Teslaunch Refresh Stalk kit install and review

[strider]

Hello Everyone,

I installed my Teslaunch stalks this past weekend and wanted to post my installation notes and general review. Note that I received my stalk kit for free as part of a giveaway from Teslaunch. I am otherwise unaffiliated with the company.

The installation video from Teslaunch is very good.

Use that as the basis for your install. I will provide some pictures and commentary as I go.

Tools you will need:
Small screwdriver to press the lever to remove the airbag
10mm Allen socket and Breaker bar to remove the bolt holding the wheel
T-15 and T-20 torx bits
electrical tape (to attach the cable to the threader)
spudger or plastic trim removal tool

First off, adjust the steering wheel to be all of the way out and down. Next, remove the airbag. There is a small hole on either side of the wheel. I used a small flat blade screwdriver. When you push it you will feel a spring-loaded lever. Press in on one side and lift that side of the airbag. Then do the other side. Once both are free you can remove the airbag and unplug it. Once you do the car will squawk about a safety system error or something. Just ignore that for now.

At that point you're looking at this:

Remove the upper trim per the video. For the lower trim you will need to remove these 2 screws with your T-20 Torx bit.

After removing the screws, the lower trim will drop down but will hang by a cable. This is fine.

The next step is to plug in the cable and route the other end to the steering column. Following the install video, you want to gently pry down on the panel above the phone tray and it will move down and then towards you. You will have to wiggle it a bit to clear all of the connectors.

Tape the small end of the cable (with 2 connectors) to the white plastic rod that came with the kit. I would spend a little time straightening it out before you try this, otherwise it will curl up behind the dash. I wrapped each connector with electrical tape so it wouldn't snag.

Fish the white plastic rod behind the panel with the blue plug and you will be able to see it peek out next to the steering column. Grab it and pull it through and untape the connectors. Now you will plug the large connector end of the cable into the blue plug. I had to remove the blue plug from the panel in order to connect the large end of the cable that came with the kit. To do that you will need to use your screwdriver to press in on the side tabs (red arrow) underneath the clip in the panel (green arrow). Plug in the large end of the cable that came with the kit and press the blue plug back into the panel. Make sure the new wires are behind the clip (purple arrow). Reinstall the panel.

Now it is time to install the stalks. The turn signal stalk slides in from the left. Be careful to align the slots in the top and bottom and then slide it in. Make sure you press it all the way in until it clicks. In this picture the clip is not all the way in.

This is how it should look:

The drive selector drops in from the top and is secured with 2 T-15 Torx screws (supplied with the kit). You can see where they go in these pictures:

Just snug them up - you are screwing into soft plastic.

Now we reassemble. Bring the bottom trim up and then back. There is a clip that needs to line up on the bottom. Slide it into place and then reinstall the 2 T-20 screws that you removed before.

Continued in next post....

 

[strider]

Get the new upper trim piece that came with the kit. Fully attach the bit of pleather and set it into place. It will take a bit of fiddling to get the small inserts installed but they will fit. The one with the post goes on the left (turn signal side). I ended up having to shove the post into the lower trim piece and then clip it into upper piece.

Now just reinstall the wheel, plug in in the buttons, reinstall the bolt (Idk the torque spec - I just made it pretty snug with the breaker bar), plug in the airbag, an then push it back into place - the spring-loaded clips will grab it.

At that point you are read to rock!

My impressions:

They work! I am definitely pleased. For the turn signals, there is no difference between a partial press and a full press as there is in the 3/Y. But for the S/X there is no need. Remember, the stalks are impersonating the buttons on the wheel so there is no concept of partial and full presses. Wiper button works as expected. Pulling back on the turn signal honks the horn. Pressing forward flashes the high beams. I think they could reverse those functions as we are used to pulling back to flash the high beams - forward could then be used to honk the horn.

On the right side, PRD all work as expected. Pressing full down to engage AP/TACC does not seem to work but Teslaunch does not claim this functionality for the kit. The right scroll wheel is right there for AP/TACC functions.

One day in I am about 50/50 for using the stalks vs the wheel buttons out of habit but I think the wheel buttons will fade in time. My wife is definitely happier - between the wheel and the stalks my car is much closer to her 2018 MS now.

Feel free to ask any questions that you may have!

