Rotate tires side to side

thefortunes · Jul 28, 2014

The significant negative camber of the rears on the Roadster wears tires unevenly.

I found on my last set of MPSS's that I could rotate them across the car to gain at least a few extra miles and ended up with fairly even wear in the end.

However, I was only able to do this since I had them pulled off to install the winter tires, and had them reinstalled on the other side of the car.

I'm about midway (by my estimation) through the tread and would like to rotate them myself, but since I don't have a spare to use as a placeholder I'm interested in ideas how to rotate the rears. I do have jackstands, but not sure where to safely use them on the Roadster.

Sorry if it's a dumb question

P.S. My "local" Tesla shop is about 200 miles away.

Doug_G · Jul 28, 2014

Wouldn't you need to flip the tires on the rims in order for this to work? Just flipping them side-to-side won't change the wear. It'll just reverse the tread, which might not work as well in rain.

Caveat for the following: do at your own risk.

You can lift the rear of the car, from the back, by placing the jack under the rear frame. At the front of the rear underside pan there's a seam and a row of screws holding it on. That's where you lift it.

smorgasbord · Jul 28, 2014

Yes, I believe thefortunes is talking about removing tires from the rims - that's why he needs to be able to have both rear tires off the car.

You need to be careful. Look at this page. Memorize it. Print it. http://www.z-car.com/blog/cars/lotus/dont-let-this-happen-to-your-lotus

Roadster owners know about jack points A and B on the diagram. As Doug_G says, there are places to lift/support Roadster from the rear. Check out this thread: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/29015-Jacking-up-the-Roadster-revisited

thefortunes · Jul 28, 2014

Doug_G said:
Wouldn't you need to flip the tires on the rims in order for this to work? Just flipping them side-to-side won't change the wear. It'll just reverse the tread, which might not work as well in rain.

Caveat for the following: do at your own risk.

You can lift the rear of the car, from the back, by placing the jack under the rear frame. At the front of the rear underside pan there's a seam and a row of screws holding it on. That's where you lift it.

You are correct (and I'm a little embarrassed). I just assumed that it helped since the wear seemed much more even then the last set (of AD08's) that I had not rotated.

While not unidirectional, the MPSS's have an "outside" so even if you pull them off the rims you can't change inside to outside to help with the negative camber - duh.

Have you jacked at that point? Seems like it could be a little unstable?

jerry33 · Jul 28, 2014

thefortunes said:
While not unidirectional, the MPSS's have an "outside" so even if you pull them off the rims you can't change inside to outside to help with the negative camber - duh.

Strictly speaking, this is not true. Just turn all four tires around to increase the wear. The idea behind asymmetrical tires is that the outside has fewer voids so that it wears better. In the case of the Model S when there is toe-out in the rear from misalignment (it should be toe-in) the tire on the inside of the turn tends to fold over give the typical edge wear. Turning the tire so that the outside is on the inside will give longer life. Just be sure to do it on all four tires.

Beavis · Jul 28, 2014

My tire store and the local service center have told me not to do this. The reason given is that it will adversely impact cornering by putting the more worn part of the tire on the outside edge.

wiztecy · Jul 28, 2014

Just monitor your alignment, record and adjust appropriately where you like the wear. I like my wear on my rears of my AD08's (flat in the middle with more favored on the inside) and my front right tire was wearing more on the inside than the front left more than I liked. I corrected that by removing and adjusting the shims up front. I'm now wearing where I like it.

Keep a record of your alignment and understand what it means. Then you can make adjustments when you identify what and where the wear means. Odd ending of words

Where is wear or the the wearing of where.

We are dealing with physics and friction here, it can be adjusted.

jerry33 · Jul 29, 2014

Beavis said:
My tire store and the local service center have told me not to do this. The reason given is that it will adversely impact cornering by putting the more worn part of the tire on the outside edge.

Well, if it's worn almost to the cords I'd agree, but the part that wears probably won't even touch the ground during cornering. I'm assuming that it's about half worn in that area. And it should actually help wet cornering.

Zextraterrestrial · Jul 30, 2014

Beavis said:
My tire store and the local service center have told me not to do this. The reason given is that it will adversely impact cornering by putting the more worn part of the tire on the outside edge.

I did this for my S and managed to get quite a few more autocross days out of my tires. they were non symmetrical but flipping them helped w/ traction quite a bit. when they were corded on the 2nd inner edge(old outer edge), the centers were to the wear bars

TOBASH · Aug 18, 2014

smorgasbord said:
Yes, I believe thefortunes is talking about removing tires from the rims - that's why he needs to be able to have both rear tires off the car.

You need to be careful. Look at this page. Memorize it. Print it. http://www.z-car.com/blog/cars/lotus/dont-let-this-happen-to-your-lotus

Roadster owners know about jack points A and B on the diagram. As Doug_G says, there are places to lift/support Roadster from the rear. Check out this thread: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/29015-Jacking-up-the-Roadster-revisited

I'm beginning to read old posts in order to better understand my new-to-me Roadster. This post about jack points is awesome essential information, and should be a sticky. Most likely I will isolate those locations and epoxy a thin rubber circle to each area as a failsafe.

Thanks,

T

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Rotate tires side to side

thefortunes

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smorgasbord

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thefortunes

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jerry33

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wiztecy

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