replaced 5 times now I think, but that's unrelated to this thread topic). I did have the rear upper control links replaced at ~80k miles , out of pocket. they said it was worn. also, I've had continuous tire problems, whatever you want to call it scallopped, cupped, feathered, etc. this has plagued me for pretty much the entire life of the car. it's annoying because it's loud . I've attached pics of my tires too to show what I mean. alignment is always 'within spec' so no idea what causes this on all 3 of my tire sets i've gone through. I think they just need to be rotated religiously every 3k miles (i just bought floor jack, breaker bar, torque wrench, etc etc to do this myself now instead of depend on Tesla so hopefully in the future I'll avoid tire issues on new sets since can do this more often now since I'm doing it myself). I also think that rotating front to back isnt enough and that they fronts should be crossed when going to the rear but that's just my opinion. I think that doing this would avoid bad wear patterns. anywho, here ya go:

Driver Front:

Driver rear:

Pass Front:

Pass rear:

Messed up tires:

Current mileage:

 

[yobigd20]

Also, I'm still on my original brake pads, which still look pretty much brand new:

rear upper control links replacement @ 80k miles:

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Your tires don't appear to be the standard size specified by Tesla.

 

[sorka]

Buy two floor jacks. It will be FAR easier to jack the entire side of the car at once or the entire front or back depending on if you're swapping side to side or front to back.

Make sure the jack pad only touches the battery lift pad and that you don't lift the part of the battery rail that dips below the top of the battery lift pad. Best way to avoid this is use two hocky pocks stacked on each other and lifting only on the battery lift pads.

I have 21K miles driven on my stock 19" Primacies and they have perfectly even wear. I rotated them once around 18K I think because Tesla had never rotated them despite the car being in 6 times for minor things.

The interior cupping is classic of over inflation. At one point my tires were just starting to show slightly more wear in the middle. I complained about it to Tesla and they lowered my tire pressure from 50 to 45 and the wear evened out. On subsequent visits, they increased it back to 50 psi(because that's whats on the door) and then I always lower it back down to 45.

Do you live in an area with salted roads? I have had cars with 300K+ miles that didn't show rust like that.

 

[Krugerrand]

Do you live in an area with salted roads? I have had cars with 300K+ miles that didn't show rust like that.

His location says New York.

 

[sorka]

His location says New York.

Thinks. I guess I should have used my brain

 

[AmpedRealtor]

 

[CHG-ON]

Yes. My first thought was over inflation.

 

[scottm]

Pictures of ball joints appreciated, but hard to tell internal wear (where it matters)...

No evidence of rubber boot rupture or cracking seen in photos.

What's the way to really inspect them? There must be a procedure for loading up the suspension a certain way and prying on them... any suspension mechanics in the crowd.. Can't be that different from other cars to test ball joints.

 

[brantse]

Your tires don't appear to be the standard size specified by Tesla.

How can you tell? I don't see any indication as to the size or type of tire (besides tread pattern, and I would be shocked if many people could identify the exact tire from it's tread pattern).

 

[3mp_kwh]

Pic 2 is the joint that made all the news. Easiest thing to test is, first simply ask yourself if there's noise in the front. If not, get the tire several inches off the ground, and then taking some pipe or something a ~yard long and lever up an down under it until you get the suspension going up/down. While looking up there, you should see perfect unison in motion and not be seeing the neck of the joint going inside the boot. 12 and 6 play is another way, that should easily have shown the other guy's joint was bad.

I haven't had these joints go, but have seen enough ball and socket issues to throw two cents in. If you have a lift, it all gets easier, especially cross-rotating tires (get those scallops facing the other way). The issue I'm having is on less than smooth surfaces, the steering wheel resonates.

 

[yobigd20]

Your tires don't appear to be the standard size specified by Tesla.

yea I run 255/45ZR19s

Buy two floor jacks. It will be FAR easier to jack the entire side of the car at once or the entire front or back depending on if you're swapping side to side or front to back.

Make sure the jack pad only touches the battery lift pad and that you don't lift the part of the battery rail that dips below the top of the battery lift pad. Best way to avoid this is use two hocky pocks stacked on each other and lifting only on the battery lift pads.

I haven't done the cross rotation yet, but I am able to jack one side high enough to slip one of these (with hockey puck) up under the front or rear for additional support. i figure if i jack the front of one side high enough, slip one of these under the rear, then move the floor jack over to the opposite rear then I can swap rears.

The interior cupping is classic of over inflation. At one point my tires were just starting to show slightly more wear in the middle. I complained about it to Tesla and they lowered my tire pressure from 50 to 45 and the wear evened out. On subsequent visits, they increased it back to 50 psi(because that's whats on the door) and then I always lower it back down to 45.

this might actually be it. I run mine at 50psi even though they supposed to be at 45psi. i've been doing this to get slightly better Wh/mi but if it's at the cost of my tires getting destroyed its not worth it.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

How can you tell? I don't see any indication as to the size or type of tire (besides tread pattern, and I would be shocked if many people could identify the exact tire from it's tread pattern).

