FYI:
I had sidewall blow out due to pothole on 21" wheels.
Tire Rack is the best place to buy any tires, period. They have almost everything in stock, ship immediately, and can deliver overnight direct to authorized installer if you so need. In my case, Tire Rack and local Tesla Service center both had in stock, but Tire Rack price was $111 less expensive. Tesla also quoted me over $100 to install new tire, and a week to schedule me, whereas going rate for a premium shop that knows how to handle expensive tires/rims etc is <$35 and they can do it any day. So, I save about $150 using Tire Rack and a local installer, plus it gets done as soon as UPS shows up with the tire.
I had a lot of confusion regarding warranty. The Continental tire has a 1 year or 2/32" of tread warranty for road hazards, which includes pothole damage. It took me about 2 days to talk to all of the parties, but here's some info:
* First cust svc rep at Continental said that Tesla would have to submit any warranty claim, since technically they sold the tire OEM to Tesla (not me).
* Tesla (both local service center and galactic headquarters) had to circle the wagons to determine if there was warranty or how to handle. Apparently, this is not something they've figured out yet.
* Tire Rack said if I send old tire back to them, they'd submit to Continental, but I was dubious due to what Continental said.
* I called back Continental, and 2nd service rep said there's NO road hazard warranty on the OEM Tesla tires - though there is one if you buy aftermarket... another good reason to buy it at Tire Rack. Rep said nonetheless they would start a file for me, and if I wanted to have my installer call in the tread wear information and serial number on the damaged tire and I submitted invoice for new tire, they'd think about helping.
* I'm going to send the old tire back to Tire Rack to submit for warranty. I figure they have more leverage with Continental than I do.
So, at worst, I'm out about $325 and 3 days use of car.
At best, I'll have $288 (price of tire) refunded.
I'll post result when this is all done. So far, very impressed with the service from Continental and Tire Rack, especially if Continental comes across with some reimbursement.
Not blown away by Tesla Service on this one, this is something they should easily know the answer to. But, they're like my kids, still love them...:wink:
*********
UPDATE/RESOLUTION:
* Continental took down my information and gave me a file # to use as reference.
* Purchased new tire from Tire Rack, shipped to installer. Cost: $288 plus tax and $21.27 shipping. Installer received next day. Probably because I'm in Chicago and Tire Rack is in northern Indiana.
* I brought in wheel and tire (didn't want to tow).
* To raise car, you need low profile jack, and pay attention to jacking points. Had to put small block on top of jack to make sure jack did not contact outside jacking point, which is quite small and rectangular.
* Installer put on new tire, balanced, etc. Took less than 1 hour. Cost: $31
* I collected wheel/tire, and replaced. You've got to have torque wrench. Local Tesla service center told me 130 foot pounds of torque for lug nuts.
* I washed old tire, and sent back to Tire Rack. Had to call them, give them Continental file #, and they sent me a Fed Ex voucher for shipping. All you do is take tire and voucher to Fed Ex. No packaging, no $.
* Exactly 1 day later, I checked tracking number and confirmed that Tire Rack had received.
* That same evening, I got notification that Tire Rack had refunded my PayPal $281, which is cost of new tire, less shipping back (which had been paid by their voucher).
I think this was awesome service from both Tire Rack and Continental - especially keeping mind this OEM tire was not under warranty and this was a "courtesy" replacement. Not sure how long Continental will bend over backwards for Tesla owners, but this sure won them some long term allegiance from me! Total elapsed time: 2 days. Total net cost to me: ~$60. That's not counting $150 for low profile jack and torque wrench, but those are things I want to have anyway.
One other note: The Tesla Model S tire repair kit has an integrated jar of tire sealant. That is NOT replaceable. They say you should buy a new kit after using up, but that would be silly. The inflator still works fine, so I'm going to get a bottle of Slime from Pep Boys for about $10 and continue to use the Tesla kit as inflator.
