Hit a pothole and got 2 flats on my Model 3 Performance

[Motion122]

I also have the M3P, I scared myself just yesterday when I hit a small pot hole. I had no damage, but it felt and sounded like I did some damage. I did pull over to look. I was doing over 45 on my way up to the 55mph speed limit on the rural road I was on. It sounds to me ( with absolutely no auto mechanical experience) you just got unlucky and hit it just wrong enough to pinch both tires off the rims.

Sometimes the suspension bottoming out can sound pretty bad as well.

 

[golfcart]

I also have the M3P, I scared myself just yesterday when I hit a small pot hole. I had no damage, but it felt and sounded like I did some damage. I did pull over to look. I was doing over 45 on my way up to the 55mph speed limit on the rural road I was on. It sounds to me ( with absolutely no auto mechanical experience) you just got unlucky and hit it just wrong enough to pinch both tires off the rims.

Could have just been bad luck but lots of similar stories of people getting P3D+ rims trashed on the forum. Can't really say for sure I guess.

 

[Apprunner]

Getting the 18s with thicker sidewalls has been the best decision i've made on the car. Ran over a couple bad potholes on a roadtrip over the holidays and just laughed it off...didn't do anything to the tires.

 

[.Slug]

Just saw this thread today since it was bumped... see my thread I posted about a week ago. My new M3P fell victim to a so cal pothole last week and my Pirellis were replaced under new tire Pirelli hazard warranty. I had to go to a non Tesla shop authorized by Pirelli to get the 2 tires replaced under the warranty for no charge. Took about 3 hours and I was back on the road.

Great news for Tesla Model 3 owners with Pirelli PZEROs!

TLDR: 2022 Model 3 with Pirelli PZero tires come with a "hidden" hazard warranty that covers punctures/impact etc through Pirelli, NOT Tesla. I accidentally drove through one of the largest potholes I've ever seen this morning and damaged my right front and right rear tires (impact bubbles on...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[sTuKat]

Very helpful thread. I have an additional variable that is complicating my tire wheel replacement options. I will be leasing a performance 3. I am not sure what wheel/tire combo would be acceptable to Tesla at the end of lease, but thinking at least good condition Ubers. I will need another set of tires and wheels for Oct.Nov. thru March/April. My wife's all-wheel drive Suv with winter tires is available in the worst conditions and most of the time.

I am considering 18 or 19 inch all weather tires like the Michelin Cross Climate 2 which could work during any temperature range (obviously with some limitations). It seems too risky running the OEM tires and wheels given the condition of the roads where I live. Selling the OEM tires will be more challenging here also and I would still need some tires for the Ubers at lease end. I do not like the idea of turning in new tires and wheels to Tesla.

Any ideas to furthur confuse me?

 

[tm1v2]

@sTuKat Since you are leasing, how about continuing using your Uberturbines in the summer, and getting the cheapest 18" wheels you can find that fit the M3P hubs for your winter / all-season tires?

That way you'll get some use out of the original tires at least, without having to deal with selling them and rebuying used ones. Keep it simple for a leased car, don't spend any more $ modifying it than absolutely necessary.

Alternatively, if you really don't want to use the Uberturbines at all, see if someone with worn out 20" tires with low tread (but not down to cords or such) wants to swap their old tires + cash for your fresh 20" tires. Then run your own smaller wheels + tires for the duration of your lease, and put back on your Uberturbines with the worn out tires when lease is up. Honestly I'm not sure this would be worth the hassle to me, but it's up to you!

 

[Höegh Trapper]

Is it possible to drive a M3P 75.000km (50.000 miles) without breaking at least one Uberturbine ?

 

[tm1v2]

@Höegh Trapper Try it and report back!

Certainly it's possible. Depends on the roads you drive, and how much you're willing to slow down for bad roads. And of course don't miss any huge potholes or such from the dark / car in front / not paying attention / etc.

In places where all the roads are smooth and well-maintained roads I seriously wouldn't worry. I've never lived in such a place but I hear they exist.

 

[dfwatt]

Is it possible to drive a M3P 75.000km (50.000 miles) without breaking at least one Uberturbine ?

Bending probably not but not breaking yes. If you're super careful. Personally I think the smart move is simply sell the Uber turbines because there is demand for them and get proper set of forged wheels which are lighter (like 10 lbs lighter a corner) and stronger. We have more than 50,000 miles on combination of Vorsteiner (Barrel rolled) and VS forged. Couple of bent rims over 65,000 miles, one minimally such that it really didn't need to be straightened, another maybe mildly to moderately. Easily fixed.

 

[Netmatic]

PM sent...

I wish the M3P still came with the PS4S. I also don't care for the stretched look on the stock Pirelli tires. To me it looks like the tire is too narrow or the rim too wide. On my AMG I was running 295/30/19 rear and 255/35/19 front. Decent balance between performance and ride comfort.

