Tesla charged me $70 to screw on lug nuts

[MsElectric]

As a number of people have pointed out, we've been through this lug nut issue many times before. There are several good threads on the topic.

Tesla lugnuts

The lug nuts supplied with the 21" wheels have chrome caps that are easily prone to deformation and become can become a major problem. I replaced mine with the Gorilla lug nuts the first time I saw any deformation. You don't have to be a junkie DIY owner to know how to remove, replace, and torque lug nuts. A good torque wrench is a very good investment. IMHO every owner should have one.

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As a number of people have pointed out, we've been through this lug nut issue may times before. There are several good threads on the topic.

Tesla lugnuts

The lug nuts supplied with the 21" wheels have chrome caps that are easily prone to deformation and become can become a major problem. I replaced mine with the Gorilla lug nuts the first time I saw any deformation. You don't have to be a junkie DIY owner to know how to remove, replace, and torque lug nuts. A good torque wrench is a very good investment. IMHO every owner should have one.

Are the 19" wheels shipped with more durable lug nuts?

 

[jerry33]

Are the 19" wheels shipped with more durable lug nuts?

That would be a "No".

 

[roblab]

Are the 19" wheels shipped with more durable lug nuts?

I ordered Gorilla lug nuts for my OEM 19" wheels, cost about $60 for the set, really like them, ordered them again yesterday for my new Tesla. Solid steel, good looking, heavy chrome. I recommend them. They were researched on this forum:

Gorilla Automotive 61147CX Chrome 13/16" (14mm x 1.50 Thread Size) Hex Lug Nut, (Pack of 4). Free shipping from Amazon!

 

[KenN]

Super... that still doesn't explain being charged $70 for literally three minutes of labor.

Sorry, but I can't let this one pass. As someone who swaps and rotates wheels twice a year (winter/summer and vice versa), I can assure you there's no way removing, replacing and torquing 20 lug nut is a 3 minute job. I have a breaker bar, impact wrench and a torque wrench for the job and it is minimum a minute per nut. So you're looking at 20 minutes best case, but probably closer to 1/2 hour with a realistic work flow.

 

[Andyw2100]

I ordered Gorilla lug nuts for my OEM 19" wheels, cost about $60 for the set, really like them, ordered them again yesterday for my new Tesla. Solid steel, good looking, heavy chrome. I recommend them. They were researched on this forum:

I must have missed seeing that you were getting a new Tesla. Congrats! What are you getting?

Edit: Also just wondering what the benefit of getting the new lug nuts before the ones that come with the car are worn is? That's a serious question, not in any way a criticism. Having read this thread, I've already added those lug nuts to my Amazon "wishlist" for the time that Tesla tells me I need to purchase new lug nuts. I'm just wondering if there's a reason I should purchase them now, and have them installed when I switch to the winter wheels, rather than wait.

Edit 2: Thinking more about it, is the Tesla SC going to tell me they won't install those lug nuts because they aren't a Tesla part?

Sorry, but I can't let this one pass. As someone who swaps and rotates wheels twice a year (winter/summer and vice versa), I can assure you there's no way removing, replacing and torquing 20 lug nut is a 3 minute job. I have a breaker bar, impact wrench and a torque wrench for the job and it is minimum a minute per nut. So you're looking at 20 minutes best case, but probably closer to 1/2 hour with a realistic work flow.

I certainly understand your taking issue with the poster who said it was "three minutes of labor."

I think the real issue, though, is that the OP was already paying to take the wheels off in the labor for the other service being provided. The wheels were going to have to be put back on, either with the old lug nuts or with the new lug nuts. It's not as if the job was going to take longer because the new lug nuts were used. So there really was no justification for the additional charge, and it was, appropriately, taken off the bill, retroactively.

 

[siucity]

Sorry, but I can't let this one pass. As someone who swaps and rotates wheels twice a year (winter/summer and vice versa), I can assure you there's no way removing, replacing and torquing 20 lug nut is a 3 minute job. I have a breaker bar, impact wrench and a torque wrench for the job and it is minimum a minute per nut. So you're looking at 20 minutes best case, but probably closer to 1/2 hour with a realistic work flow.

I've yet to rotate my tires, and I can imagine it would take 1/2 hour if I took my time and that 1/2 hour included jacking up the car. But in this case, it appears the $70 charge was just the labor to replace the lug nuts. No way that is 20 minutes worth. With an impact wrench and a torque wrench, even I can get all 20 on correctly in way less than 20 minutes.

 

[artsci]

I've never had a torque wrench before, but I'm not opposed if anybody has any inclination towards a decent (no need to be top end) one. I've changed tires on previous cars to spares, but only went to very finger tight, not to any specific rating.

And artsci, are you talking about the 21s because that is what you know (and have), or are the 21" and 19" lug nuts different. I have standard 19s on my car.

I have 21"s, 20"s, and 19"s, although now that I have the 20"s the 19"s are in storage. The lug nuts for the 19"s also fit the 20"s and they have none of the problems of Tesla's 21"s. The 21"s work only with the 21" Tesla wheels.

 

[jaguar36]

Sorry, but I can't let this one pass. As someone who swaps and rotates wheels twice a year (winter/summer and vice versa), I can assure you there's no way removing, replacing and torquing 20 lug nut is a 3 minute job. I have a breaker bar, impact wrench and a torque wrench for the job and it is minimum a minute per nut. So you're looking at 20 minutes best case, but probably closer to 1/2 hour with a realistic work flow.

If you're doing this professionally you wouldn't be using a torque wrench, you'd be using a torque stick on a good impact wrench.

Its all really irrelevant though, $70 when they had wheels off is ridiculous. The fact that he was charged anything for something that was clearly faulty and not even an issue to begin with is also ridiculous.

