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tyre wear for tesla's (uneven wear)

5K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  MichelT3 
#1 ·
hi guys/gals

i came across a you tube about unusual tyre wear - normally i wouldn't have thought anything about it (like needing a wheel alignment) except i saw the tyres and the guy said "the service centre said it was normal for tesla's.......
on the rear wheels on the inside, both were chopped out severely...

has anyone else experienced this issue?? the only way i can figure it (besides wheel alignment) is because the car takes off so fast (and ppl love it and do it all the time) the car bogs down when taking off (causing the back axil to be in a bit of a "V"), and hence wearing out the inside of the back tyres..

does anyone know the cause of the issue?
is the issue true?
can it be resolved in any way (eg. air bag suspension inflates during fast take off)
 
#2 ·
I remember reading that this was a major issues with early Model S, due to a camber issue. I haven't heard of that being an issue in years. I'm not sure about the 3...
 
#5 ·
Definitely. Common issue with all lowered cars. Lowering is generally a benefit on track cars as it increases negative camber. I ran negative camber on mine and experienced faster inner tire wear on the street. For me personally I don't want SAS. I'll stick with the stock coil springs, factory ride height and better tire wear. However :) the eventual replacement tires with be stickier Ultra High Performance summers.
 
#8 ·
You shouldn't drive with a SAS* hight setting at low or high. Those are only for exceptional situations.
The car's handling and suspension characteristics are based on normal ride hight.
Driving at low or high setting can damage the car (and tyres) or be dangerous to your life.



* For those who don't know: Smart Air Suspension, not (yet?) available on the 3.
I have 30 years of experience with a similar (though hydropneumatic) system on Citroën cars. Still unsurpassed in ride quality and road handling. I dearly hope we will get SAS (+ towing) on the AWD 3.
 
#9 · (Edited)
My 2013 Model S P85 with 21 inch wheels suffers from this issue (and still does). I've never used the lowered suspension settings. I'm told that the physical geometry of the suspension is just impossible to adjust and get rid of the camber. My first set of tires wore out on the inside at 25,000 miles (by rotating, all of the tires at that point were worn on the inside). I replaced all 4 tires with Hankooks and now have about 45,000 miles. I'll be replacing them soon. I don't think the problem has been fixed by Tesla as it would take new suspension parts / reengineering, and they told me before that everything was "Normal"...Such is the Tesla life....
 
#10 ·
Let's hope that Model 3 doesn't suffer from this - apparent - design flaw.
 
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