The Factory Still Does Not Have the Frunk Lid Sorted

[lolachampcar]

Well, this is MS number three and the factory is still trying to get the frunk lid sorted. My first car was aligned perfectly on both sides of the leading edge when I picked the car up. Three days later with a good bit of that in sun and the (driver's) left side of the leading edge had lifted about 0.1" while the right had fallen about the same amount. Knowing that the rubber support bumpers were further out and slightly back made me simply live with the issue. Those outer bumpers were adjusted so that the outer most edges of the frunk lid were held at the correct height.

MS number two comes along and the funk lid is thicker and perfectly aligned. I'm thinking they have it sorted. Six weeks later and it has moved a small amount but is still reasonably well aligned.

We pick up MS number three today and the leading edge is, again, perfectly aligned. A two hour ride home (one hour driving, one at lunch) and the (driver's) left side has lifted with a matching dip on the right. Like number two, this MS has the thicker funk lid. Like MS number one, I really do not see any way for Tesla to fix this (small) issue without replacing the funk lid and that fix is fraught with issues. It is simply better to live with it.

Has anyone else had issues with the leading edge of the funk lid lifting on driver's left?

 

[towman26]

I only have one MS so im sure I dont have your issue of having 3 LOL

No ours is not having any problem & we are in sunny & hot south Florida

 

[NEWDL]

How do they drive?

Honesty, if I was looking for near perfect door and good gaps I could have bought a BMW or the like...

Enjoy your Ss...

They are unbelievable vehicles with or without .1" out of alignment hoods...

 

[anthony]

Mine lifted a bit on the opposite side (right), I chalked it up to new manufacturing. That also happens to be the reason I declined on the pano roof, where gaps are crucial.

 

[lolachampcar]

Not going to have it fixed (too risky) and, like my first car, will never really give it another thought unless I am pointing it out to a potential buyer during a test drive. My post was more to see how many more are in the wild. I also sent a note to ownership in hopes the feedback will get back to the factory. I'm not sure if they did the thicker frunk skin to reduce compression damage from closing or to alleviate the lifting problem. If it was for lifting, they need to do a bit more.

 

[yobigd20]

I don't know if I could tell the difference if it's only .1"

If it was 1", sure I think I'd have a problem with that. But .1"? I think my nose is more crooked than that, and I don't get that fixed.

 

[lolachampcar]

YBD,
You do not have your nose out of joint again, do you?

And yes, I'm being hyper critical about it (and yes, you would feel it straight away simply running your hand down the seam).

 

[Musterion]

Has anyone else had issues with the leading edge of the frunk lid lifting on driver's left?

On delivery mine had visible misalignment on passenger side, with larger gap there and quite visible by eye (no need to feel it), so I added it to due bill. In meantime I have inspected it and decided it is not an easy adjustment as none of the bumpers will fix it. Also I have surveyed many Model S's where they conglomerate like supercharger stations and service centers. Nearly all of them, even new ones, have the same defect (passenger side lift on leading edge). In fact, the same misalignment is captured in some of TM's press photos -- see this one which matches my case well. http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/model-s-signature-red-motion_1920x1200.jpg (Hi-resolution version which you can zoom to see details).

 

[lolachampcar]

two out of three for me have lifted on the driver's side.

 

[Discoducky]

Wait...you have 3 freakin' Model S's?

 

[lolachampcar]

Nope, only two.
Got the P85 in Feb. then sold it to buy the P85+ with MC Red (both options not available in Feb). My wife's car makes for the third purchase.

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

I think he sold his first one, so he "only" has two now...

 

[wormhole]

Mine has never been perfect, even when I got it.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Nope, only two.
Got the P85 in Feb. then sold it to buy the P85+ with MC Red (both options not available in Feb). My wife's car makes for the third purchase.

All my gaps seem fine, and with a white car they're particularly noticeable. Mine was built in Feb 2013.

By the way, did you notice a big difference in the suspension on the plus? I'm particularly curious about very low speeds, when you can feel the lateral movement in the suspension while going over bumps.

