Rivian tire change blues!

[rlawsoncrew]

So, I have had my R1S for about 3 months and I've put approximately 11,000 miles on it, and I love it! That being said, I was just getting over the jacked around feeling that I had from waiting about 4.5 years for the car while they seemed to make capricious decisions as to who would get their car when (really! ordered it 2/3/19). Now, I need to rotate my tires. No big deal, my tire shop should be able to do it in 10 minutes. OH! You have to have a very special little inexpensive (theoretically) tool called a "puck" that no one has and that Rivian won't sell you. That is, unless you buy the extra tire, et. al.. It would have fit very nicely in the sealant/air hose pouch, but nope, they won't even sell the "puck". I imagine someone is already selling them online but what were they expecting you to do if you had an issue on the road and had to replace a tire. I had this discovery in a very calm and casual situation of a tire rotation. If this had happened when I was traveling.... MMM.

F !! Customer service fail.

A quote that Rivian may want to think about is the following:

Customers don’t expect you (Rivian) to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. ~ Donald Porter

Sponsored

 

[jjswan33]

Pucks are available from many retailers. Personally they are of much higher quality then what Rivian is offering with their jack kit. I like the ones from Jackpucks.com and EVSportline as a close second.

Also Discount Tire (American tire in some regions) has them (at most locations) as Rivian's preferred partner.

Lastly if you look at the manual there is a procedure for lifting the truck without a puck, with a floor jack. It requires removing the small panels where the pucks go.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Yeah as the last poster said you can remove a panel and forgo the puck. With that said spend the couple bucks and go with the Jackpucks. That's what I have and they are really high quality and come in a nice case. My set of 4 live under the rear seat with the rest of the truck stuff under there. There's always a line of what should or shouldn't be included and with a truck that list could be endless. Should there be Rivian ratchet straps? Tarps? You got a bed right, how dare Rivian not provide you the equipment to secure the loads in there?

I don't really understand the frustration over this.

 

[COdogman]

All of that info was in the owner’s guide from day 1 and there are probably 100 threads here about pucks and tire rotations/ replacements.

 

[Dark-Fx]

There's always alternatives. You did get the underbody protection didn't you?

 

[SolartoEV]

Maybe that's why that guy rolled it in the field? Easier to change half the tires.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Do you always make small matters into larger ones? I mean the pucks are available online through many vendors—some of whom advertise here regularly—and Amazon. Even without pucks, you can still jack up your R1 and the information is detailed in the official Tow Operator Guide. It's also spelled out in the R1S Owner Guide (p.275), which is not only accessible online, it is accessible through your smartphone app AND through your in-vehicle center display. The pucks are not mandatory, they just save you a little time.

Furthermore, it's been said million times over here (and other Rivian related forums) that the Discount Tire chain can service Rivians—official statement, but call each location to confirm. Plus, rotation is something you can DIY, if so inclined. The lug nut size is 22mm and the lug nut torque spec is 190 Nm (140 ft-lb). And you need a jack that has enough lift height and weight capacity of at least 3 tons, a torque wrench and maybe a breaker bar or impact driver. If you can lift 90 lbs and turn a screwdriver/wrench, you can do it. There is nothing specialized or proprietary about it. There are even YouTube videos to walk you through it, step-by-step.

https://rivian.com/support/article/r1-tow-operator-guide

 

[mzdds]

If you start a topic, you can also search:
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/jack-pucks.16832/

 

[SoCal Rob]

So, I have had my R1S for about 3 months and I've put approximately 11,000 miles on it, and I love it! That being said, I was just getting over the jacked around feeling that I had from waiting about 4.5 years for the car while they seemed to make capricious decisions as to who would get their car when (really! ordered it 2/3/19). Now, I need to rotate my tires. No big deal, my tire shop should be able to do it in 10 minutes. OH! You have to have a very special little inexpensive (theoretically) tool called a "puck" that no one has and that Rivian won't sell you. That is, unless you buy the extra tire, et. al.. It would have fit very nicely in the sealant/air hose pouch, but nope, they won't even sell the "puck". I imagine someone is already selling them online but what were they expecting you to do if you had an issue on the road and had to replace a tire. I had this discovery in a very calm and casual situation of a tire rotation. If this had happened when I was traveling.... MMM.

F !! Customer service fail.

A quote that Rivian may want to think about is the following:

Customers don’t expect you (Rivian) to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. ~ Donald Porter

While this may seem counterintuitive for an adventure vehicle, most higher-level vehicles today are equipped with the expectation that the owner will not do anything beyond calling roadside assistance if there is a problem. So they don’t bother including the extra kit that most owners would probably never touch.

As others stated, Rivian did make it possible to raise the vehicle without jack pucks and they even published the instructions for doing this.

Even this comes with a caveat, though. There is a special jacking mode which needs to be used for changing one wheel so this isn’t the kind of vehicle where we want to try doing things as we’ve always done them and ignore the documentation. Honestly, I’d have to check the documentation about using a lift since I don’t recall if a lift which uses all 4 jacking locations requires the special mode or not.
Edit:typo

 

[Redline]

This is gonna be one of those threads where the OP never comes back again right?

 

[SASSquatch]

All of that info was in the owner’s guide from day 1 and there are probably 100 threads here about pucks and tire rotations/ replacements.

Only 100?

I was personally pucking tired of all the puck talk.

Meanwhile - to the OP - I have zero sympathies. I have pucks and I don't even have an R1 yet. If you had a pulse and were on this forum, say, the last 2 years, you should have known about the need for pucking pucks.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

While this may seem counterintuitive for an adventure vehicle, most higher-level vehicles today are equipped with the expectation that the owner will not do anything beyond calling roadside assistance if there is a problem. So they don’t bother including the extra kit that most owners would probably never touch.

As others stated, Rivian did make it possible to raise the vehicle without jack pucks and they even published the instructions for doing this.

Even this comes with a caveat, though. There is a special jacking mode which needs to be used for changing one wheel so this isn’t the kind of vehicle where we want to try doing things as we’ve always done them and ignore the documentation. Honestly, I’d have to check the documentation about using a lift since I don’t recall if a lift which uses all 4 jacking locations requires the special mode or not.
Edit:typo

It doesn't really require tire change mode for even doing a singular tire. The purpose behind it, as I understand it, is to lift the car up to maximum height because the tire is going to fall that far regardless once you jack it up and this way it allows you to prop up the jack so you can lift the truck up high enough. Regardless, any tire change place with a medium duty truck 4 post lift can handle it pretty easily.

I put it in tire change mode, just so the truck didn't try to compensate suspension wise when it was on the lift

 

[CrazyOne]

Surely, the included Jack would be able to lift the vehicle in an emergency.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Surely, the included Jack would be able to lift the vehicle in an emergency.

The factory jack is part of the spare kit and not every vehicle is delivered with it.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Only 100?

I was personally pucking tired of all the puck talk.

Meanwhile - to the OP - I have zero sympathies. I have pucks and I don't even have an R1 yet. If you had a pulse and were on this forum, say, the last 2 years, you should have known about the need for pucking pucks.

And if he had RTFM, he’d have known the pucking pucks are not mandatory, but a convenience item.

Sponsored