Was your car aligned properly when it was made by Tesla? You can make multiple responses to the poll.
I'm on my second Model 3. On my 2018 LR AWD, I didn't notice the poor alignment until the tires wore out at about 12k miles. The inner part of the tread was completely worn out while the outer part was at about half tread depth. The Tesla service center refused to even consider warranting the issue since I had 12k miles on the car, so I took it to a local alignment shop. Sure enough, the front had significant toe out, and one side on the rear was toed out as well. I know that I had never hit or bumped anything, and there was no reason that the car should have been out of alignment; I'm pretty positive that it was out of alignment from the factory, especially since I had no further issues in the next 60k miles of using the car before I sold it.
With my new Model 3 that I picked up a month ago, the misalignment is much more obvious. The car wanders and has little self centering. I noticed it the second time I drove the car. The only reason I didn't notice it on the drive home is because it was snowing and windy, and the moving around I attributed to the slick conditions. I made a service appointment for that and a couple of other teething issues, and the service center came back with a $372.50 estimate to do "General Diagnosis" and a "Four Wheel Alignment". I didn't approve the estimate since I think it is outrageous to have to pay for an alignment on a car that was obviously out of alignment from the factory, plus the price they're charging for the alignment is preposterous.
I brought the car in today and talked to the service manager. He said it is Tesla policy to not warranty the alignment since anything could have happened to knock the car out of alignment once it's out of Tesla's hands. He wouldn't even agree to just check the alignment unless I agreed to the entire $372.50 estimate. It only takes about 15 minutes to put a car on an alignment rack and do a basic check of the alignment, so that is patently absurd.
To me, this comes across as a scam. Over the last 5 years, I have read many posts here on the forum about people who have had misaligned Teslas, with the vast majority reporting toe out, that wore out the inside of the tires way before the outside. Tesla obviously does a poor job of alignment on the car at the factory, and then either charges a ridiculous amount of money for an alignment, or if the owner doesn't notice the problem, Tesla is happy to sell the owner a new set of tires when they wear out, and charge for an alignment then.
I'm on my second Model 3. On my 2018 LR AWD, I didn't notice the poor alignment until the tires wore out at about 12k miles. The inner part of the tread was completely worn out while the outer part was at about half tread depth. The Tesla service center refused to even consider warranting the issue since I had 12k miles on the car, so I took it to a local alignment shop. Sure enough, the front had significant toe out, and one side on the rear was toed out as well. I know that I had never hit or bumped anything, and there was no reason that the car should have been out of alignment; I'm pretty positive that it was out of alignment from the factory, especially since I had no further issues in the next 60k miles of using the car before I sold it.
With my new Model 3 that I picked up a month ago, the misalignment is much more obvious. The car wanders and has little self centering. I noticed it the second time I drove the car. The only reason I didn't notice it on the drive home is because it was snowing and windy, and the moving around I attributed to the slick conditions. I made a service appointment for that and a couple of other teething issues, and the service center came back with a $372.50 estimate to do "General Diagnosis" and a "Four Wheel Alignment". I didn't approve the estimate since I think it is outrageous to have to pay for an alignment on a car that was obviously out of alignment from the factory, plus the price they're charging for the alignment is preposterous.
I brought the car in today and talked to the service manager. He said it is Tesla policy to not warranty the alignment since anything could have happened to knock the car out of alignment once it's out of Tesla's hands. He wouldn't even agree to just check the alignment unless I agreed to the entire $372.50 estimate. It only takes about 15 minutes to put a car on an alignment rack and do a basic check of the alignment, so that is patently absurd.
To me, this comes across as a scam. Over the last 5 years, I have read many posts here on the forum about people who have had misaligned Teslas, with the vast majority reporting toe out, that wore out the inside of the tires way before the outside. Tesla obviously does a poor job of alignment on the car at the factory, and then either charges a ridiculous amount of money for an alignment, or if the owner doesn't notice the problem, Tesla is happy to sell the owner a new set of tires when they wear out, and charge for an alignment then.
