Car handling after fishtailing on icy road. My imagination?

[a.gs]

Hi everyone. New here, so hello!

I recently lost control of my MY RWD on an icy country lane and it fishtailed. I brought the car under control without hitting anything. So, no apparent damage.

Next day, car handling feels off. Rear feels slippery with oversteer when cornering. Assumed alignment had come out so it’s been to a SC today. Technician took it for a test drive before working on it and didn’t seem too concerned, and checked over suspension. Had the alignment sorted (toe was out at both rear and one front).

The car feels generally better but I can still feel the rear slipping slightly around (mainly) longer bends. Also feeling generally wobbly, but the suspension on an MY is tight anyway so could be that.

I’m currently questioning to myself:

1. Has something else been damaged that hasn’t been picked up
2. Has the alignment been done correctly
3. Is the slight oversteer due to greasy roads in the UK right now, and I’m now only feeling it after snow/ice has melted
4. Am I focused so much on the handling that I’m only now noticing the RWD tendency to slightly oversteer

The car feels off, and isn’t much fun to drive, but doesn’t feel unsafe. I’m half convinced that I’m just so focused on feeling the car while I’m driving it that there isn’t really an issue and it’s my imagination. Really frustrating.

Can anyone offer any advice, or just tell me to shut up, get on with enjoying the car and see how it goes?

 

[Lightbulb]

The service Center has access to a lot of information about the car that we don’t. It is possible that something is wrong that they haven’t caught but it’s more than likely you are hyper fixated on the rear end since the incident. Maybe get other people to drive the car that don’t know anything “happened” and see what they say. The service guy has probably driven hundreds of teslas and would be able to tell if something was off

 

[dafish]

1) Have somebody you trust that knows cars well drive it.
2) Sure, you could be overly sensitive. Odd are high even.
3) But could you have bent a rim? Sure.
4) Hurt a belt in a tire? Sure,

So for the last two have the trire/rims "Hunter Road Force" tested. That will end that.

5) Then call around and find who does custom alignment work. Have that guy check it out. There is a world of difference between "In spec" alignment and "right". There are some settings are almost every car that are perfectly in spec but feel funny on snow/ice. A great alignment tech, usually an old guy, will know more then to read the spec book. He'll know what works, doesn't, and why.

 

[a.gs]

Appreciate both your responses!

I'd booked into the SC again and just picked the car back up yesterday. While it was in, I had a Model S loaner and, surprise – I could feel this floating and oversteering left too

I'm pretty confident that since I skidded while turning left, I'm really hyper-focused on left turns. I think I'm also subconsciously braking more while in a left turn and this is exaggerating the feeling.

From the SC visit, mechanic couldn't feel anything wrong with the car, but balanced front wheels, and 'reset some driver assistance features' and also did something with the steering wheel alignment. The car feels pretty much back to normal again. Very slight drift (not pull) to right so I think the alignment still isn't perfect, but I can live with that. Any other driver getting in the car probably wouldn't notice.

I've also noticed a slight decrease in consumption based on history, perhaps the rear wheels need balancing too? Not sure why they wouldn't balance the rears, probably time constraints.

I'm now at the point where I can enjoy driving the car again, so I'm happy now

 

[Dangerous Fish]

I think you may be over-thinking things.
If you don't trust Tesla's alignment just take it for an alignment check elsewhere and see if the readings match and are 'within spec.'
The most likely cause of a loss of grip is road conditions. These cars are putting a lot of power down and although the traction control system is very good, it is possible to steer them on the throttle to a certain extent, especially when the road surface is a bit slippery and the temperature is low.

A couple of years ago there were many reports on Tesla forums and FB groups that a "software update" was responsible for Model 3s suddenly losing traction and becoming oversteery. The story spread (as they do) and in the minds of some, it became fact. The reality was that a software update just happened to coincide with a change in the weather across the country which led to the roads becoming very greasy for an extended period. That was all it was, but confirmation bias and a lack of understanding how these cars work confused a lot of people.

 

[a.gs]

I am absolutely overthinking things. I drive on a lot of country lanes so the variance in road conditions is massive. My plan is to put on a podcast or something to take my mind off thinking about handling and 'reset' myself.

I'd actually read the thread on the software update, and can confirm I don't believe a software update would be responsible for this at all

 

[Dangerous Fish]

I am absolutely overthinking things. I drive on a lot of country lanes so the variance in road conditions is massive. My plan is to put on a podcast or something to take my mind off thinking about handling and 'reset' myself.

I'd actually read the thread on the software update, and can confirm I don't believe a software update would be responsible for this at all

Good on you! Yeah, I actually went out for a drive the evening I read that thread just to make sure what I was thinking was correct. It seemed to me to be another case of some owners just wanting to blame "the computer" whenever something unexpected happened.