I can only hope these are just growing pains.

 

[artsci]

If you're doing this professionaly you wouldn't be using a torque wrench, you'd be using a torque stick on a good impact wrench.

The professionals I know all use torque wrenches. The impact wrench is used to tighten down and the torque wrench for the final tightening by hand.

 

[jerry33]

If you're doing this professionally you wouldn't be using a torque wrench, you'd be using a torque stick on a good impact wrench.

I certainly hope not. There really is no such thing as an accurate torque stick. An impact wrench is, as Artsci says, only for the initial tightening to speed up the process. Final tightening should be done with a real torque wrench. Ideally, the manual tightening is done in two steps, but I don't know of any shop that does it that way.

 

[artsci]

I certainly hope not. There really is no such thing as an accurate torque stick. An impact wrench is, as Artsci says, only for the initial tightening to speed up the process. Final tightening should be done with a real torque wrench. Ideally, the manual tightening is done in two steps, but I don't know of any shop that does it that way.

One tightens with the torque wrench starting with lug nuts in opposite positions then rechecks each one a second time. That's the professional standard.

 

[Canuck]

A well-know tire shop in Western Canada, has you come back after 100 - 150km to re-torque the tires:

Why Re-torque? The Importance of Retorquing

The thread title should probably be updated read: Tesla charged (then refunded) me $70 to screw on lug nuts

 

[ElectricLove]

Tesla is proving that they NEED 3rd party access to service documents, they cannot and should not be trusted with the service needs of all their vehicles. They are selling more vehicles than they can reasonably service and their systems in place are not functional in a way that works for owners outside of warranty services. They are missing the boat and I know they are trying to keep tight control on their vehicles but with time that needs to stop, they can't be the only option for servicing our cars.

I just accepted an offer on my Roadster for this exact reason and have heard story after story similar to this... How about a $2,000 bill for replacing a cooling fan? How is a company going to sustain the market-share growth they are predicted/hoping to accomplish if they are wasting their time with trying to be the all-in-one service shop for every vehicle they sell? They can't and won't build enough service centers fast enough to do that and their current operations cost must be so high that they can't accomplish service at a reasonable price point either.

They need 3rd parties stepping in, the company I work for is trying to do this (softly trying as a side-project, not a focus of business at all, yet...) with the power control modules, chargers and batteries...

 

[EdA]

How do the lug nuts get worn anyway?
Is it from removing them twice a year and swapping the snow tires?
I had my annual service (got the car back this morning) and I had
my lug nuts replaced at 48,000 miles. Do we need another poll?

 

[MsElectric]

Tesla is proving that they NEED 3rd party access to service documents, they cannot and should not be trusted with the service needs of all their vehicles. They are selling more vehicles than they can reasonably service and their systems in place are not functional in a way that works for owners outside of warranty services. They are missing the boat and I know they are trying to keep tight control on their vehicles but with time that needs to stop, they can't be the only option for servicing our cars.

I just accepted an offer on my Roadster for this exact reason and have heard story after story similar to this... How about a $2,000 bill for replacing a cooling fan? How is a company going to sustain the market-share growth they are predicted/hoping to accomplish if they are wasting their time with trying to be the all-in-one service shop for every vehicle they sell? They can't and won't build enough service centers fast enough to do that and their current operations cost must be so high that they can't accomplish service at a reasonable price point either.

They need 3rd parties stepping in, the company I work for is trying to do this (softly trying as a side-project, not a focus of business at all, yet...) with the power control modules, chargers and batteries...

It is still to early to see how the cost of out of warranty repairs will play out over time. Hopefully they will charge reasonable costs for repairs that are not excessive or offer comprehensive warranty options at a reasonable cost without per issue deductibles.

If (and we don't have enough data to establish a pattern yet) the out of warranty repairs end up being extremely expensive it will decimate resale values as no one would want to then own one of these cars out of warranty. The cost of maintaining and repairing a Model S out of warranty will have the single greatest bearing on the resale value of these cars as they go out of warranty...

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How do the lug nuts get worn anyway?
Is it from removing them twice a year and swapping the snow tires?
I had my annual service (got the car back this morning) and I had
my lug nuts replaced at 48,000 miles. Do we need another poll?

I don't think I've ever replaced lug nuts in any of our cars... Some have suggested the type of lug nuts used have a less durable coating and that they have replaced them with more durables lug nuts for that reason...

 

[hpham007]

How do the lug nuts get worn anyway?

Tesla using substandard lug nuts is the reason. Charging customers $100 because their original substandard lug nuts failed and replacing it with the exact same crap is even more outrageous.

 

[jaguar36]

One tightens with the torque wrench starting with lug nuts in opposite positions then rechecks each one a second time. That's the professional standard.

Immediately 'rechecking' with a torque wrench will over torque the nuts and is not the proper way to do it. With a torque wrench you do it once and are done. Course we are talking about car lug nuts here, doing it again isn't going to hurt them, and most torque wrenches being used by a car mechanic aren't going to be super accurate anyway.

A high quality torque stick (like a snap-on) on an impact wrench is going to be plenty accurate for a lug nut. Course you should still be starting the nuts by hand, throwing them on with an impact wrench is a good way to cross thread them.

As Canuck mentions you should also be re-torqueing them after a couple miles, but nobody I know bothers with that.

 

[mknox]

One tightens with the torque wrench starting with lug nuts in opposite positions then rechecks each one a second time. That's the professional standard.

That's how I do it, then again after a few miles of driving.

 

[linkster]

you come back after 100 - 150km to re-torque the tires:

+1 (and I thought I was the only crazy one who used this technique)

I perform all my tire rotations on every car I own including the 54K mile P85 so I that can inspect the condition of each tire and to help determine the next rotation schedule and alignment settings best suited for proper service life.