Photo shows the defect I ran over. I really would not have expected that this could pinch and cut the sidewalls had it not happened to me. While I like to drive spirited at times, I'm not looking to squeak out the very last bit of handling to go as low as the M3P sidewalls. If I did it over again I would have bought a set of 19" rims with PS4S tires and sold the OEM 20" set before using them.

View attachment 738480

I run uber turbines too, I'm curious what tire pressures you are running? I'm running 45 and up to 47psi on road trips. Regardless of tire pressure, If I ran over that going 30 - 40mph, I'm sure it will do some damage. Also, the stock Pirelli side walls are really soft. I elected to purchase Toyo Proxies that have stiffer sidewalls.

 

[sTuKat]

@sTuKat Since you are leasing, how about continuing using your Uberturbines in the summer, and getting the cheapest 18" wheels you can find that fit the M3P hubs for your winter / all-season tires?

That way you'll get some use out of the original tires at least, without having to deal with selling them and rebuying used ones. Keep it simple for a leased car, don't spend any more $ modifying it than absolutely necessary.

Alternatively, if you really don't want to use the Uberturbines at all, see if someone with worn out 20" tires with low tread (but not down to cords or such) wants to swap their old tires + cash for your fresh 20" tires. Then run your own smaller wheels + tires for the duration of your lease, and put back on your Uberturbines with the worn out tires when lease is up. Honestly I'm not sure this would be worth the hassle to me, but it's up to you!

Thank you for the response. Consulting myself , it appears performance is of high value to me. Five to seven months depending on how cold the temperature is in the Fall and Spring seasons are going to be on non-summer tires. I am thinking I will want Michelin high performance all season tires, probably on 19 inch at least flow forged wheels. I will be able to use our all wheel drive Suv with Winter tires on questionable days or just because. I will see how the car performs on the all seasons and compare that to the Perelli summer tires. That means with an April/May delivery I will roll the dice with the Uberturbines on our rural roads. If I really like the all seasons at switchover time, I can make the decision to possibly run them full time. All in all a poor financial decision for sure. However, I am old and this is my window of opportunity health wise etc.

 

[Apprunner]

Thank you for the response. Consulting myself , it appears performance is of high value to me. Five to seven months depending on how cold the temperature is in the Fall and Spring seasons are going to be on non-summer tires. I am thinking I will want Michelin high performance all season tires, probably on 19 inch at least flow forged wheels. I will be able to use our all wheel drive Suv with Winter tires on questionable days or just because. I will see how the car performs on the all seasons and compare that to the Perelli summer tires. That means with an April/May delivery I will roll the dice with the Uberturbines on our rural roads. If I really like the all seasons at switchover time, I can make the decision to possibly run them full time. All in all a poor financial decision for sure. However, I am old and this is my window of opportunity health wise etc.

I think the other option is to order a set of 19 inch with All Seasons and sell the Uberturbines when new. I think this mitigates most of the financial impact as new wheels tend to fetch a pretty good price. Just a thought

 

[sTuKat]

I think the other option is to order a set of 19 inch with All Seasons and sell the Uberturbines when new. I think this mitigates most of the financial impact as new wheels tend to fetch a pretty good price. Just a thought

The car is going to be leased. I believe I have to return the vehicle with the Uberturbines and useable 21 inch summer tires with the same ratings?

 

[Apprunner]

The car is going to be leased. I believe I have to return the vehicle with the Uberturbines and useable 21 inch summer tires with the same ratings?

Then it is what it is

 

[VanGuy]

Very helpful thread. I have an additional variable that is complicating my tire wheel replacement options. I will be leasing a performance 3. I am not sure what wheel/tire combo would be acceptable to Tesla at the end of lease, but thinking at least good condition Ubers. I will need another set of tires and wheels for Oct.Nov. thru March/April. My wife's all-wheel drive Suv with winter tires is available in the worst conditions and most of the time.

I am considering 18 or 19 inch all weather tires like the Michelin Cross Climate 2 which could work during any temperature range (obviously with some limitations). It seems too risky running the OEM tires and wheels given the condition of the roads where I live. Selling the OEM tires will be more challenging here also and I would still need some tires for the Ubers at lease end. I do not like the idea of turning in new tires and wheels to Tesla.

Any ideas to furthur confuse me?

What I did for our winter set on our P:
Tires:
CROSSCLIMATE 2 size-225/45R18
Wheels:
Fast Wheels FC04 Metallic Black size-18x8 boltpattern-5x114.3mm offset-+40hubbore-72.6loadrating-1521

I went with 225 tires and 8" wide wheels for a few reasons which may or may not resonate:

1) I wanted a bit of sidewall, both the wife and I rashed the right side ubers in the first 1000km. The 3 has a very different stance and seating position to our 4runner (lol obvs) and we both ended up cutting right hand turns a little short. Hurts. The slightly narrower tires and noticeably narrower wheels adds just a bit of sidewall now.

