Can I just replace one tire?
Hit a curve and damaged right passenger side tire (sidewall). Damage isn't too deep so it's drivable but ultimately leaning towards to replacing a tire.
Model Y dual motor long range and drove about 13k miles.
Went to Costco tire center and they told me new tire has 9 second thread depth? (Not familiar with the term. But pretty sure they were referring to depth and how worn the tires are) whereas the current one is running at about 6.5-7 second depth. So I need to either 1) sign a waiver or 2) change all 4 tires since it's all wheel drive.
Did a quick reddit search and some people only change one tire or two tires. Would that be possible in my case too? Not super familiar with cars and tires in general so anything would be appreciated.
So the term is 9/32nds (thirty second’s) of an inch, that is how much tread is on the tire. The old tires have less tread and thus are “smaller” this causes the old tires to spin faster on the road than the new tire for the same distance traveled. If you change one side of an axel, you now have a solid rod (sort of) trying to spin two different speeds, this is bad and can damage stuff
However…
They are also wrong for saying all four wheels. You see, a typical AWD system has a shaft in the middle of the car that ties the rear wheels and front wheels together. This produces the same issue as having one wheel on an axel a different size, one axel will be traveling faster than the other and since they are linked..same issue….
Unless you have an EV.
The Tesla is a Dual motor, that means the front and rear wheels are driven separately and are not directly linked. It won’t damage anything to change just one pair. The only outcome is a minuscule change to the front-rear torque distribution, basically nothing. My rec: change both rear tires.
Here is the Tesla OEM manual saying to do just this:
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_gb/GUID-94F63B13-EA2C-45D9-83AB-5DCA6295D587.html
Thanks! It's my right rear tire. So replace both rear tires but I don't need to rotate them yet right?
Sorry, I just saw you say rear tire elsewhere, yup, just replace both rear tires, call it a day, show them the manual if need be. Don’t sign a waiver if you can, gives up some protections if they make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to take it elsewhere if they won’t relent.
I think you are supposed to replace when the difference in tread depth is more than 2 and you seem to be there. Sounds like you should at least replace the drivers side too if not all 4
We don't know what the difference in tread depth is. OP didn't tell us whether these are front or rear tires either, or whether they've performed scheduled rotations. So you can't conclude anything about difference between the two axles.
The only difference here is between the damaged tire and a new tire.
It is for rear tire. Dumb me. I thought passenger side refers to back seats lol
Just replace both rears then, and you should be fine. Rotate like normal at 19.25k miles.
Just get two new tires and place those on the rear wheels. Rear wheels wear quicker anyway so the tread depth difference will decrease as you drive
Tread depth is measured in 32nds of an inch for dumb historical reasons, rather than a sensible unit like mm.
The new tire has 9/32" tread, your damaged one is at 6.5/32 - 7/32"s.
You should replace the tire on the other side as well, not just this one. Is this a front tire or rear tire? Did you do your first rotation at 6250 miles and again at 12500? You may need to rotate slightly differently than normal after this replacement, depending on which tire was damaged and what the tread is on the other tires. The tire store will know how to do this properly. (You may need just a side-to-side rotation next time instead of front-to-back, depending on tread.)
FWIW I definitely prefer Discount Tire over Costco for a Tesla since they have a much better selection of tires.
It's right rear tire and haven't done any tire rotation yet. Thanks for the comment!
For never rotating, that's not too bad on the wear. Definitely swap both rears. But I also highly suggest keeping up on rotation (6250 miles is recommended) if you want to avoid premature tire replacement. It's also just unsafe to have unbalanced wear, esp if the rears wear down fully while the front tires still have decent traction.
The Model Y eats through rear tires much faster than front tires, because the front motor is almost never engaged unless you're flooring it or in a low-traction situation. Costco, Discount Tire, etc will rotate for free. If you want to pay for convenience, Tesla Mobile Service will do it at your home for a fee in some areas.
If you had continued to not rotate, your rear tires would be below 4/32" around 25k miles at this rate. At that point, you might have to replace all four tires since the difference might be too great to just get two new tires. Rotating should get you 40 - 50k total, depending on how much wear your fronts get.
I've driven on tires that have a cut out of the sideways. You don't need a new tire in a lot of cases. If you want a new tire you can certainly get one. Unless the others are AT 2/32 (not almost 2/32) then it's safe
I drive a Model S with 21” tires and I’ve had to replace a lot of rear tires because Tesla says they can’t repair them. They’ve always just replaced the one tire and never once suggested I replace two. However, since I’ve replaced them so often, the tire wear on the other side has probably never been enough to warrant a replacement.
Question about tire replacements, on ICE AWD cars they tend to recommend all 4 tires replaced at the same time.
Does that apply to a electric AWD for any reasons since the front and back are essentially decoupled?