After several days of research I’m about to pull the trigger on the same exact tire set as you. Any problems encountered so far with the extra 1” in the rear tires?
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Winter tires for the Model S Plaid ?
- Thread starter CBGPE
- Start date
I made this switch a few days ago. There is significantly more transmission of road vibration through the body and stearing at higher speeds. Had alignment checked by 2 different shops (the second one a performance rim installer) and only a slight decrease noted. It’s not too bad but definitely more noticeable that the PS4Ss. So, likely to be the tires. Hoping the vibration decreases once the tires are broken in, after about 500 miles. May also be the lack of foam..
Thank you very much for the feedback Docvaider. Man this is getting frustrating… everything on Tsportsline that I would want is backordered until March, Tesla sold out of their 21” Arachnid/Pirelli OEM-size winter sets in little more than an hour and I took delivery of my car (PS4S’s) in mid-December here in Denver and tonight it’s going down to 10 degrees F. The car sure looks nice sitting in my garage though.
Pirelli Sottozero 3’s are available (285/30r21) but the tire installers I‘ve spoken to are hesitant to put them on the 9.5 front wheels. They are ok with the 10.5 rear wheels. I suppose it’s either the Sottozero 3’s or the PS A/S with the extra 1” rear diameter. No great options.
It definitely is a tough one! Given that you need something now, the road vibration is something that you could probably live with and I’m hopeful will improve. Just wanted to highlight my experience..and YMMV (hopefully for the better!). Spoken with a few tire guys and the extra 1 inch rear diameter shouldn’t cause any major problems. My worry was whether the change in revolutions would cause issues with ABS or traction control. Now, I haven’t tested them to the limit but I haven’t had any glaring issues and the handling is pretty good. Not as responsive as the summers but these are new tires that should improve once broken in
I found more tire availability in 20" sizes, so I got a set of 20x9.5" Enkei XM-6 wheels with 255/40/20 winter tires. They fit and perform well, although the rears don't fill out the fender as well because they are narrower - I'm running the OEM front width/offset on all 4 corners now. The wheels are fairly cheap and fairly light for cast 20" wheels and look decent. Disappointed that I couldn't find 19" tires to convert my stock wheels to my winter set, but at least I have something that works (and two sets of summer wheels/tires now 
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)So after much consternation I ordered the Michelin PS A/S’s today (265/35r21 Front, 295/35r21 Rear)… This tire deal is a first world problem but a problem nonetheless 
I have a 4x4 for ski trips to the mountains and really snowy days around town so for my typical Denver commute in my MS I just needed to get out of the summer tires. I’ll report back if I have any issues. I’ll swap back to the PS4S’s in the summer and re-evaluate for next winter when (hopefully) the supply chain offers a few more choices. Maybe I’ll be happy with the Michelin A/S’s and just throw those back on. Otherwise I’ll look for some 20x10 wheels and square up a good winter set.
I figured no need to wait any longer on Tesla to restock their 21” Arachnid/Pirelli winter sets as I just found out they haven’t even delivered the first of the $6,000.00 sets to the customers who ordered them back in early December before they quickly sold out. Apparently Pirelli hasn’t delivered the front tires to Tesla yet.
Thanks for all the input guys!
I have a 4x4 for ski trips to the mountains and really snowy days around town so for my typical Denver commute in my MS I just needed to get out of the summer tires. I’ll report back if I have any issues. I’ll swap back to the PS4S’s in the summer and re-evaluate for next winter when (hopefully) the supply chain offers a few more choices. Maybe I’ll be happy with the Michelin A/S’s and just throw those back on. Otherwise I’ll look for some 20x10 wheels and square up a good winter set.
I figured no need to wait any longer on Tesla to restock their 21” Arachnid/Pirelli winter sets as I just found out they haven’t even delivered the first of the $6,000.00 sets to the customers who ordered them back in early December before they quickly sold out. Apparently Pirelli hasn’t delivered the front tires to Tesla yet.
Thanks for all the input guys!
So I put the Michelin PS all-season tires on a couple of days ago and so far so good. It’s been chilly here in Colorado (low teens at night) and I’ve been able to test them in the snow and I’m reasonably happy with the snow traction. I won’t be mistaking my Tesla for my F250 Plat FX4 in heavy snow but I feel safe in them and they’ll get me through a typical Denver commute. They seem quieter than the stock PS4S summers on the highway but (as noted by other poster’s) I do probably feel a slight bit more vibration than with the stock tires. I was really looking for the vibration though and I only had about 750 miles on the summer tires so I may not be the best control subject on this. If there is any extra vibration it is very slight and with the limited options available I’m happy with the result. Here’s a profile view with the new tires. I am happy my car is no longer an expensive cold-weather paperweight sitting in my garage. The tires are 265/35zr21 and 295/35/zr21. The extra 1” diameter on the rear tires is not as visually noticeable as I expected It to be.
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That’s great! Glad to hear you’re experience is much better than mine with regards to the vibration. I had my balance checked for the 3rd time since it was quite prominent between 60-65 mph. All was good, but the tire guy mentioned that the 1 inch diameter could potentially seriously affect the differential. Since the car has dual motors I’m hoping it doesn’t affect anything but if I end up perseverating too much, might just change back until something closer to stock comes on the market
So far so good on the vibration but we are only talking about a couple hundred miles on them so far. I’ve heard others mention excessive road noise in the 40-60 mph range with this set but so far none of that for me yet either.That’s great! Glad to hear you’re experience is much better than mine with regards to the vibration. I had my balance checked for the 3rd time since it was quite prominent between 60-65 mph. All was good, but the tire guy mentioned that the 1 inch diameter could potentially seriously affect the differential. Since the car has dual motors I’m hoping it doesn’t affect anything but if I end up perseverating too much, might just change back until something closer to stock comes on the market
I talked my rep at Tire Rack (Gus — very helpful guy) in hopes Michelin would soon be filling the current void with a PS 295/30zr21 all-season rear tire but he said it does not appear they have one in the works as he saw no “placeholder” in their inventory and usually the placeholder appears well before the tire is available.
In the late spring I’ll put the PS4S’s back on and see what is available for the next winter. Hopefully the market catches up and there are more options available by then.
As of today (2/6/22) I’ve had no issues with the tires. Wish I could say that for the rest of the car during this first 60 days of ownership but that’s a whole other story for a different thread.
We had a pretty big snow event here in Denver a few days ago with temps down to a quite frigid -8F and I drove the car several times for a few hundred miles and my traction was good. I’m talking plowed roads with slush and snow… ice is ice and I avoid it in my Tesla just like I would in my 4x4 with all-terrains. The Denver area is pretty good about pre-treating the roads for these big snow days so ice is generally not a huge issue on the well-traveled streets.
The all-season tires are honestly quieter on the road than the OEM Michelin PS4S summers. I keep looking for vibration and excessive noise (as reported by others) but so far I guess I’ve lucked out. After all the other nonsense I’ve had with this new Model S I’ll take my small wins where I can get them.
For the record it was $1637.11 for the Michelin all-season set (I picked them up locally from Tire Rack) and Firestone swapped them onto my existing wheels for $60.00.
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Hi I would like to thank you so much Im about to change my tires for a winter setup and I could not find anything in hakkapelita apart from the size mentioned above and your definitely the only one who has tried that setup so thanks to you again Im now able to drive my Tesla MSP this winter.
That’s awesome! I’m also in Colorado and I order the same setup, im just not sure if I will be able to fit the same setup in my 16 MS.
rosegrif1
Member
@grouper222 how did this go? im looking at the same approach to keep one set all year - would love your update after it looks like you have had it now for 2 winters?
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