2) I wanted to have a smaller and thinner contact patch for bad snow/ice conditions. We live in PNW so wet performance in the winter is my primary concern, followed somewhat close by snow/ice performance, as we will be doing regular drives into/through the mountains and require real grip at times.

3) I wanted a bit narrower tire to offset a tinge of cold weather range loss when doing our winter road trips. Not for money but to keep an eye on our range, there's a couple legs of our drive where it means I have to watch the efficiency closer than I would like in the winter.

A note on these tires...frigging LOVE them. They're just awesome. Great wet weather performance. Great snow/ice performance (for all season, and testing backs up the fact these are roughly equivalent to the worst full winters you'll find). Great wear (rated for 100,000km). And what I understand as good rolling resistance.

 

[tm1v2]

@VanGuy 225/45R18 is -0.5" diameter vs stock. What led you to pick that size over 235/45R18 (-0.2" vs stock) or 225/50R18 (+0.4" vs stock)?

 

[VanGuy]

@VanGuy 225/45R18 is -0.5" diameter vs stock. What led you to pick that size over 235/45R18 (-0.2" vs stock) or 225/50R18 (+0.4" vs stock)?

Well, I wanted narrower tires. I grew up in real winters and have always vastly preferred narrow tires when the roads turn to dog *sugar*. I also went with what I was seeing stock teslas running for size. I'm not a tire/wheel expert and honestly, maybe would have been a touch better to go with the 50R. But I also was a little late in the season and went with what was I could find in stock and from a supplier I trusted.

I'll need new tires eventually so might just do that.

 

[Skydive85]

Yesterday I drove over a small defect in the roadway at about 35-40 MPH with my 2021 M3P that has 20" rims with Pirelli tires. It was a small rectangular section of roadway about 6" x 8" and maybe 3/4" or less deep that the asphalt was missing from an incomplete road repair. The sidewall on both tires got pinched and cut and the car had to be towed away. Despite this happening in one of the most populous and affluent areas of Southern California, the Tesla roadside service did not have loaner rims so they towed the car to the Tesla service center which was already closed, so I'm waiting until Monday to get new tires.

I was concerned over the very low profile M3P tires and this has just reinforced it more getting stranded within 3 months of ownership. (Have never had a pothole flat in 40 years driving a lot of miles.) The anxiety now comes from the fact that a few times per year I take a road trip where there are significant remote sections with no cell service. Before this happened I purchased a 12V air pump and a tire patch kit that I keep in the trunk. However, if you get a flat from a pinched sidewall you are screwed as you can't patch that. Get two flats at once and you are double screwed.

Short term the next step is that I'm going to look for the smallest space saver spare I can find to take with me on remote trips. But if I get 2 flats from a pothole I will still be screwed. Longer term when the existing tires need replacement I'm likely to get a new set of 19" rims so I don't need to run such aggressive sidewalls.

Curious if I just had very bad luck, or if this is not that uncommon of an occurrence, getting 2 flat tires by hitting a pothole. I've gone over potholes before with low profile performance tires with other cars and never had a single flat, much less 2. But how easily both tires went flat on the M3P, I'm thinking maybe this is not that uncommon? BTW, the rims look fine and do not appear to have bent.

The same exact thing JUST happened to me last week to my five month old 2022 Tesla M3P in Tijuana, it flattened BOTH of the driver side Pirelli tires (they got cut going from the rim). The thing that sucked is I couldn’t find a service to tow my car over the border at the time and the 235/35 R20 tires are not available in Mexico, I had to temporarily put used 225/30 R20’s on my car to get me over the border until I made it to Discount Tire. Have you had any issues with traction control warnings or autopilot not engaging since replacing the tires? It this a defect with Pirelli tires or does this happen with all low profile tires?

 

[Wado]

Hit a pothole not long ago bent two rims causing slow leaks. I guess luckily both rims were repairable.

 

[ElectricIAC]

The same exact thing JUST happened to me last week to my five month old 2022 Tesla M3P in Tijuana, it flattened BOTH of the driver side Pirelli tires (they got cut going from the rim). The thing that sucked is I couldn’t find a service to tow my car over the border at the time and the 235/35 R20 tires are not available in Mexico, I had to temporarily put used 225/30 R20’s on my car to get me over the border until I made it to Discount Tire. Have you had any issues with traction control warnings or autopilot not engaging since replacing the tires? It this a defect with Pirelli tires or does this happen with all low profile tires?View attachment 802011

They don’t call them pothole magnets for no reason.