I looked at his signature I also know from another thread discussing different types of tires where we discussed non-standard sizes, spacers, etc.

 

[sorka]

yea I run 255/45ZR19s



I haven't done the cross rotation yet, but I am able to jack one side high enough to slip one of these (with hockey puck) up under the front or rear for additional support. i figure if i jack the front of one side high enough, slip one of these under the rear, then move the floor jack over to the opposite rear then I can swap rears.

There are only 4 jack points and these are the pads that are just about big enough to jack up with a hocky puck. So how are you going to swap the jack stand for the jack? There aren't two locations on the corner for you to jack up and then put a jack stand under unlike traditional rails under most vehicles.

The only way to properly lift a Tesla using jack stands is like this:

If this is not what you're doing, which you can't with the stands you linked, you will do damage to the your Tesla.

 

[ecarfan]

I've had continuous tire problems, whatever you want to call it scallopped, cupped, feathered, etc. this has plagued me for pretty much the entire life of the car. it's annoying because it's loud... no idea what causes this on all 3 of my tire sets i've gone through.

I run mine at 50psi even though they supposed to be at 45psi. i've been doing this to get slightly better Wh/mi but if it's at the cost of my tires getting destroyed its not worth it

I think you have the answer to your tire wear.

So you currently have 116K miles on your car, and you are on your 4th set of tires. How many miles were on your car when you installed your 4th set of tires?

I got 40K miles out of my first set of 19" Michelin Primacies. I run them at 45psi.

 

[sorka]

I got 40K miles out of my first set of 19" Michelin Primacies. I run them at 45psi.

I have 21K miles on my Primacies so far with perfectly even wear and also should get just about 40K miles out of them.

 

[Max*]

I got 40K miles out of my first set of 19" Michelin Primacies. I run them at 45psi.

I have 21K miles on my Primacies so far with perfectly even wear and also should get just about 40K miles out of them.

I think I'll get to 40k+ also.

24k miles now, ~7/32 left, even treadwear, I also run them at 45psi.

 

[yobigd20]

There are only 4 jack points and these are the pads that are just about big enough to jack up with a hocky puck. So how are you going to swap the jack stand for the jack? There aren't two locations on the corner for you to jack up and then put a jack stand under unlike traditional rails under most vehicles.

If this is not what you're doing, which you can't with the stands you linked, you will do damage to the your Tesla.

no no. use the floor jack to jack up the front driver side max height and this lifts the rear driver side jack point high enough off the ground to slip the torin under the rear jack point, then lower floor jack. at this point you have the rear driver side up on the torin and you can move the floor jack from the front driver side over to the rear passenger side. so now you have the rear driver side still on the torin, and the rear passenger side up on the floor jack. then you can swap rears. you dont need to pay $300 for those jackstands to do this. just make sure your fronts are chock'd tight as the parking brakes are only on the rear.

I think you have the answer to your tire wear.

So you currently have 116K miles on your car, and you are on your 4th set of tires. How many miles were on your car when you installed your 4th set of tires?

no, i'm on my 3rd set still. i had my original OEM 19" goodyear's up until around 45k miles. then i switched to Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 and had those from 45k to ~85k miles. then I switched to the Pirelli Cinturato P7 A/S Plus and have had them now from ~85k miles to my current mileage, which is now 117k miles total. just 3 sets. I seem to get 40-45k miles per set. even though I'm only at ~32k miles on these pirelli's and they are all messed up, the rears have enough tread on them to last me another good 10k-15k miles so yea thats what I get.

 

[sorka]

no no. use the floor jack to jack up the front driver side max height and this lifts the rear driver side jack point high enough off the ground to slip the torin under the rear jack point, then lower floor jack. at this point you have the rear driver side up on the torin and you can move the floor jack from the front driver side over to the rear passenger side. so now you have the rear driver side still on the torin, and the rear passenger side up on the floor jack. then you can swap rears. you dont need to pay $300 for those jackstands to do this. just make sure your fronts are chock'd tight as the parking brakes are only on the rear.

I didn't say buy those jacks stands. I said if you're going to use a SINGLE floor jack then you'd need to use those jackstands. I use TWO $50 floor jacks and it takes half the time to do what you suggested.

Secondly, what you suggested won't work. If I lift the car up all the way on the front with the floor jack, the rear doesn't raise high enough for the wheel to leave the ground(using jack mode). The front right actually raises more than the left rear. The floor jack is 22" from the floor to the top fully raised with a hocky puck on the lift pad and the raer wheel is still touching the floor. So how is that going to work? How high does your floor jack go?

 

[jbcarioca]

I have 21K miles on my Primacies so far with perfectly even wear and also should get just about 40K miles out of them.

I have 25,000 miles on mine with 7/16" remaining on all four tires. I'm speculating I'll be at 1/4" at around 40,000 which probably means I'll replace at 35,000 or so. OTOPH, there have been a good many launches, including after Ludicrous.