Can I assume we can take the Model S to the tire store for rotation etc? What about an alignment if needed? I guess I am asking about basic maintennce. I have always rotated tires every 5000 miles. That can be every 3-4 months for me.
The most important rotation is the very first one which should happen at 1500 miles. The reason for an early rotation is so that all the tires get a turn on the drive axle during the first part of their life. This allows them to set up an even wear pattern which helps prevent irregular wear and vibration problems later in the tires life. After the first rotation, a second rotation when the lowest pair are 1/3 worn, and then again when the lowest pair are 2/3 worn. This allows all four tires to be replaced at the same time. It's important to put on four tires at the same time--the Roadster being an exception as the tires are different front to rear--because even if you purchase the same brand and the same model of tire there is no way to determine if they actually are the same. Tire manufacturers change compounds and materials fairly frequently. While Tesla may actually have calibrated alignment machines with qualified operators, dealers and tire stores generally use the most junior person and if the alignment machine was calibrated when purchased--that's more than most do. My results have not been good. I recommend using a frame shop with a good reputation to have the alignment done. Note that a good alignment typically costs about $250. A $79.95 alignment is like a $20 tune up--you get a receipt for your money and that's about it.
I foresee giving all of my tire rotation, brake replacement etc. business to Tesla themselves even if they are more expensive (as they'd most likely be). Can't trust my S with anyone else; would also be supporting Tesla through the service revenue channel.
Agreed. I think with this car, it is a little too nerve wracking wondering whether their lift or whatnot will do some kind of damage to that lovely aluminum body.
I certainly would not make the three hour drive to the nearest Tesla shop for routine items like this. Tire rotation is easy to do yourself. Tire replacement, balancing, and alignment, do not take any special Tesla knowledge or skill. I would use one of the many local shops for such work. GSP
Yes as long as the procedure in the owners manual is followed. I do not expect any thing special on the model X but the Roadster with the rear weight bias and different front-rear tires is far from a normal car. But even there a careful shop can easily do the job. On a similar note i have rarely rotated tires on my other vehicles. I have kept all cars over 100,000 miles and have gotten 35,000 to 60,000 miles on a pair. Unless one is racing for that last .1 sec. a slight mismatch is never noticed. And i for one prefer to replace two tires at a time rather than four. That is until i got the Roadster where it looks like i will be fortunate to ge 10,000 miles on a rear set.
Except in an emergency maneuver when that might make the difference between control and loss of control. Except for vehicles like the Roadster which have different size tires front and rear (where the difference in tire size overwhelms almost every possible tire difference) replacing four tires at a time makes for a safer vehicle.
I have to be honest and admit I am not even sure what happens when tires are rotated. I take the car into the dealer, and it's on the list of things they do. I hope they build an Atlanta Tesla facility so I can continue that tradition.
The tires are moved from the front to the rear. They may be moved straight back or they may be moved from one side to the other (right front to left rear, etc.). Unless the tire has a direction of rotation (and it will show this on the sidewall of the tire), either method is fine. If there is a full-sized spare of the same type it's usually included in the rotation.
Thanks Jerry. It would have been easy to make fun! I was about to make fun of myself for not knowing. We are not exactly a handy family. However, we are good for the overall economy, as a result.
I would agree if the car was a close to a 50/50 balance but very few are. With the Roadster and its significant understeer one can actually gain slightly better control with less sticky rear tires. And with nearly 500,000 accident free under my belt and having worked a few years at Goodyear as an engineer in several tire factories I have yet to see this as an issue.
Yes, the Roadster is an exception, so are other cars with different tire sizes from front to rear, vehicles that have dual tires, etc. The data and tests I observed during my years as a tire applications engineer indicated that having as close as possible to identical tires on all four wheels is important. Tire manufacturers do change the specs of a particular tire model over time so tires purchased at different dates may have quite different handling characteristics.
This is a pretty old thread by now, but I was wondering what would be the suggested pattern of rotation for the 19" wheels. I noticed in the "Model S Owner Safety Information" pdf that the rear wheels are wider than the front wheels. (8.0J x 19 front, 9.0J x 19 rear.) It seems like rotation would just be side-to-side in this case, right?
Good catch. If that's the case (need to look at the wheels/tires themselves...perhaps there's some high res pics somewhere on this forum to confirm) but yes in that case the tires should only be rotated side-to-side for the 19's. Edit post: Interesting when looking at the Tesla Shop they have the following for the "Studded Nokian Winter Wheel and Tire Set" - Four 19X8.0J wheels- Four 245/45/19 Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 tires Specs for the "Pirelli Winter Wheel and Tire Set" set are not posted. I need to find some high res pics of the standard 19"s to look at what's actually written on the tires to see if that matches whats on that info. Is it possible the rim is larger but the tires are the same size? (that would be pretty stupid IMHO, as I would think you wouldn't want someone to rotate the tires then than 19x8.0J on one side and 19x9.0J on the other).
I think it's a misprint. The page before it talks about tire rotation, and offers the following picture:
Well that would be OK for the 21" wheels, since they're all the same size. I'll see if I can get clarification from Tesla.
I really think the 19" wheels are a misprint. Why would Tesla make two different 19" wheels, and use the same size tire? Why would the 19" rear wheels be wider than the 21" performance rims? What I think happened is someone dragged down a row in excel, and it auto increased the number by one. I'll bet that is what happened. The 19" wheels are the same on all 4 spots.
Actually this picture would seem correct for the tire rotation if the rear and front's had different wheel sizes. The rotation is consistent with keeping the wider wheels together, either in the front or in the back. This is completely fine if they are different sizes. What you DON'T want is both the wider rims on the left or right side at the same time which is what would happen if you rotates in a cris-cross pattern. There are a bunch of different ways to rotate tires. You could cris-cross them, only swap front to back and back to front, or left to right then right to left. It's possible that the tires Tesla are using have a tread pattern that only go a certain direction, forcing you to only rotate front<->back.
That diagram is for wheels that are the same size and directional tires. If your car has larger wheels in the rear then you want to keep the larger wheels on the rear. The suspension and chassis are set up for the weight difference and should not be changed. My wife is at work so can't look at the car but I don't believe the 21's are directional which means you could do the criss-cross (Rears forward and fronts to the opposite rear) but then we'll go down the whole directionality of the wheels again like we did w/ the Roadsters :scared: