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Flat Tire With a Tesla

allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,183 ✭✭✭✭

Six months ago my brother bought a Y model Tesla. I saw him write the check for $63, 450.

It is a really nice car I love to go for a ride, it is like a damn rocket ship.


Yesterday morning I got a call from him, he had a flat tire. Elon does not include a jack, or a tire tool, or a spare tire with your new Tesla.

I had to drive down there, we jacked up his car with the jack from my Nissan Frontier and took the tire to the shop and got it patched.

Comments

  • GrasshopperGrasshopper Member Posts: 16,704 ✭✭✭✭

    Hmmm interesting. I guess the engineers never thought of a flat in such a ride. Plus it would add weight, that’s my guess. Maybe they should have 24 hour road service built in the price.

  • WarbirdsWarbirds Member Posts: 16,813 ✭✭✭✭

    Im learning it seems many new cars no longer come with a spare. A co-worker had a flat in her Acura SUV and I driving past and stopped to help.


    $60K SUV & sure enough no spare tire.


    They expect you to call for roadside service & those guys bring you a temp tire & wheel.

  • BobJudyBobJudy Member Posts: 6,445 ✭✭✭✭

    About a third of the new vehicles don't have a spare. A lot of them come with a sealer and inflate kit. Not sure I would want to trust just a kit like that because of the limitations it has for bigger punctures. I am sure the car makers passed all the savings of not having a spare or jack along to the consumer.... NOT! I haven't had to use a spare in years but the first time I don't have one you know what will happen. Bob

  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,131 ✭✭✭✭

    If my car didn't have a spare, I'd absolutely have an old-fashioned tubeless repair kit, a can of Fix-A-Flat goo, and a 12v inflator. But that's just the old pilot in me - who believes in having an emergency alternate to the backup to the spare.

    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
  • Merlinnv12Merlinnv12 Member Posts: 1,173 ✭✭✭✭

    Sounds like he bought the cheap model. For another 10 grand, he would have gotten a spare tire and a jack!

    “What we’ve got here, is, failure to communicate.”
  • serfserf Member Posts: 9,217 ✭✭✭✭

    More weight,less mileage and don't even mention climate control in the vehicle,that really sucks the battery dry. Electric cars still fuel up on electricity from natural gas anyway. It's a just a fad for the wealthy for now. One more thing if it rains and floods in your area,you better have good insurance for even a foot of water to pass thru.

    serf

  • Toolman286Toolman286 Member Posts: 2,964 ✭✭✭✭

    @RockyRaab I've fixed quite a few flats with the old tar-strip kits & a 12v pump. Heck, don't always bother to take it off the vehicle. Had to even put 2 strips in one large puncture & the tire went another 40K until it wore out.

  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,131 ✭✭✭✭

    Amen, Toolman. For just a few bucks and almost no storage area needed, there's no excuse to not carry one at all times.

    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
  • Toolman286Toolman286 Member Posts: 2,964 ✭✭✭✭

    While we're sort of on the subject of tire repair... I've had some yard trailer tires that the bead would not seal. I found that if I recleaned the bead & rim and coated the bead with pipe thread sealant, they held air.

  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,215 ✭✭✭✭

    Have carried tire repair kits in my truck for the last thirty years . It has saved my butt several times

    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
  • mogley98mogley98 Member Posts: 18,297 ✭✭✭✭

    Tesla has a proprietary fueling system compared to the others too doesn't it? I would hate to have to plan my lunch around making sure I was near one of the special refueling spots and that aspot was even available at it.

    Wife and I were on 95/26 in Santee and had lunch at Clarks. They wisely have two rooms open for Tesla Charger people to use the restroom. Wonder if Tesla pays them for that spot? They only had 6 chargers.

    Anyway nice lunch/dinner at Clarks!

    Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
  • OkieOkie Member Posts: 991 ✭✭✭

    AND maybe a few more pages in the owners manual about how to use the jack and spare.

  • OkieOkie Member Posts: 991 ✭✭✭

    Heck I've lived in places where if I did not have at least two GOOD at least 6 ply spares on board in the back of my truck I became worried.

    I kept my spares labeled as BAD written on the tire with a bix X so as no one would steal them. It worked.

    Sometimes people would ask me why I carry two bad spare tires and even offer me a old tire.

    I never told them that they were just labeled as bad. I don't trust anyone except Santa and the Tooth Fairy.

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,183 ✭✭✭✭

    My brother has learned his lesson and bought a spare today off of Amazon.


    As someone said, today about 1/3 of all new cars have no spare. So, you are doing as I did last year, you are on a trip to Yellowstone, driving along the interstate in Wyoming on a Saturday evening and your tire blows. Let's say you hit some road debris and you trashed the wheel too.


    You are gonna be stuck there for days waiting for the tire store to open etc. If you were in a Tesla you might be there for 3 or 4 days waiting for a new wheel to get shipped in.

    Even for these Millennials who don't know how to change a tire, if they had a spare, when the Road Rescue guy arrived he could change the spare for them.

  • gruntled2gruntled2 Member Posts: 560 ✭✭✭

    My KIA Soul came with only the 12 v inflator. I bought a small spare w/rim for less than $100 including shipping & before they started taxing Fleabay. Also had to buy a jack & lug wrench so total was a bit over $100. The KIA dealer wants over $200 for just the tire & rim. Never had to use it so far but I feel better having having it.

  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,131 ✭✭✭✭

    I don't care for the Soul (which is a wheeled juke box meant for teenieboppers) but there is nothing wrong with a Kia. Not quite the car a Hyundai is, but no pile of junk by a long shot.

    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
  • Merlinnv12Merlinnv12 Member Posts: 1,173 ✭✭✭✭
    “What we’ve got here, is, failure to communicate.”
  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭

    I have a Soul, it fits my L-O-N-G body, short legs, very well. My fellow pilots tease me saying I look like Fred Flintstone in it. I don't care, it gets 35MPG and I fit in it.

  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,131 ✭✭✭✭

    Then it's a good choice for you. Congrats. You agree with me about Kia quality?

    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
  • OkieOkie Member Posts: 991 ✭✭✭

    Some of the trucks (pickups) now days that comes with a spare tire that requires a rocket scientist to figure out how to find all the parts and pieces to the jack's lego set and then how to get the spare tire out. (and do not forget the locking lug nuts)

    My 2010 tundra jack and spare tire FACTORY instructions for removing the spare tire is not even in the ball park. Completely wrong. I had to crawl under the vec and do the feel test, like reading brail to figure out what was required to fit the crank down slot thingy.

    Only thing I've found wrong with the Tundra. (and I was a Chevy Ford man until I planted my behind in a Tundra)

  • BrookwoodBrookwood Member, Moderator Posts: 13,275 ******

    Talking about KIA's, I have been driving a 08 Sportage 4x4 for the last several years. It has been a very good car but just a few weeks ago I ran into some trouble.


    It was time to put on the winter tires. I placed the jack pad on the proper spot (per manual) and started jacking up the left rear end of the car. As the car was starting to rise, there was this crunching noise and then the seam of the cars underbody at the jack point collapsed! That rear panel had rusted away on the inside and did not show any signs until put under stress.


    Ended up taking it into a shop and put on a hoist. Had the tires installed and inspected the rust damage. Was told if I ever had an emergency flat on the road, I could still jack the vehicle up using a short (14") section of 2x4 to expand the jacks point of contact. That extra hunk of wood is now part of my cars equipage!

  • Nanuq907Nanuq907 Member Posts: 2,552 ✭✭✭✭

    Unbelievable heartache here. Do like I do, drive a Land Rover from the 60s. Put a big dang spare tire on the bonnet. Drive your truck.

    When you get a flat, jack it up, take that lovely big spare off the bonnet and bolt it on, and go about your business.


  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,131 ✭✭✭✭

    Nanuq, do you remove that lovely big spare off the bonnet every time you check the oil? Or do you just skip checking the oil?

    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,875 ✭✭✭✭

    I found it's just as important to carry a Gorilla bar in your trunk. If the wheel lug nuts were put on too tight, the tire iron won't do you much good.

    Neal

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,183 ✭✭✭✭

    I use the 4 way lug nut wrench. Cross shaped. You can really get some leverage with it.

  • Nanuq907Nanuq907 Member Posts: 2,552 ✭✭✭✭

    That lovely big hunk of tire and steel has become part of my “prevent old guy weakness” routine. I loose the catch with my left hand, start lifting with my right, then face the truck and push it up with both arms. They put an amazing stout brace on these beasties to hold the weight up. And no more fears about the bonnet flying open at highway speeds!

    Checking the oil is just one of about 100 things an old Rover requires every week.

  • Nanuq907Nanuq907 Member Posts: 2,552 ✭✭✭✭

    @us55840 and putting on winter tires...

  • gruntled2gruntled2 Member Posts: 560 ✭✭✭

    My wife still has her 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe & wouldn't let me trade it on my 2015 Soul. I had to trade my 2005 Hyundai Elantra instead. We have never had any problems with any of them. I really like the warranties on them. I got a great deal on the Elantra & a really great trade-in on it. Her car still doesn't have 50,000 miles on it & she is determined it is the last car she will ever buy.

  • drobsdrobs Member Posts: 22,527 ✭✭✭✭

    Wasn't it P3Skyking who never changed his oil? Just added a little bit every so often.

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