Agreed, Michael. But that’s long in the future.

Believe it or not, I plugged six holes total on my tires before getting four new ones recently before our trip to Disney Land. 🙂

That sux! Sorry to hear, Francisco. The repair kit will come in handy in your case — you can never depend on a third party on this front. I’ve got another one since this post, and it worked perfectly. If you get a donut, make sure you get some lift pad, too. By the way, beware of the fact that the car is heavier than it seems.

Interesting. I’ll look into it. I’ve been looking forward to the new airless tires.

These days run flat tires only increase fuel consumption by around 1%, which is largely offset by the weight reduction of not having to carry a spare.

Many luxury cars (BMW, Mercedes, etc) have run flats fitted by default.

Run-flat tires are terrible for range, among other things, Han. You can get an aftermarket donut or another wheel, that’d still be better in terms of range.

Tesla’s claim that they didn’t have an exact match for your specific tire/rim is nonsense. There are plenty that will fit. Even smaller tires/rims would be fine as a temporary solution to get you home. In stead they choose to leave you stranded. Great customer service Tesla!

Anyway, my advice is to get run flat tires. They will allow you to continue driving (max 50mph) if you have a puncture. And you don’t need to pack a spare and/or compressor.

Only when you have a large tear then you will need a real spare tire (repair sets and compressors won’t help in that case either. But how often does that happen?

Get your own kit, Sanjay. You can never count on Tesla or a third party on this front. 🙂

Turns out the tire was repairable and if the tesla mobile tire truck had come to repair we would have been able to continue our trip. They refused to come because they did not have a loaner wheel or a new tire of my size and did not want to have a wasted trip to attempt to repair. The local tesla shop charged me $81 to repair. (costco would have done it for $15 if it had been a brand they carry (e.g Michelin, Bridgestone, …)

This sucks — I rather have a small spare tire – the front trunk would possibly fit it if Tesla had designed for the small spare.
Tesla’s their mobile tire repair model is broken – there are too many tire sizes of teslas for them to have a matching size loaner or matching new tire. Here is the other another catch: I have heard that if your tires are worn more then 50% you have to replace both tires on the axle – in my case that would have been $900 and I would have to buy whatever brand they happen to have.
Next day I had the tire repaired and few months later got all 4 tires replaced at costco since they were 3/32ned thread left (Legal limit is 2/32ned). This increases my options for a puncture repair.

So moral of the story
1) get AAA even if you have Tesla roadside. I am appalled that they will not come and attempt a puncture repair if they don’t have a loaner wheel with matching sizer or new matching tire size.
2) Carry a tire inflation device (12V outlet or rechargeable battery) – if your leak is slow you could drive and refill every 20-30 miles and get home or to a garage.
a. If you are handy with the repair kit get that if the mobile repair van won’t come due to lack of loaner or lack matching new tire)
b. Look into the repair foam such as Slime – not sure if it damages the valve on the tire or not – In my case with 3/32’ed left on tire I would have risked it to get home.
3) If you are replacing your Tesla’s worn Goodyear tires consider a brand that costco carries as there are more costcos than tesla service shops around (of course the wait can be long but if you are close to home than you can drop it there in the early morning and pickup in the evening).
4) Appeal to Tesla:
a. Please come for an attempted puncture repair even if you don’t have a matching loaner or new tire – Tesla has not provided a spare and so they owe that much to Tesla owners.
b. Tesla, Please give an option for a tiny spare tire – let the customer decide – some will want it and others not. Please consider redesigning the front trunk to fit a small spare.