Turbine wheels now mandatory with P85D - intentional change or design studio glitch?

[JakeP]

on-again off-again on-again off-again on-again off-again. required not-required required not-required. staggered non-staggered staggered non-staggered. rear seats nextgen rear seats oldgen rear seats nextgen rear seats oldgen. service center says one thing, rep says a completely different thing, website says completely different thing. fake misleading price on website actual-price fake-price actual-price fake-price. options included excluded included excluded. should i get tickets to the ringling brothers or just get a job at tesla instead?

Painfully and laughably true.

 

[yobigd20]

Turbine wheels now mandatory with P85D - intentional change or design studio ...

this is not a glitch, i took a P85D test drive today and was talking to the sales rep about the if the spoiler does anything, he was listing off his recommended options and mentioned the 21" wheels. i told him i was looking to buy with the 19" and his response was they are no longer going to have that option because people were not getting the rated 0-60 times with the 19" wheels. so to elivate people complaining the car is not living up to hype they just forced the 21"...

Wow they are completely idiots if that's what they believe. It's not about the size of the wheels but instead the compound of the tires. Their 19" OEM tires are crap and can't hold dry traction for the power of the P. You put 19" Michelin pilot sports on that actually stick and not only will you get the 0-60 times I would bet you'll even beat the 21" times. All they need to do is offer a better set of TIRES, not force people to get 21s.

 

[Matias]

Maybe they just want to pump marginals up.

 

[sandpiper]

this is not a glitch, i took a P85D test drive today and was talking to the sales rep about the if the spoiler does anything, he was listing off his recommended options and mentioned the 21" wheels. i told him i was looking to buy with the 19" and his response was they are no longer going to have that option because people were not getting the rated 0-60 times with the 19" wheels. so to elivate people complaining the car is not living up to hype they just forced the 21"...


...which kinda sucks as my configured price just jumped 4k.

Huh?! How, exactly, does having lighter wheels reduce acceleration? And judging by the GREATER range on the 19s, the 19s have lower rolling resistance than the 21s. On the only two factors that could possibly matter for straight line acceleration 19s are better than 21s!

Unless I'm missing something, methinks that your sales rep may be misinformed.

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Wow they are completely idiots if that's what they believe. It's not about the size of the wheels but instead the compound of the tires. Their 19" OEM tires are crap and can't hold dry traction for the power of the P. You put 19" Michelin pilot sports on that actually stick and not only will you get the 0-60 times I would bet you'll even beat the 21" times. All they need to do is offer a better set of TIRES, not force people to get 21s.

This makes sense. Although on dry pavement, I've never seen traction control kick in so I still don't buy it.

 

[mgboyes]

A number of UK owners have now asked various different TM staff, all of whom have confirmed that this is an intentional change, not a glitch.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

well that sucks. I like the 19s for PA pot hole roads... although I did like the handling more w/the 21s....

 

[MartinAustin]

on-again off-again on-again off-again on-again off-again. required not-required required not-required. staggered non-staggered staggered non-staggered. rear seats nextgen rear seats oldgen rear seats nextgen rear seats oldgen. service center says one thing, rep says a completely different thing, website says completely different thing. fake misleading price on website actual-price fake-price actual-price fake-price. options included excluded included excluded. should i get tickets to the ringling brothers or just get a job at tesla instead?

Sadly, this is a rather accurate description! (and you left out, next-gen-front-seats-old-seats-in-the-back) I hope this stuff is something they recognise internally and are working to stabilise.

 

[brianman]

Although on dry pavement, I've never seen traction control kick in so I still don't buy it.

I have - P85D w/19s.

 

[Cyclone]

his assertion was that it helps to reduce drag... which sounded a bit odd. but seeing it in person made me realise i would never order it. its a strange material that looks like no other CF i have seen at the race track. looked more like a vinyl CF pattern wrapped part.

I really like how it looks on my car.

 

[jerjozwik]

I really like how it looks on my car.

hahah, no offense implied. i have a full carbon fiber hard top for my track miata and chose to paint it black to hide the material.
all my friends and co workers would say "whats wrong with you, CF looks so cool!" to each there own

 

[Cyclone]

hahah, no offense implied. i have a full carbon fiber hard top for my track miata and chose to paint it black to hide the material.
all my friends and co workers would say "whats wrong with you, CF looks so cool!" to each there own

None taken . The main point for it was to have a sacrificial piece for me to grip when I forget I have a power liftgate or if I left the liftgate open and drove forward to hit the garage door opener. Not complaining though b/c I like the look of it against my color and it blends in very well with the darker color of the rear window.

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Back on topic. I am surprised if Tesla was really worried that 21s were needed for the rated #s, why they didn't make the turbines the default selected color and allow you to pick the "downgrade" if you want it. Similar to picking the 85D and then clicking single motor. That would have helped set expectations and still left those who prefer the 19s happy.

 

[yobigd20]

I really like how it looks on my car.

