I have just taken delivery of a 2022 Model 3 Long Range. It came equipped with Hankook Gt 436 235/45/18 tires. When I went to Discount Tires to purchase their certificate that warranties against tire failure, punctures, etc., they said that these tires were not the right tires for the car because they don't meet the tire load requirements for this car and they couldn't warrantee them. I checked with Tire Rack, and they said the same thing. And when I spoke to Hankook technical support, three different times, they said that this tire is not rated for the 2022 long range Model 3. And one tech support person even refused to believe me that that these tires were the ones on the car! When I talked to Tesla, their Senior Engineer for Chassis/Tire Development verified that this is the appropriate tire for this car with regard to load requirements. But based on the info I received from Discount Tires, Tire Rack, and Hankook, I am concerned about the safety of these tires. Can anyone please help me make sense of this contradictory information?
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Tesla 2022 Model 3 Tires
- Thread starter ShellLin
- Start date
Lindenwood
Active Member
So far I am finding max loads of 1477lb (2954lb combined) with these tires, which is quite a bit under the max axle rating of the vehicle. I am not aware of any specific required safety factor, so I am having trouble figuring out why they think this wouldn’t work.
Interested to see where this goes!
(On a separate note, paid warranties are effectively a gamble against yourself, and are rarely worth the money unless you are specifically protecting against a single high expense that you couldn’t cover at the time of a future incident).
Interested to see where this goes!
(On a separate note, paid warranties are effectively a gamble against yourself, and are rarely worth the money unless you are specifically protecting against a single high expense that you couldn’t cover at the time of a future incident).
Lindenwood
Active Member
What does the door sticker on your car say? It's required to list a minimum load index by law. This will vary by car models and years of course, as AWD/FWD and Cobalt vs LFP makes significant changes to weights.
Hankook tires are good tires. The current supply chain issues with tires are crazy, not surprising they are needing to use multiple manufacturers.
MasterC17
Active Member
Not sure why you guys want the MXM4. It's a pretty subpar tire besides efficiency. They last 15k-25k miles and have poor stopping distance in both the dry and the wet. Hankook makes some great tires. I haven't had a chance to test these yet, but I would not be surprised if they are an upgrade in most if not all ways.
OK, maybe you are right. I am wondering about the these comments though>>>"And one tech support person even refused to believe me that that these tires were the ones on the car! When I talked to Tesla, their Senior Engineer for Chassis/Tire Development verified that this is the appropriate tire for this car with regard to load requirements. But based on the info I received from Discount Tires, Tire Rack, and Hankook, I am concerned about the safety of these tires. Can anyone please help me make sense of this contradictory information?"
Yeah. Read the door sticker. That's the one definitive, legal requirement.
Tesla makes lots of Model 3's in lots of configurations. Discount Tire and Tire rack could easily be wrong about the load requirements of this EXACT Tesla. and as we know, Tesla changes things all the time. Your Tesla is NOT the same as someone else's Tesla. There is no such thing as a 2022 Tesla Model 3. Yes, this is a pain compared to previous cars and how the whole automotive industry supports cars, but welcome to Tesla ownership with both the good and bad.
If Tesla actually shipped cars with tires that don't match their door sticker, call NHTSA immediately, and there will be a massive recall and stop sale, and you can probably get yourself on the news if you want to.
If they do match the door sticker, why are you trusting a salesperson at a tire company to know more about the car than Tesla?
Last edited:
Pricedm
Member
Tire specs at https://www.hankooktire.com/us/en/tire/kinergy/gt-h436.html
235/45R18 - (there are five listed, each with different "Material Code"
All show Max Load(lbs.) 1477
Load Index 94
UTQG - Tread Wear 540
Material Code 1031546 --> Foam Y (so this is most likely what is on the Model 3)
Now....for these cars in question, what does the door placard show?
And...what is the load rating on the actual tire installed on said Model 3?
235/45R18 - (there are five listed, each with different "Material Code"
All show Max Load(lbs.) 1477
Load Index 94
UTQG - Tread Wear 540
Material Code 1031546 --> Foam Y (so this is most likely what is on the Model 3)
Now....for these cars in question, what does the door placard show?
And...what is the load rating on the actual tire installed on said Model 3?
In particular, is there a P in from the of the tire size (indicating P-metric; lack of anything indicates Euro-metric), and is any load index / speed rating listed?
Legally, if the 10th character of the VIN is N, it is a 2022 (or 1992) model year vehicle.
Yes, cars (not just Teslas) can have running changes within the same model year.
I.e. it looks like the tire specification is the Euro-metric 235/45R18 size (no P in front of the size), but without any load or speed rating listed on the tire label (unlike some other cars' tire labels).
Interesting - the link posted earlier indicated a V rated tire - these on my car look like H rated. Well , that sucks! Oh well - I’m not 25 anymore…
That is not the load or speed rating. The photo shows the DOT manufacturing identifier and the week of manufacturing (week 11 of 2022).
You should see something like 94V or 98W after the tire size, where the number is the load index and the letter is the speed rating.
See What Do the Numbers on a Tire Mean?
Here is an example tire marking to look for (example from a Michelin Primacy MXM4, size 235/45R18, load index 98, speed rating W):
H rating is a speed rating, and is 130 MPH. V is 149 MPH. Only the performance model 3's can go 149 MPH so it's pointless. Higher speed rated tires are not "better," in fact they often have tradeoffs in order to support higher sustained speeds.
Just to let you know, your VIN is showing. Not that I care about VINs or license plates showing in photos, but some people do care. Also, that tire info is exactly the same as on my 2018 LR-AWD. The other info plate next to it, should show manufacture month, and GVWR, which would determine minimum tire load ratings, one would assume.
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