 

[lolachampcar]

Todd,

The whole P85 to P85+ to S85 (coil spring) suspension thing is a huge can of worms. I thought for sure I would have concrete finite conclusions about the three different options but have found the situation is not so simple. For instance, I love the stiffer bushings in the rear as they removed a great deal of the squishiness that bothered me so much with my P85. However, I really dislike the head snap that comes from those thick sway bars. I then pick up my wife's coil spring car and find that it is as stiff as my + in bump but has all the looseness of the non-+ bushings. Some of that stiffness could be related to the newness of the dampers so I will need to get a few hundred more miles on the car to be certain but I'm really starting to scratch my head.

I love the support provided by the coil springs. I've always HATED MB air. Tesla's is much better than the MB system but I did not realize how its transient support was lacking until I drove my wife's S85. I am beginning to think the very best solution may be + lower a-arms, camber adjusting upper links (ball bearing like on my P85+ or using + bushings) and a set of custom Eibach progressive springs. My gut tells me this would provide that instant M5 like response without all the head tossing drama of the + package. it would also allow me to set a more reasonable ride height for the coil spring cars. Combine that with a light weight set of (20"?) rims with good quality tires and I think you would have a killer package.

The problem here is one of divorce. My wife is going to take a dim view of her car up on jack stands out at my hangar while I start ripping suspension bits off and trying things. I can hear it now.... "So you bought that expensive fancy handling package and now you want to experiment with my car?".... and she would be right. Perhaps I'll just order in some stock springs as a reference for some custom wound units along with the a-arms. If I can get it all in one place it will only take a day to swap everything over. I know I should not mess with her car but this will drive me nuts if I do not at least look into it.

My gut also tells me a coil S85 with four thousand in bits could be the absolute best driver's car value. Sure, it will get killed in a straight line by a P85 but otherwise will be the perfect balance of handling, feel and overall cost. Again, this is just my gut but my intuition has been very good to me in the past

 

[qwk]

Just went out and checked the loaner, and it's near perfect. I wonder how many cars this affects?

- - - Updated - - -

Todd,

The whole P85 to P85+ to S85 (coil spring) suspension thing is a huge can of worms. I thought for sure I would have concrete finite conclusions about the three different options but have found the situation is not so simple. For instance, I love the stiffer bushings in the rear as they removed a great deal of the squishiness that bothered me so much with my P85. However, I really dislike the head snap that comes from those thick sway bars. I then pick up my wife's coil spring car and find that it is as stiff as my + in bump but has all the looseness of the non-+ bushings. Some of that stiffness could be related to the newness of the dampers so I will need to get a few hundred more miles on the car to be certain but I'm really starting to scratch my head.

I love the support provided by the coil springs. I've always HATED MB air. Tesla's is much better than the MB system but I did not realize how its transient support was lacking until I drove my wife's S85. I am beginning to think the very best solution may be + lower a-arms, camber adjusting upper links (ball bearing like on my P85+ or using + bushings) and a set of custom Eibach progressive springs. My gut tells me this would provide that instant M5 like response without all the head tossing drama of the + package. it would also allow me to set a more reasonable ride height for the coil spring cars. Combine that with a light weight set of (20"?) rims with good quality tires and I think you would have a killer package.

The problem here is one of divorce. My wife is going to take a dim view of her car up on jack stands out at my hangar while I start ripping suspension bits off and trying things. I can hear it now.... "So you bought that expensive fancy handling package and now you want to experiment with my car?".... and she would be right. Perhaps I'll just order in some stock springs as a reference for some custom wound units along with the a-arms. If I can get it all in one place it will only take a day to swap everything over. I know I should not mess with her car but this will drive me nuts if I do not at least look into it.

My gut also tells me a coil S85 with four thousand in bits could be the absolute best driver's car value. Sure, it will get killed in a straight line by a P85 but otherwise will be the perfect balance of handling, feel and overall cost. Again, this is just my gut but my intuition has been very good to me in the past

I agree, except for the eibach spring bit(adjustable coilovers would be the ticket here).
Although I haven't driven a p85+ car, I like the standard coil suspension my S85 has much better than the P85 loaner with air. The standard suspension handles small bumps much better, handles as good as the air suspension P85, the stance is near perfect, and the reliability factor is going to be much better as the car ages.