I had sidewall blow out due to pothole on 21" wheels.
Tire Rack is the best place to buy any tires, period. They have almost everything in stock, ship immediately, and can deliver overnight direct to authorized installer if you so need. In my case, Tire Rack and local Tesla Service center both had in stock, but Tire Rack price was $111 less expensive. Tesla also quoted me over $100 to install new tire, and a week to schedule me, whereas going rate for a premium shop that knows how to handle expensive tires/rims etc is <$35 and they can do it any day. So, I save about $150 using Tire Rack and a local installer, plus it gets done as soon as UPS shows up with the tire.
I had a lot of confusion regarding warranty. The Continental tire has a 1 year or 2/32" of tread warranty for road hazards, which includes pothole damage. It took me about 2 days to talk to all of the parties, but here's some info:
* First cust svc rep at Continental said that Tesla would have to submit any warranty claim, since technically they sold the tire OEM to Tesla (not me).
* Tesla (both local service center and galactic headquarters) had to circle the wagons to determine if there was warranty or how to handle. Apparently, this is not something they've figured out yet.
* Tire Rack said if I send old tire back to them, they'd submit to Continental, but I was dubious due to what Continental said.
* I called back Continental, and 2nd service rep said there's NO road hazard warranty on the OEM Tesla tires - though there is one if you buy aftermarket... another good reason to buy it at Tire Rack. Rep said nonetheless they would start a file for me, and if I wanted to have my installer call in the tread wear information and serial number on the damaged tire and I submitted invoice for new tire, they'd think about helping.
* I'm going to send the old tire back to Tire Rack to submit for warranty. I figure they have more leverage with Continental than I do.
So, at worst, I'm out about $325 and 3 days use of car.
At best, I'll have $288 (price of tire) refunded.
I'll post result when this is all done. So far, very impressed with the service from Continental and Tire Rack, especially if Continental comes across with some reimbursement.
Not blown away by Tesla Service on this one, this is something they should easily know the answer to. But, they're like my kids, still love them...:wink:
*********
UPDATE/RESOLUTION:
* Continental took down my information and gave me a file # to use as reference.
* Purchased new tire from Tire Rack, shipped to installer. Cost: $288 plus tax and $21.27 shipping. Installer received next day. Probably because I'm in Chicago and Tire Rack is in northern Indiana.
* I brought in wheel and tire (didn't want to tow).
* To raise car, you need low profile jack, and pay attention to jacking points. Had to put small block on top of jack to make sure jack did not contact outside jacking point, which is quite small and rectangular.
* Installer put on new tire, balanced, etc. Took less than 1 hour. Cost: $31
* I collected wheel/tire, and replaced. You've got to have torque wrench. Local Tesla service center told me 130 foot pounds of torque for lug nuts.
* I washed old tire, and sent back to Tire Rack. Had to call them, give them Continental file #, and they sent me a Fed Ex voucher for shipping. All you do is take tire and voucher to Fed Ex. No packaging, no $.
* Exactly 1 day later, I checked tracking number and confirmed that Tire Rack had received.
* That same evening, I got notification that Tire Rack had refunded my PayPal $281, which is cost of new tire, less shipping back (which had been paid by their voucher).
I think this was awesome service from both Tire Rack and Continental - especially keeping mind this OEM tire was not under warranty and this was a "courtesy" replacement. Not sure how long Continental will bend over backwards for Tesla owners, but this sure won them some long term allegiance from me! Total elapsed time: 2 days. Total net cost to me: ~$60. That's not counting $150 for low profile jack and torque wrench, but those are things I want to have anyway.
One other note: The Tesla Model S tire repair kit has an integrated jar of tire sealant. That is NOT replaceable. They say you should buy a new kit after using up, but that would be silly. The inflator still works fine, so I'm going to get a bottle of Slime from Pep Boys for about $10 and continue to use the Tesla kit as inflator.
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