 

[Cebu97]

Great write up from an experienced Tesla owner!
Questions:
Is it important to power off before starting the install?
Do the original functions still work , can you still swipe the little car on screen to change gears. Would need original functionality if these stalks failed.
How do these stalks compare with original Tesla stalks? Do they have all the same functions and moves as your previous Tesla stalks?

The stalkless design makes no sense for me, it is ergonomically unsafe for me.

You made this install look easy! But I would still have it installed and am trying to get any info on this mode from Tesla in Seattle.....

 

[strider]

Great write up from an experienced Tesla owner!
Questions:
Is it important to power off before starting the install?
Do the original functions still work , can you still swipe the little car on screen to change gears. Would need original functionality if these stalks failed.
How do these stalks compare with original Tesla stalks? Do they have all the same functions and moves as your previous Tesla stalks?

The stalkless design makes no sense for me, it is ergonomically unsafe for me.

You made this install look easy! But I would still have it installed and am trying to get any info on this mode from Tesla in Seattle.....

Thanks for the kudos! I did not power down the car. In another thread, folks there were adamant about powering down the car due to the chance of the airbag deploying. I didn't even think about it until reading their posts. My install went smoothly.

Yes, all of the functions on the yoke and screen still work. Since I have been using the yoke and screen for 2 years now I am about 50/50 with which one I use but the nice thing with the stalks is that you still have the option.

These are 3/Y stalks and we have never owned a 3 or Y. Roadster, 2 Model S, and now the MXP. The only thing that doesn't work (because Tesla doesn't support it in the S/X) is activating AP/TACC by moving the drive selector down again while driving. My wife's MS has always had a dedicated AP/TACC stalk so there's no change for me there.

Also, the only kind of funky thing is that they programmed the left stalk so when you pull back it honks the horn and when you push forward it flashes the high beams. A few people have asked them to reverse those to be more like other cars.

I doubt Tesla will install this for you. Someone in the other thread posted that they had a local car audio company do the install for them and it worked well.

 

[khorton]

Great write up from an experienced Tesla owner!
Questions:
Is it important to power off before starting the install?
Do the original functions still work , can you still swipe the little car on screen to change gears. Would need original functionality if these stalks failed.
How do these stalks compare with original Tesla stalks? Do they have all the same functions and moves as your previous Tesla stalks?

The stalkless design makes no sense for me, it is ergonomically unsafe for me.

You made this install look easy! But I would still have it installed and am trying to get any info on this mode from Tesla in Seattle.....

The fact is, 99+% of the time there should be no problem. But, it only takes a few minutes to fully depower the car, whereas it would be quite a time and financial setback to have the airbag go off in your face.

Everyone needs to make their own decision here. The Tesla Service Manual calls for disabling the low voltage power on the car before working on the airbags.

 

[bpobill]

The fact is, 99+% of the time there should be no problem. But, it only takes a few minutes to fully depower the car, whereas it would be quite a time and financial setback to have the airbag go off in your face.

Everyone needs to make their own decision here. The Tesla Service Manual calls for disabling the low voltage power on the car before working on the airbags.

I had mobile service replace my peeling yoke and he did not power down the car. I don't think people need to be lectured, let them do what they want. Theres risk with everything in life.


I bought a round wheel and my stalks arrive this week. I cant wait to get back to a normal setup.

Hopefully this company will update the left stalk and remove the horn or switch it to a push forward. It was a stupid move. Then sell just the left side, unless it can somehow be reprogrammed?

 

[Pied]

I looked up the torque spec for the steering wheel bolt from the service manual if anyone was curious. It's 80 Nm (59.0 lbs-ft).

 

[4SUPER9]

Great write up! I think you left out the part about removing the yoke though.
Yes, I wish they would program this so pulling back flashed the lights like every other car on the planet, and an option for us to reprogram it ourselves. For now, they should at least do this for all future shipments

 

[KerrySkates]

I appreciate that you took the time to provide the write-up here along with a video link. A lot of people post here just wanting to draw attention to their YT channels. This is a great way to share your channel (if that’s you) and the info without it feeling like it’s all about marketing to this forum.

As for the product, it seems alright. I’ll be curious to hear a 6-month review to see how things have gone over a longer period of time.

Does modding the wheel like this affect Tesla’s willingness to service the vehicle?

