Glad you're ok. Hopefully the fix is quick and inexpensive. Make sure you ask them to retorque and check all the other suspension bolts too for peace of mind.
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Suspension rattling sound turned out to be a loose bolt!
- Thread starter buyehara
- Start date
This is what I found out yesterday:
I have always felt extra vibration when driving on freeway with rough surface. Lately the car was pulling to the right, and for the past 2 weeks, it was pulling a lot that "lane departure avoidance" disables itself on freeway immediately. It is a April 2018 car so when I asked Tesla for a service, they want to charge and I decided to take a look and found these 2 bolts loose. I retightened them so that I can continue to use the car and submitted another request with photos and still waiting for reply. Questions would be, 1. Any bushings / balljoints got compromised with this? 2. Thread on the subframe no longer 100% strong? 3. What is the torque specs if we do it ourselves? 4. Should we add locktite?
Maybe Tesla should replace the control arm and the bolts + nuts.
I have always felt extra vibration when driving on freeway with rough surface. Lately the car was pulling to the right, and for the past 2 weeks, it was pulling a lot that "lane departure avoidance" disables itself on freeway immediately. It is a April 2018 car so when I asked Tesla for a service, they want to charge and I decided to take a look and found these 2 bolts loose. I retightened them so that I can continue to use the car and submitted another request with photos and still waiting for reply. Questions would be, 1. Any bushings / balljoints got compromised with this? 2. Thread on the subframe no longer 100% strong? 3. What is the torque specs if we do it ourselves? 4. Should we add locktite?
Maybe Tesla should replace the control arm and the bolts + nuts.
No, not likely.
Also not likely, but you can check if the bolts still thread in smoothly or not.
95-100 ft/lbs.
I would highly recommend Loctite blue or similar removable threadlocker given the incidence of this. I would also suggest checking the torque of these bolts as part of a regular maintenance schedule.
No, that wouldn't do anything. I would suggest adding a torque check of these bolts to any maintenance and revisiting the recommended torque spec.
Mountain Pass Performance has some information on these bolts on their intructions page on replacing the inner bushing with a spherical bearing.
MPP Model 3 Front Lower Control Arm Spherical Bearing Installation Instructions
Check out this awesome how-to/DIY guide on installing your new Tesla Model 3 Front Lower Control Arm Spherical Bearings!
www.mountainpassperformance.com
rotarypower101
Member
Is it all years or a specific subset of vehicle manufacturing dates observed that are having these issue?
Update: Tesla Service was great and fixed it for me within a day. I told them to torque all the bolts on the rest of the suspension parts down as well and put loctite on everything and by the looks of the new paint pen marks, I'd say they did! I feel a lot more safe and secure driving on the road now. It was out of warranty thoughbut it was only $100. Could have been a lot worse.
A google search brought me here as well. Super frustrating. I originally put in a service request for the clicking noise, to have upper control arm replaced/greased. However, sure enough my bolts are loose.
Few Questions for you or anyone else who has gone through this:
Did putting in a service request for this matter escalate and get you in the SC quicker? Were you able to get your car to the service center or did Tesla offer to have your vehicle towed? We are thinking of trying to torque these bolts back tomorrow at least until I can drive on Wednesday which is when my service center appointment is.
For safety issues such as this, you need to either drop your car at a SC without an appointment, and refuse to leave before they look at it, or use the app to tow your car to a SC.
Then again, in my case, they looked at it and failed to spot it…
I spoke with the SC after towing, and they dismissed knowing anything about this even though I brought up the many incidents here. I also showed the guy the safety recall someone posted here and he tried to tell me that it's different as that was regarding the "lateral link" vs mine was referring to the lower control arm.
Can anyone here explain to me exactly the difference between the lateral link and the control arm, because it seems to be interchangeable.. but I don't know enough about cars to say with confidence.
At any rate, my car is out of warranty and I suspect they're going to try and gauge me on this repair so I want to be equipped with some ammo to refuse the charges if this is a recall.
Link to report: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCLRPT-21V835-2749.PDF
Can anyone here explain to me exactly the difference between the lateral link and the control arm, because it seems to be interchangeable.. but I don't know enough about cars to say with confidence.
At any rate, my car is out of warranty and I suspect they're going to try and gauge me on this repair so I want to be equipped with some ammo to refuse the charges if this is a recall.
Link to report: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCLRPT-21V835-2749.PDF
Here are the three main parts of the front suspension:
- Lower Comp Link
- Lateral Link
- Upper control arm
As far as the recall, have you put your VIN number in the recall checker? If it doesn't show that recall for your vehicle, then you aren't likely going to be able to convivence them that it is recall related.
Thanks for clarifying, it's definitely the lateral link in that case. And yes, i've entered my VIN and it doesn't show up, however it's clear to me that this is exactly the issue i'm experiencing. Is there no case to be made that they misdiagnosed the number of vehicles that this recall needs to be extended to?
@ppham0203 There is a new recall for these links on 422 2018-19 Model 3s: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V235-3963.PDF
What year is your car?
This exact recall happened to me yesterday. My lateral link bolt came off and my wheel collapsed inside the fender. Luckily I wasn't driving at a high speed. My 2018 Model 3 wasn't part of the recall that was affected even though it's under the same production time. Tesla service center denied the recall and said 422 cars were affected and my VIN is not part of the recall. Now I'm out $2700.
Attachments
The ear of the bushing pin is still attached to the subframe!!!
ElectricGhost
Member
Any idea if this would be covered by a powertrain warranty? Not sure how powertrain is understood
There is no powertrain warranty. There is a battery and drive unit warranty, and no this would not be covered under that.
AMPd
Well-Known Member
Is there a reason why Tesla welds the nuts rather than using a castle nut with a cotter pin?
Seems like that would be much safer.
Seems like that would be much safer.
PianoAl
Active Member
Yes. This forum has resulted in dreams about Tesla problems, such as the brakes not working right.
