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Front Tire Wheel Well Rubbing in reverse - FIX

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Hello all,

Thought I'd share this incase any one was experience the same problem as us.

About two weeks ago we put on our winter tires. We ordered Rial Lugano 19"s for tire rack and Michelin X-ice from Canadian tire. After putting them on the car we heard a rubbing sound coming from the front wheels. After a closer inspection we discovered the front tires were just ever to slightly rubbing the inside of the wheel well when reversing and turing at the same time. It only happens under those circumstances which is not a huge deal but it was annoying. See the iCloud link below for some photos of the rubbing.

iCloud Photo Sharing

Did some research came across this thread http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/37279-Front-Tires-Rubbing-on-P85-when-reversing

People had similar rubbing issues and not many people had success at SC trying to get it fixed. Only one person said they had a solution from the Portland SC where they heated up the inside wheel well liner and remoulded it to stop the rubbing.

We called Tesla Service first. They said never heard of such an issue but would get back to us. We didn't want to wait for them so we decided to try and fix it our selves.

So yesterday we popped the wheel off to get access to it and got out our small heat gun. We heated up the hard plastic slowly and then pushed on it with the back of a screw driver, keeping pressure for about 15 seconds until the plastic cooled down. We did this repeatedly about 4 times until the wheel well liner had been pushed in about 1/4". We used a small straight edge to gauge how far we pushed it in. We popped the wheel back on and tried to replicate the problem and the tire no longer rubbed and the sound was gone. It is still a little close I think especially when any bit of snow gets on the tires the rubbing will return so we might push it back a little further to give it some more room. Although as the tire thread decreases over time, the gap will also increase.

Anyways just thought I'd post that we had success fixing this small annoyance incase anyone else had this problem. It was very simple to do and we had both driver and passenger sides done in about 30 mins.

Going forward, not sure if this is something Tesla should be aware of that they can fix on future cars? Tesla service told us we should have put on their winter Pirelli's but thats pretty crazy we can't put on a tire that we want without problems. If the tires are the same size (245/45 R19) then there should be no problem using different brands of tires. Thoughts?

Can people comment if they have used Michelin X-ice can experience this rubbing or even other tires?
 
I have xice3 on the car and I think you just described and solved the sound I am getting on hard turn slow reverse getting out of parking stalls. I have different wheels, picked Braelin BR02's ... in the hyperblack chrome .. these look awesome on the grey car. Weigh less than 25 lbs! Canadian wheels, and Fastco gives a guaranteed fit on Model S, they did 3D model analysis for this wheel on the model S. They machine the lug holes and hub to 64.1mm for a perfect fit. I can vouch for that! The offset is a little different than stock wheels, stick out a little further just 5mm.. and that explains why they rub. Its not so much choice of rubber, Pirelli over Michelins, that Tesla is pushing, it's their wheel offset.

Love this forum. I have a heat gun and will blast away!
 
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I have xice3 on the car and I think you just described and solved the sound I am getting on hard turn slow reverse getting out of parking stalls. I have different wheels, picked Braelin BR02's ... in the hyperblack chrome .. these look awesome on the grey car. Weigh less than 25 lbs! Canadian wheels, and Fastco gives a guaranteed fit on Model S, they did 3D model analysis for this wheel on the model S. They machine the lug holes and hub to 64.1mm for a perfect fit. I can vouch for that! The offset is a little different than stock wheels, stick out a little further just 5mm.. and that explains why they rub. Its not so much choice of rubber, Pirelli over Michelins, that Tesla is pushing, it's their wheel offset.

Love this forum. I have a heat gun and will blast away!

Update, 1 year (1 winter season only) on Braelin BR-02 rims.

Adapter rings were a non-starter for me. So I picked Braelin. Fit of BR-02 is very good but not perfect. The offset is slightly different from stock, which has a minor issue with the rubber combo I've chosen (Michelin Xice 3 - an excellent tire for this car by the way). When fully cranking the steering wheel in one direction (but not the other) and backing up, as in parking the car.... I get rubber hitting the inner wheel well liner, which sounds terrible inside the car.. but upon inspection is so minor of a touch that I'm not concerned. There is no body or fender contact on any condition even in lowest air suspension setting and full hard turns. Some people use a hot air gun to soften the wheel well liner and push it out a bit to get rid of such rubs. I still haven't bothered to re-form the wheel well. But might. The affected area is front of the tire touching a patch of liner. This happens for other wheel/tire combos and is not unique to Braelin.

We have bad roads and pot holes galore. I drive to avoid hazards actively, but sometimes do hit. No rim benders or anything yet. They seem rugged, which is good because that was a top concern of mine too with this heavy car. I run these 19" winter tires at 45 psi with these rims. Don't go crazy with 50 psi (the new normal I guess).

