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New Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tires - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test
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New Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tires - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test
We installed new tires on our 2013 Tesla Model S this week, but this time we decided to try the new Michelin Pilot Super Sport.
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This tire situation sounds like a nightmare. All the gas savings are being spent on rubber and alignments!
It looks like all four tires can be loaded in the trunk area by placing them upright. Huge trunk!
This hopefully means that you plan on keeping the car a little longer. As for tire life, I'm still skeptical...
Man, to have to replace so many sets of tires at 23K miles...
If you can afford a car with such MSRP, there's no question you can afford tires. alignment and whatever else. Plus all the power charging stations are free so if you use them a few times a year you'll get your alignment money back and keep your car gas savings...
if you buy a tesla don't get 21 inch wheels unless you are prepared to buy a set of tires every year. i haven't seen any vehicle with 21 inch wheels not go thru tires fast so im not going to say this is a problem exlusive to tesla but it still bites.
looking at the choises of 245/35/21 tires if it was my money i would be buying NITTO INVOs they are girppyer than the Extreme contacts and have more steering feel while also maintaining the EXCELENT mannors of the Extreme Contacts. Ive had the extreme contacts in the past and i can see why tesla picked those tires because they are perfect for a luxury car they soak up bumps excelantly and are very very quiet and going from hard falkens it was like driving on a cloud. However the steering feel lag took a bit of getting used to and it is enough to notice when driving spiritedly. (however your typical tesla customer would never notice this.)
Except that people have justified not having to buy gas as a major reason to buy the car (http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-test/2013-tesla-model-s-cost-of-gas-vs-electricity.html).
Ok, so you can get your money back on alignment. What about the thousand bucks on tires every 10,000 miles? That's 10 cents a mile just on tires... That's how much you'd spend on gas on a 40mpg highway car travelling the same distance.
How much petroleum is used to make those tires that need replacing every 10/12k?
As has been noted by others, the other vehicles in the world that use tires such as these, and have the performance to match, go through tires just as quickly -- and you still have to buy gas. So the 'savings' remains with purchasing the electric vehicle instead.