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Tire Shops - Do they know how to lift a Tesla?
- Thread starter IchDochNicht
- Start date
I have been using Tesla for tires on our 2 cars. I do this for two reasons, one is Tesla uses road force balancing, this finds any high spots and this always gives a better balance than most car places that do not check ovality.
Second, they give great service, no worries about jacking or anything else. They know my car.
Second, they give great service, no worries about jacking or anything else. They know my car.
I just got new tires last Friday. I bought Michelin Primacy MXM4s from Costco. They have a special going until the middle of this month and they were less than $200 a tire.
I was talking to the manager as they were getting started, he said they do a couple of Teslas a month and complimented Tesla on a good design for putting on a lift. He said lifting one is easier than most cars and they've never had a problem. The Model S/X battery layout was designed for popping the car on a lift and changing the pack in a few minutes. As supercharging proved to be the better technology, they closed their one battery swap station and don't do them, but they probably put more thought into efficient and safe lifting of the car than most car makers.
The tech who backed the car out of the bay wasn't familiar with Tesla and had a lot of trouble getting it out. She'd get it moving about a foot and the car would go back into park. I don't know what she was doing. I thought something might be amiss with the car, but it drove fine for me. When the sensors calibrated they came up saying 35 psi and I had to go back. They thought they needed more calibration, but they only put 35 psi in the tires instead of 45. Fortunately I have an air compressor and put some more air in when I got home and all is well.
They had zero problems with the lift and no damage done or anything like that. Despite not putting enough air in there and the tech not knowing how to back the car out of the bay, everything else went fine.
I was talking to the manager as they were getting started, he said they do a couple of Teslas a month and complimented Tesla on a good design for putting on a lift. He said lifting one is easier than most cars and they've never had a problem. The Model S/X battery layout was designed for popping the car on a lift and changing the pack in a few minutes. As supercharging proved to be the better technology, they closed their one battery swap station and don't do them, but they probably put more thought into efficient and safe lifting of the car than most car makers.
The tech who backed the car out of the bay wasn't familiar with Tesla and had a lot of trouble getting it out. She'd get it moving about a foot and the car would go back into park. I don't know what she was doing. I thought something might be amiss with the car, but it drove fine for me. When the sensors calibrated they came up saying 35 psi and I had to go back. They thought they needed more calibration, but they only put 35 psi in the tires instead of 45. Fortunately I have an air compressor and put some more air in when I got home and all is well.
They had zero problems with the lift and no damage done or anything like that. Despite not putting enough air in there and the tech not knowing how to back the car out of the bay, everything else went fine.
Two of the following 3 conditions need to be met to stay in reverse:
1. Seat belt on.
2. Door closed.
3. Butt on seat.
Most likely, she was turning around as she was backing up and lifting her butt off the seat. That makes the car go into Park.
S100D
Member
If she was taking weight off the seat when turning around to back up, this is what caused the car to go into park. Occasionally, I need to get my wallet out of my pocket which causes my butt to slightly come off the drivers seat. The car will start slowing down and will eventually go into park. This is one of the solutions to keep people from getting out of the drivers seat and film the car driving down the road on AP from the back seat. An idiot did this once and uploaded it to YouTube. This is one of the reasons that we also have the steering wheel nag.
JPP
Active Member
FWIW I use America's Tire for our 2 Ses. They have either used 4 floor jacks or the dual rail lift. In either case I have given them the 4 hockey pucks I keep in the trunk well. One they tried to use their own lift pads, but these are too thick to slide under the jack points with their lift. All good. Oh, BTW, if you have the lug nut covers, do yourself and the tire shop a favor and pull them off in advance of your visit, and put them into a bag. If they aren't paying attention and use a socket and air gun to remove/replace your lug nuts, they will b*tch up the covers.
It's best to to keep a close eye on your car while they work on it, regardless of what they claim.
From what I've experienced in the San Francisco Bay Area, which probably has the highest concentration of Teslas, the salesman at tire shops will say they know how to work on it but the technician that get assigned to it doesn't.
From what I've experienced in the San Francisco Bay Area, which probably has the highest concentration of Teslas, the salesman at tire shops will say they know how to work on it but the technician that get assigned to it doesn't.
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Olle
Active Member
Would not take a Tesla to a tire shop. I sent my new tires from Tirerack directly to Tesla Service center and they mounted them. If you know that Tesla has the correct lifting tools and you know the battery pack cost $50k as a spare part, why go anywhere else?
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ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Some of us are 150+ miles from the nearest service center, and Tesla’s price for the Michelin MXM4s are $100 more per tire, for starters.
Tesla actually encouraged me to go to a local tire shop, as their tires are OEM and don’t have mileage warranties.
At the end of the day, it’s just a car. Any competent shop should be able to lift it off the ground with the tiniest bit of guidance.
reghoustonguy
Member
Also got the same MXM4's from Costco a few weeks ago. Great deal.
+1 for the hockey pucks. Ordered these from amazon first then brought to Costco.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008875XYU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
+1 for the hockey pucks. Ordered these from amazon first then brought to Costco.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008875XYU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That explains it.
I do remember the crazy AP videos when AP finally got the update to enable it. I thought those people were crazy then and my mind hasn't changed. Unfortunately people have figured out how to defeat AP's safety features, which may have contributed to some of the AP accidents. If someone wants to do dangerous and silly things, do it where they don't risk killing others with a 4-5000 pound machine.
taminatorv
Member
I have a second set of wheels because I don't trust these tire shops. Once these tires wear out, I'll take the set of wheels I feel like running to the tire shop. I save a little with the wheels off the car and know that I properly jacked the car and torqued the lug nuts.
freeewilly
Member
I wouldn't worry too much about it. You live in the Bay area, most tire shops replace few Tesla's tire a day.
Modell's? Cant seem to find that brand anywhere. Did I read something wrong?
Thank you !
Discount is currently quoting way too much. The s this the same tire I would get from Tesla?
And this the same foam lined OE tires?
?
Tesla quoted me $230 /ea plus labor ($125 total) for either choice.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Last I checked, which was admittedly some time ago, Tesla charged $300/ea for the Michelin MXM4s. I just had a set put on at Costco for $200/tire. Same tire. If Tesla's actually charging $230 right now, that's a decent deal.
I got 4X MXM4s on my Model S last week for under $1000 installed and sales tax at Costco. Tesla's markup is pretty high.
$1120.90 tax included.
I’ve purchased tires at Costco for all my other cars. Costco does include a road hazard warranty.
I find the Goodyear interesting at $119.
Agree on Costco. But Tesla is only $123 higher. Discount is asking $1420 (but I get a prepaid visa for $70 back). Plus $54 each for road hazard. The Discount Tire price really shocked me.
I've got some out of round tires recently, so the road force balancing is interesting to me. But the Costco included prorated road hazard is interesting as well.
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