3 ms·

"a new custom tire" sounds expensive to replace when you drive over a nail

dmoy 6y ago
I don't think you buy a tesla for low part costs e.g. https://www.tflcar.com/2019/06/tesla-model-3-repair-story/ https://www.tflcar.com/2019/06/tesla-model-3-repair-story/
TrainedMonkey 6y ago
Fair point, but this is Tesla we are talking about. They will find a way to make price competitive (possibly after failing a few times first).
- mhh__ 6y ago
  The Tires are one of, if not, the least understood things on a car, so I'll believe it when I see it.
servusMachina 6y ago
It's a car that sells on average for ~100k. I don't think an expensive tire change in case of a nail will stop the target customer from purchasing this vehicle.
mc32 6y ago
Yes but don’t most “luxury” automobiles come with non-cheap tires to begin with that may or may not bring 2% mileage improvement with them?
- leetcrew 6y ago
  I guess it depends what you mean by "luxury", but the vehicles I'm thinking of tend to come with sticky high-performance tires. these actually increase rolling friction.
  - mc32 6y ago
    Exactly so one, they don’t run very long and two they add rolling resistance (for better two wheeled traction), so both in Tesla’s favor.
fumar 6y ago
You can patch a tire with up to a 1/4 inch puncture.
- serf 6y ago
  Some exclusions may apply. May not be available at a retailer near you. (you can patch a tire with a quarter inch puncture as long as that puncture is further than 16 inches away from a previous repair, on a 'square' landing of the tire away from the gradual shoulder or side-wall, and the puncture must not have resulted in an internal or external layer delamination) And those exclusions aren't considering exotic tire compounds, treads, models, or run-flat styles. P.S. Most economy-oriented MPG-centric hybrid-car tires have a far-less square design, meaning more shoulder , meaning less repairable area. This is in order to reduce road tire-patch in the interest of reducing rolling resistance. I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla is adopting something similar.
rootusrootus 6y ago
This is not uncommon. Many performance cars over the years have had tires custom spec'd for them. An example that comes to mind is the Bridgestone RE070, which for a while only came in exactly one size, because it was for the mid-2000s STI. It did come in another size a bit later when the GT-R started using it as the factory tire. I want to say that the sixth generation Camaro SS 1LE also had a custom tire, though I think it comes in more sizes now.

dmoy 6y ago

I don't think you buy a tesla for low part costs e.g. https://www.tflcar.com/2019/06/tesla-model-3-repair-story/ https://www.tflcar.com/2019/06/tesla-model-3-repair-story/

TrainedMonkey 6y ago

Fair point, but this is Tesla we are talking about. They will find a way to make price competitive (possibly after failing a few times first).

mhh__ 6y ago
The Tires are one of, if not, the least understood things on a car, so I'll believe it when I see it.

servusMachina 6y ago

It's a car that sells on average for ~100k. I don't think an expensive tire change in case of a nail will stop the target customer from purchasing this vehicle.

mc32 6y ago

Yes but don’t most “luxury” automobiles come with non-cheap tires to begin with that may or may not bring 2% mileage improvement with them?

leetcrew 6y ago
I guess it depends what you mean by "luxury", but the vehicles I'm thinking of tend to come with sticky high-performance tires. these actually increase rolling friction.
- mc32 6y ago
  Exactly so one, they don’t run very long and two they add rolling resistance (for better two wheeled traction), so both in Tesla’s favor.

fumar 6y ago

You can patch a tire with up to a 1/4 inch puncture.

serf 6y ago
Some exclusions may apply. May not be available at a retailer near you. (you can patch a tire with a quarter inch puncture as long as that puncture is further than 16 inches away from a previous repair, on a 'square' landing of the tire away from the gradual shoulder or side-wall, and the puncture must not have resulted in an internal or external layer delamination) And those exclusions aren't considering exotic tire compounds, treads, models, or run-flat styles. P.S. Most economy-oriented MPG-centric hybrid-car tires have a far-less square design, meaning more shoulder , meaning less repairable area. This is in order to reduce road tire-patch in the interest of reducing rolling resistance. I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla is adopting something similar.

rootusrootus 6y ago

This is not uncommon. Many performance cars over the years have had tires custom spec'd for them. An example that comes to mind is the Bridgestone RE070, which for a while only came in exactly one size, because it was for the mid-2000s STI. It did come in another size a bit later when the GT-R started using it as the factory tire. I want to say that the sixth generation Camaro SS 1LE also had a custom tire, though I think it comes in more sizes now.