In general, this product is an example demonstrating that there are existing and potential Tesla customers who prefer stalks to the wheel buttons and the decision to remove them seems a bit short-sighted with little to no benefit to the customer. And for what? To remove a couple moving parts that haven’t seemed to be a problem with previous models? gtfoh.

Tesla could have added the wheel buttons and kept the stalks. On top of that, with data from customers having both options, they could determine the ratio of customers that use buttons vs stalks and for what features. Instead they forced it on people and split the customer base. Maybe even lost customers over this silly change.

 

[4SUPER9]

Does modding the wheel like this affect Tesla’s willingness to service the vehicle?

It could, but only if they can show that the mod reasonably had something to whatever issue occurred. For example, they came to replace my defective trunk latch yesterday. That clearly did not have anything to do with these stalks. At the same time, however, my center console sliding door broke. Because of the close proximity of the wiring, I was fearful they could claim that I broke it (I did not). Fortunately, they were cool.

 

[strider]

As for the product, it seems alright. I’ll be curious to hear a 6-month review to see how things have gone over a longer period of time.

Does modding the wheel like this affect Tesla’s willingness to service the vehicle?

In general, this product is an example demonstrating that there are existing and potential Tesla customers who prefer stalks to the wheel buttons and the decision to remove them seems a bit short-sighted with little to no benefit to the customer. And for what? To remove a couple moving parts that haven’t seemed to be a problem with previous models? gtfoh.

Tesla could have added the wheel buttons and kept the stalks. On top of that, with data from customers having both options, they could determine the ratio of customers that use buttons vs stalks and for what features. Instead they forced it on people and split the customer base. Maybe even lost customers over this silly change.

As to warranty/service, to tag on to what @4SUPER9 said, Warranty law is very clear in the US. The manufacturer must PROVE that the modification caused the problem in order to deny a warranty claim. I replaced my yoke with an aftermarket wheel 9 days after purchase (and long before Tesla offered a wheel). I took my car in a couple of times for various things and service never said a word. Now, if I brought it in with an airbag fault or some problem with the wheel buttons, I would expect to have a discussion and possibly have to pay for the repair. Along similar lines, some people have installed kits to decrease rear camber and Tesla has demanded they remove them before doing suspension work. That also seems reasonable. Bottom line is that unless you have a warranty claim for the steering console itself, I wouldn't worry about it.

As to whether stalks will return, we shall have to wait and see. Tesla is one of the most stubborn companies out there. However, they did reverse course on the yoke, even after Elon said there would not be a wheel option. So they apparently do listen. I think now that they made the M3 stalkless, that will tell the story. If they get enough people doing test drives say that they hate the lack of stalks and that they won't buy the car without them, Tesla may change their mind. There are several good alternatives to a M3. If someone is buying an X (there are zero 6-seat vehicles with over 1,000 horsepower), they will grump and then seek out the aftermarket as we have.

 

[towndrunk]

I looked up the torque spec for the steering wheel bolt from the service manual if anyone was curious. It's 80 Nm (59.0 lbs-ft).

I'm trying to my own stalk install, searched high and low for the 10 mm hex socket to remove the wheel, gave up and made a trip to Harbor Freight and bought the socket set. Came home and can't remove the bolt with a breaker bar. Made another trip to Harbor Freight and bought a 20v 1/2" impact wrench (475 ft lbs). Still can't remove the bolt. Going to let the battery fully charge and try again tonight. My fear is I'm going to ruin the socket (which isn't impact grade) and/or bolt. I'd hate to have spent $80 on tools only to have to go to a body shop and have to pay them to remove the wheel. At least I only have to plug one plug back in to drive it.

 

[4SUPER9]

I'm trying to my own stalk install, searched high and low for the 10 mm hex socket to remove the wheel, gave up and made a trip to Harbor Freight and bought the socket set. Came home and can't remove the bolt with a breaker bar. Made another trip to Harbor Freight and bought a 20v 1/2" impact wrench (475 ft lbs). Still can't remove the bolt. Going to let the battery fully charge and try again tonight. My fear is I'm going to ruin the socket (which isn't impact grade) and/or bolt. I'd hate to have spent $80 on tools only to have to go to a body shop and have to pay them to remove the wheel. At least I only have to plug one plug back in to drive it.

I wouldn't use an impact wrench. This may seem really difficult to remove, but with 2 people, it takes about 5 seconds using a breaker bar.