Tesla will not patch or repair flat tires, replace only.

It is true...Tesla does not patch or repair flat tire.

But they do provide courtesy road side assistance.

I am not understanding when you say you have to pay out of pocket for a tow. Does your car insurance does n't cover towing?

I had a flat tire and Tesla provided road side assistance and my out of pocket expense for fixing the flat tire was $9.85

This is the standard practice for any manufacturer roadside assistance. They basically recoup the towing cost through repair bills.

They can't repair as the tire is no longer speed rated with patch.

Lloyd said:

They can't repair as the tire is no longer speed rated with patch.

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Every shop other than Tesla will patch the tire, assuming that it can be patched (pretty much any simple puncture in the tread of the tire as long as you haven't driven any extreme distance on the flat)

Personally I'd chose neither option and patch it myself on the side of the road... (again assuming simple tread puncture)

Here is a handy reference on the TIRE RACK website that explains the RMA stance on tire repairs and patches as it regard high speed rated tires....

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=225

It is obvious that Tesla Motors and most other high performance auto dealerships err on the side of caution and will refuse to patch or repair high speed rated tires.
Liability is an issue, of this we can be certain.

green1 said:

Every shop other than Tesla will patch the tire, assuming that it can be patched (pretty much any simple puncture in the tread of the tire as long as you haven't driven any extreme distance on the flat)

Personally I'd chose neither option and patch it myself on the side of the road... (again assuming simple tread puncture)

Click to expand...

I put a plug in mine yesterday. Picked up a nail over the weekend...my tires are done in the way of tread and life so ill be getting new ones in the spring.

I had XXX tire put a patch from the inside last year and in 6 months it worked its self loose and ending up having to replace the tire.


Had Tesla do the replacement...beware as the price of the tire does not include labour so your $$$ they quoted you will be much more.

Most car dealers won't patch a tire. The reasoning is probably half liability and half profit. Why would you have to have it towed to Tesla to get a new tire? Any decent shop should be able to order a tire and have it fixed for you tomorrow.

I have never bought tires from a car dealer and didn't buy my winters or replacement summers from Tesla either. I recount a very positive "flat tire" story over here.

Live 1,600km+ from a service center and you won't have to worry about the "replacement only" policy. I had Kal-Tire patch my tire. I never go over 120 km/h anyway so the speed rating really doesn't apply to me anyway.

I live on the border to the US, so I've gotten all my tires for previous vehicles with Discount Tire and if I can swap out a spare and bring the punctured tire over to Discount Tire, they will do a proper patch job by dismounting the tire, patching, and remount/rebalance the tire for free. I wouldn't stick a plug into a tire because you have to ream the tire and further weaken and damage the belts in the tire. Too bad the MS doesn't have a place to mount a spare unless you put it in the trunk. With the poor Cdn$ now, I'd probably stick with reputable Tire stores like Kal Tire or OK Tire in my area instead of going over the border.