The only thing I would change is I would get the Performance package(had to get air suspension for performance when I ordered).

 

[lolachampcar]

My experience with adjustable spring perches is that they are expensive, hard to install and typically not used past installation. If you can live with manufacturing tolerances for corner weighting a 4600lb ish car, then generating a simple drop in replacement spring that gives the correct ride height and spring rate seems the most reasonable approach. Just look at the aftermarket for almost every lowering package out there. They are by in large spring swaps without adjustable perches.

Of course, a nice set of re-valve capable dampers with adjustable perches may be another option for a direct swap out.

 

[irishstoutaz]

I noticed ours in the garage this morning that it seems to be raised slightly on the driver's side as well. I know it wasn't when we picked it up as we cheked all of the fit areas and did not see any issues.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Todd,

The whole P85 to P85+ to S85 (coil spring) suspension thing is a huge can of worms. I thought for sure I would have concrete finite conclusions about the three different options but have found the situation is not so simple. For instance, I love the stiffer bushings in the rear as they removed a great deal of the squishiness that bothered me so much with my P85. However, I really dislike the head snap that comes from those thick sway bars. I then pick up my wife's coil spring car and find that it is as stiff as my + in bump but has all the looseness of the non-+ bushings. Some of that stiffness could be related to the newness of the dampers so I will need to get a few hundred more miles on the car to be certain but I'm really starting to scratch my head.

I love the support provided by the coil springs. I've always HATED MB air. Tesla's is much better than the MB system but I did not realize how its transient support was lacking until I drove my wife's S85. I am beginning to think the very best solution may be + lower a-arms, camber adjusting upper links (ball bearing like on my P85+ or using + bushings) and a set of custom Eibach progressive springs. My gut tells me this would provide that instant M5 like response without all the head tossing drama of the + package. it would also allow me to set a more reasonable ride height for the coil spring cars. Combine that with a light weight set of (20"?) rims with good quality tires and I think you would have a killer package.

The problem here is one of divorce. My wife is going to take a dim view of her car up on jack stands out at my hangar while I start ripping suspension bits off and trying things. I can hear it now.... "So you bought that expensive fancy handling package and now you want to experiment with my car?".... and she would be right. Perhaps I'll just order in some stock springs as a reference for some custom wound units along with the a-arms. If I can get it all in one place it will only take a day to swap everything over. I know I should not mess with her car but this will drive me nuts if I do not at least look into it.

My gut also tells me a coil S85 with four thousand in bits could be the absolute best driver's car value. Sure, it will get killed in a straight line by a P85 but otherwise will be the perfect balance of handling, feel and overall cost. Again, this is just my gut but my intuition has been very good to me in the past

Interesting. I'd love to just get rid of the lateral slop. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the P85. I do find the air quite handy for getting in and out of steep driveways. My comparison car would be a Ferrari 456GT that I sold a few years ago after seven years of surprisingly reliable driving. It had an early adaptive suspension with a servo motor on each shock. In its stiffest mode it felt very good to me—as a gran turismo, not a track car.

 

[ViperDoc]

Frunk alignment

Interesting. I'd love to just get rid of the lateral slop. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the P85. I do find the air quite handy for getting in and out of steep driveways. My comparison car would be a Ferrari 456GT that I sold a few years ago after seven years of surprisingly reliable driving. It had an early adaptive suspension with a servo motor on each shock. In its stiffest mode it felt very good to me—as a gran turismo, not a track car.

We have a Signature, about VIN 55, and the frunk is not perfectly aligned. It is noticable if you are looking at it. They weren't able to do much when they visited to do a warranty repair at our house last year. If we had a nearby service center, we might consider bringing it in, but it isn't that big a deal for us to want to ship it to Watertown, MA.

David