Insane amount of flat tires?

Maybe too much construction/bad roads in your area of driving?

I had the same experience: across three previous cars had a flat tire once…with Model Y had at least four flats in five years.

Same. I’ve had 2 flat tires total in my previous ~23 years of driving other cars.

Strange, similar experience. Second EV but this vehicle has had more nails or punctures than any of my other vehicles combined.

At first I didn’t think much about it but just assumed it was bad luck. On the stock tires I drove about 26k miles in just over a year, I had four flats. I’m now at 65k miles with Michelin tires and haven’t had a flat since. Generally the same roads and area. Is it bad luck or were the stock tires just not as durable? I really don’t know but it’s interesting. I also switched to 18” wheels with a skinnier tires so I don’t know if maybe that contributed also.

Went around a car that was turning left. Nail in tire day before my wedding day. A month ago, hit a huge piece of metal on the highway and destroy other tire. 4 days after that, hit a pothole and blew out the sidewall of my tire. 3 tires in about 3 months. Been brutal over here. About to downsize from my 21s and get 19s for a bit more tire

I think it’s Tesla luck. I bought a tire repair kit after reading about so many flats. Of course the first flat I get is some weird screw with an outer housing that made getting it out impossible without a 2” hole… had to buy two new rears.

Welcome to my world. Four years and several times a year we get screws in our tires. Recently we had a tire repaired (a screw) and three days later another screw was found in the same time. It's just bizzare because our Volvo, which we also drive fairly regularly, hasn't had any issues.

Completely depends on where you live and drive

Stock tires every 4 months or so. I ended up buying a 2T jack (wish I'd gotten the 3T low profile instead) and plug kits and some times just taking the wheel itself to get repaired. Moved to Michelin E-Primacy 6 months ago and nothing. It's not enough time to tell, but the stock had more punctures than all my previous decades/cars/EVs combined. You're not alone

Sounds about right IF you drive alot. I have 4 screws in 2.5 years but i operate a car service. Best thing I did was buy a plug kit on Amazon. About $20 and I have fixed 3 flats myself after hiring a guy for $100 to fix it in less than 5 mins. I fixed one of the screws on the side of the road ... dangerous but it was on the safe side of the road away from traffic. You will need a tire inflator but those are cheap too.

Did/do you have the 19” wheels?

Try to mitigate driving in the curb lane as much as possible. Debris more likely to be found there.

255/45r19 ... Yup, 19s

I haven’t had that many flat tires in my 36 years of life

3 screws in the first 6 months of ownership. Actually insane

Poo. Maybe I should have switched tire brands when I replaced my tires. I wonder if those stock tires are the issue, maybe too soft a compound or something

I’ve never had as many flats too. There’s something to it but I’m not sure what

I got my first and only flat tire in this car, not had a single one in 21 years of prior driving at 35000km/year. I put it down to the stupidly large wheels and low profile tires.

screw / nail magnets these cars imo. I had 2 nails in the same tyre within a few weeks. First time the garage said its EV and we dont plug them, £350 for 1 tyre and it didnt even sit the same as the factory fit (stupid lip showing). Then a few wks later the tyre pressure warning came on again, i inspected and found another screw imbedded in the same wheel - this time i plugged it myself and since then its been OK. No way i am getting replacement tyre for a pretty much brand new tyre because of a screw - EV or no EV. I tend to stay away from curbside and edges of lanes, am more concious of the road ahead and do daily inspection around where i park. All this i never used to do with my last car that i was driving on paper thin barely legal worn out tyres but never got punctures

Bad luck, but I ended getting a warranty on all my tires when I had one replaced because the puncture was too close to the damn sidewall. I was surprised that I could get it on the other 3 tires. I’ve already had another tire replaced under the warranty - so two tires for me in 2.5 years.

I got 2 in the 3 months before I traded in my ICE car for a Tesla. So, bad luck goes both ways!! lol

I had four in 2-3 years after getting my MYLR. Before that I had one in 10+ years of driving. Definitely a combination of luck and the tires imo but I don’t know much about that.

What are you guys using for emergency roadside patch/repair kits? My last cars all had spares but I need to get something for this car to deal with small nails and stuff like that.

Fanttik s2000 apex tire inflator from Costco and a tire plug kit from amazon. Saved my ass after I got a nail in Joshua Tree NP. Keep it in my frunk.

Get tire certificate from Discount Tire/America’s Tire while the tires are new and they’ll replace the tire when they can’t fix it. Totally worth it. Every one of our EVs had at least one puncture during the first year.

Bad luck, you have.

Difficult to say. I just know I had the same exact experience, despite the insecure downvotes 😉.

Tesla Y here. I’ve had 1 screw in a tire in 3 years of driving a LOT. It’s just where you live, OP.

I had an insane amount of flats on my 20” Inductions. Switched to 19” and haven’t had a flat since (knock on rubber).

I have 60k+ miles on my 22’ Model Y bought new. Not a single flat. Even so, I still pack a spare on long road trips.

Try living close to a construction site

When homes were being remodeled in my neighborhood my BMW with very wide performance tires was getting at least one nail or screw every other day. I got really good at patching them.

Ex girl/boyfriend you parted with on bad terms?

Similar experience, had 3 flats in 3 years. (First one was within first 200 miles) Never had a flat in 30+ years prior. Maybe it was just the law of averages catching up with me? I've since replaced my OEM tires and hoping to put the flats behind me.

High PSI makes the tires more susceptible to objects getting stuck in them. It also increases the range. I’ve replaced all of my tires several times in my 3 years of ownership. Def purchase the road hazard warranty if you can!

Getting on the gas can damage tires, fyi

It’s the magent in the battery

I’ve had at least that many in my Model S in 3 years. My brother has had none in 5 years in a Model Y.

How do you pack a spare?

I bought an aftermarket one on Amazon. Packs up in a bag, has a jack, wrench and lifting pucks. I just throw it trunk.

Two Teslas and they've had about the same number of flats as my other cars.

Compare Tesla Model Y 20" 255/40R20 LI 101 vs Accord 205/60R16 91 1. Wider broom 255 has 25% more surface area to get punctured vs 205mm tread 2. 40 sidewall (255\*40%=102mm) has far less give than the Accord's 123mm sidewall. The 255/45R19 is more than halfway (115mm). 3. Weight / Load Index reflect a stronger force to push a nail through the belts.

No flats at 2 years on my current MY. No flats on my prior M3 for 2 years. No flats on my Volt for 3 years. No flats on any car since 1998. Guess I'm lucky.

Thanks

One flat tire in three years and 80k kms on one Y (small rock) and no flat tire in one year and 20k kms on my second Y. So yes, bad luck.

I’ve had 2 in the first 9 months of ownership. First was because of a metal shard that I somehow picked up. Second because I “Mad Maxed” a pothole.

I had 2 tires blown at the same time on the highway. And 2 screws on different occasions, all while raining. Watch out for corners as rain accumulates all the garbage there. I think twice about driving in the rain now.

Statistically I've had flats in my cars at about the same rate. Its really a misnomer to think it matters. Now if you had big jacked up truck with huge off-road tire tread yeah that probably would get less flats just because of the extra rubber. I'm sure the Mustang Mach E also gets slightly less flats than a Tesla simply due to their stupid skinny tires meaning less of a chance of hitting something. Don't even get me started on the 21" rims and potholes, 19" rims are best in my book I like sidewall rubber on my tires! But on a regular sedan with regular tires at the same width as Tesla? Yeah, just the luck of the draw! If anything people with EVs end to drive more miles, so the risk goes up in that sense... more miles means more exposure!