One of our writers, Fritz Hasler, recently wrote a short review of his Tesla Model 3 Long Range after 75,000 miles and nearly 3 years of ownership. We’ve had our Model 3 Standard Range for just slightly longer than Fritz has had his, but we’ve driven ours far less. I’ll wait to write a full three-year review of the car until I pass that marker in a couple of weeks, but I do have another service update to log.

At 27,023 miles — and 2 years and 10 months of ownership — I had another tire rotation. The cost for the tire rotation was $50, but then I also paid $20 for a brake fluid check at the same time after seeing Paul Fosse’s article on that topic.

That $70 brings my Model 3’s lifetime service and maintenance cost to $1,866.89, with most of that being the cost of new tires at 16,692 miles (~2 years of ownership). Since changing the tires, I’ll admit that I have not been abusing the instant torque of the EV as much and have restrained myself from accelerating like a banshee when I’m at the front of the line at a red light. Maybe I’m also just getting older and favoring a more relaxed driving style. Aside from driving a little more chill, I also plan to go to a tire place for new tires next time instead of getting them from Tesla Service, since I hear that’s the more cost-efficient way to go. In the meantime …

I went about 10,000 miles with the new tires before rotating them, which is quite a bit longer than Tesla’s recommendation — 6,250 miles (10,000 km). The Tesla Service rep who came to my house to rotate the tires (I love that mobile service) noted their recommended schedule and that I had waited a bit longer than advised. I had really simply forgotten about having them rotated, but I think some readers have also recommended waiting longer than advised in order to not waste money on unnecessary rotations, so perhaps that was living in my subconscious somewhere. (Chime in below if you have some informed thoughts on whether one should follow the recommended schedule for tire rotations or go a bit longer than 6,500 miles.)

Since I had gone 10,000 miles on the tires before rotating them, in order to keep them somewhat balanced, I was told to go another 10,000 rather than having them rotated again in 6,500 miles. Of course, the question is, will they last until 37,000 miles before needing replaced anyway? Perhaps my more chill driving style can get them to 40,000+ miles?

Regarding the brake fluid check, the brake fluid was fine. I’m yet to change my windshield wipers, but perhaps those should be next. They seem to work fine still, though.

Oh, yes, there’s also the case of the missing hubcap. It seems I lost one driving through a crazy summer storm here in Florida. The Tesla Service rep went to take it off and his hand discovered there was nothing there. A couple days before, we had driven in the heaviest storm I’ve driven in for years, and it seemingly stole a front hubcap from us. The replacement cost via Tesla’s online store was $25 (so, make the total maintenance & repair cost over 3 years $1,891.89, and the average annual cost $630.63). The hubcap is yet to arrive, but even once it does, I’m going to store it and the other three for trips on the Interstate. I decided to also order the cool little hub & lug nut covers — I’ve found them appealing from the beginning and I’ve thought about buying them since before I got the Model 3. I guess this will be my three-year present for Moonhopper. I’ll report back on how I like them once they arrive.

 

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