The original glossy carbon fiber looks good on black but after they switched to that ugly matte look - no way. I never understood that design change. I wouldn't get the spoiler now if I were to order again. It just looks "not right" and detracts from the nice aesthetics of the car.

 

[JER]

I can see the lower-grade tyres being a problem in the US market, where the 19” rims get all-season tyres. No doubt that detracts from the acceleration - though TBH not meeting expectations can only be a failure to explain this to customers. Perhaps the order page should make the effects of options on performance more explicit?

Model S orders made in the UK, however, have had summer tyres on both wheel sizes since around April this year – a long-overdue change IMO as there’s little point in using any other kind of tyre in our climate. (There are maybe a couple of weeks in a typical year where anything else will work better at daytime temperatures, and we hardly ever see snow.)

I’d be very surprised if the P85D acceleration was significantly worse with the 19” UK-spec summer tyres than the 21s – in which case there’s no reason to cut the 19” option here and several reasons to keep it. (Durability, running costs, etc.)

 

[mdevp]

Wow they are completely idiots if that's what they believe. It's not about the size of the wheels but instead the compound of the tires. Their 19" OEM tires are crap and can't hold dry traction for the power of the P. You put 19" Michelin pilot sports on that actually stick and not only will you get the 0-60 times I would bet you'll even beat the 21" times. All they need to do is offer a better set of TIRES, not force people to get 21s.

^^This.

 

[jerjozwik]

err... nevermind.

 

[cynix]

The original glossy carbon fiber looks good on black but after they switched to that ugly matte look - no way. I never understood that design change. I wouldn't get the spoiler now if I were to order again. It just looks "not right" and detracts from the nice aesthetics of the car.

For some reason, I've always considered glossy CF a lower grade material than matte CF. It looks plastic-y.

 

[ArtInCT]

The recent Business Week article on Elon Musk was interesting in the following area.... in the article the author mentions... Elon was walking thru the Tesla offices and lead Model S designer Frans von Holzhausen (sp?) shows him some newly designed wheels for the S. One week later the P85D has only 21" wheels in the design studio.

When you couple these two data points... Do you think that Tesla may be flushing the old inventory of Turbine 21"s to make room for the new wheels?

This was the first plausible explanation that came to my mind when I first read about this on TMC.

 

[andrewket]

The recent Business Week article on Elon Musk was interesting in the following area.... in the article the author mentions... Elon was walking thru the Tesla offices and lead Model S designer Frans von Holzhausen (sp?) shows him some newly designed wheels for the S. One week later the P85D has only 21" wheels in the design studio.

When you couple these two data points... Do you think that Tesla may be flushing the old inventory of Turbine 21"s to make room for the new wheels?

This was the first plausible explanation that came to my mind when I first read about this on TMC.

This was my first thought as well. They need to reduce 21" inventory. People are buying more 19" than forecasted.

I was very vocal when I ordered my P85D in 2014 that I wanted 19's. I went through 6 tires on my P85+ in 18 months. The 21's might look great, and be fine in California, but in many other places the low profile tires are just asking for trouble.

Rather than force people to buy 21's, why not create a 21" promotion? Give people an incentive. Don't take away customer choice. If I was buying today I'd hold my ground for 19s. If delivered with 21's, I wouldn't expect to get more than 1/2 of what you paid for them in the used market, even with 5 miles on them.

 

[1208]

Do you think that Tesla may be flushing the old inventory of Turbine 21"s to make room for the new wheels?

Indeed. I wonder also if new wheels are planned for the Model X. They are starting to behave like a Tesco's or Walmart

 

[mgboyes]

I can see the lower-grade tyres being a problem in the US market, where the 19” rims get all-season tyres. No doubt that detracts from the acceleration - though TBH not meeting expectations can only be a failure to explain this to customers. Perhaps the order page should make the effects of options on performance more explicit?

Model S orders made in the UK, however, have had summer tyres on both wheel sizes since around April this year – a long-overdue change IMO as there’s little point in using any other kind of tyre in our climate. (There are maybe a couple of weeks in a typical year where anything else will work better at daytime temperatures, and we hardly ever see snow.)

I’d be very surprised if the P85D acceleration was significantly worse with the 19” UK-spec summer tyres than the 21s – in which case there’s no reason to cut the 19” option here and several reasons to keep it. (Durability, running costs, etc.)

Interesting. Do you know specifically what tyres are being delivered on UK cars with 19" wheels? My understanding was that 19s get Goodyear Eagle RS-A2s, 21s get the new Continental Contisilents and P85D staggered sets get Michelin Pilot Sport PS2.

My experience is that a significant proportion of UK owners are buying winter tyre sets (even those with the all season Goodyears). Why would you advocate using a summer tyre all year round in the UK?

I have a set of Nokians for winter on my P85 cyclones, and will buy some Sottozeros to go on my P85D turbines. We didn't see a flake of snow last winter but the difference in grip and roadholding in the cold and wet was obvious and significant.