The finish color I chose looks very sharp fitted to my grey car. I was pretty quick on keeping them cleaned using hand spray car washes throughout the winter... but by spring was a little disappointed in their durability of finish for our winters here in Edmonton. One wheel in particular, more than the others... is prone to chipping and loosing it's silver finish revealing the black base coat. So it's pock marked. Also, if a chip gets down to metal it starts to corrode fast with salty water hitting it. I figure I could touch up these little "rock chip" areas on the wheel with a touch up pen, but haven't. Overall, and from a distance of a car length away it is hard to notice any of these marks. But I see them!

Wheels are relatively easy to clean around the spokes and clean the inner rims themselves using a hand sponge or rag. High pressure spraying is not enough for the center hubs. These ones say Braelin on them. The center hub covers supplied are not clear coated well or something... salty water discolors them with streak marks. You have to really rub them to get back to a shine. I am going to buff and clear coat them better myself this fall. Maybe they weren't coated at all? Stock Tesla hubs do not fit in their place, otherwise I would move those over with wheel changes. I will probably clean and clear coat all wheels completely as well.. in hopes to lessen the chipping of the upcoming season. Overall, I'd say the finish is too thinly applied from factory. If buying new again having known this I would immediately take them to an auto shop or some such and have several layers of clear coat applied before mounting rubber.

Lesson: mounting these wheels to the car with the necessary balancing weights introduce a clearance issue with the front lower suspension bolts that hand down into the inside rim. These bolts come VERY close to these rims and would only allow about 1/8" thick weights to be affixed to the wheel where they needed to be. Some of my weights were thicker than that and contacted the suspension bolts, and would have been knocked off on the first revolution driving out of the shop had we not checked first by hand rotating the wheel checking for this specific thing first! Glad we did. My remedy was to grind the suspension bolt excess length off rather than re-weight the wheel. It hurt to see sparks flying off the bottom of my Tesla, but now I have a slightly lighter car (ha!). Shaved maybe 1/8" off two bolts (one each side), allowing weights to pass under them. I can see how any small glob of mud or ice built up on those weights is going to get knocked off fast, or take your weight off with it. Keep an eye on your weights. Rear suspension has no similar issue much better clearances. BUT don't forget your rear wheels will be ROTATED to the front some day, so mount all four wheels on a front location and check for clearance on all for when the day comes for rotation, you don't want to learn then they have to be re-weighted.

I paid about $300 a piece to my door. For the money, versus comparables and pricing out there for what would work on a Tesla... I'm happy to have these as my "winter beater" wheels instead of black steelie wheelies (that you can't even get in 19" for a Tesla). But it would have been nicer if these mags stayed nicer looking.

Here's what I would have done differently had I known: re-mount the stock factory tires onto these Braelin rims and used them in summer... and put your new winter tires on the stock Tesla rims for winter. Tesla 19's are much more durable finish and can take the punishment of winters better than the Braelins. But the Braelins look much nicer IMHO... and should be the summer boulevard cruising shoes for this car!
 
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Update, 1 year (1 winter season only) on Braelin BR-02 rims.

...
The finish color I chose looks very sharp fitted to my grey car. I was pretty quick on keeping them cleaned using hand spray car washes throughout the winter... but by spring was a little disappointed in their durability of finish for our winters here in Edmonton. One wheel in particular, more than the others... is prone to chipping and loosing it's silver finish revealing the black base coat. So it's pock marked. Also, if a chip gets down to metal it starts to corrode fast with salty water hitting it. I figure I could touch up these little "rock chip" areas on the wheel with a touch up pen, but haven't. Overall, and from a distance of a car length away it is hard to notice any of these marks. But I see them!
...

I'm shopping for winter rims now and I had caught this brand name (Braelin) on the Canadian rims & winter tires thread.
Following your comment, I went back to the site and noticed they have a 'Winter approved finish' statement now in their site...which might not have been there a year ago when you ordered. As you would expect from your observations, the 'Hyperblack chrome' finish is 'NOT' winter approved :-(

So, thanks a lot for your input because now I'll make sure to order one of their winter options!...which are the darker sets of wheels.
With wheels that don't need adapter rings, this brand sounds like a really good aftermarket option.
 
I'm shopping for winter rims now and I had caught this brand name (Braelin) on the Canadian rims & winter tires thread.
Following your comment, I went back to the site and noticed they have a 'Winter approved finish' statement now in their site...which might not have been there a year ago when you ordered. As you would expect from your observations, the 'Hyperblack chrome' finish is 'NOT' winter approved :-(

So, thanks a lot for your input because now I'll make sure to order one of their winter options!...which are the darker sets of wheels.
With wheels that don't need adapter rings, this brand sounds like a really good aftermarket option.

Indeed, there was no such "winter approval" ratings or warning when I bought, unbeknownst to me.

After having contacted the vendor, I wonder if they'll do anything for me?