Why won't repair shops fix Tesla tire punctures?

[uujjj2]

I have a tire puncture a few days ago. I drive up to a random repair shop, and tell them I have a tire puncture. The guy says sure no problem we can fix that. We walk outside and as we approach the car, he suddenly stops, says we don't do Tesla, and just walks away.

What gives?

 

[uujjj2]

And I've heard from other Tesla owners that repair places just won't fix Tesla tire punctures.

 

[gaswalla]

it's because some of the X and S's have foam lined tires and it requires a non-traditional approach to repair to do it correctly. Then, some folks have extrapolated that to all Tesla's..
other reason: the need to jack up the car at the proper location using hockey puck like blocks. Not really a major issue, but that got a lot of owners passionate in the early years of Tesla... who wants to take liability just to do a 20 buck tire repair

 

[Bodyhauler]

Take it to Discount Tire

 

[kbecks13]

it's because some of the X and S's have foam lined tires and it requires a non-traditional approach to repair to do it correctly. Then, some folks have extrapolated that to all Tesla's..

The 3 has foam on tires as well, it's not that rare these days.

The hesitation comes from

1. Scared about damaging the battery (they just need a flat lifting surface, nothing special required)
2. Fixing foam lined tires (they are typically lazy since it requires cutting off the foam to patch the tire then reapplying the foam for bonus points)

 

[JPP]

America's Tire/Discount Tire will be happy to help you (it the puncture is in an area amenable to repair).

 

[Avid]

Discount Tire down the street from me, no issues, free repair in hopes of future business.

 

[GPinzone]

Buy a set of hockey puck do-dads. The shop won't have them.

Find a shop that still PLUGS tires. Some shops will only patch.

 

[Wennfred]

I have a tire puncture a few days ago. I drive up to a random repair shop, and tell them I have a tire puncture. The guy says sure no problem we can fix that. We walk outside and as we approach the car, he suddenly stops, says we don't do Tesla, and just walks away.

What gives?

Don’t go to any random repair shop, take it to Discount tires, they will fix it for free, just leave a tip.

Be sure to leave them a review on Yelp so other Tesla owners can skip that shop.

Fred

 

[kbecks13]

Buy a set of hockey puck do-dads. The shop won't have them.

Find a shop that still PLUGS tires. Some shops will only patch.

Both of these believes come up quite a bit and i want to add some info...

You really don't need pucks, Tesla themselves don't use them. They have a flat pad on the car lift and that works just fine, same thing for a flat pad on a jack. The lift point sits proud of the battery so if you use a flat surface its totally fine.

Plugging a tire is a TEMPORARY fix and should not be relied on permanently, plus not great if you have foam on the interior of the tire and especially if you are not taking the tire off the rim to do a proper inspection for damage. A tire patch is a legit repair method and is meant to be permanent. Of course you can just plug a tire and likely be fine, but it's not worth the risk from skipping tire inspection and/or risk of a future flat.