Rivian tire change blues!

[raylepper]

I mean you won't make any money. Check Amazon already like 50 sellers selling them near that price for metal offerings. You can certainly buy them cheap and they will do the job. I strongly recommend ones with magnets at least, it makes the job a lot easier because you put them in the hole and then they stay while you get the jack in place.

I accidentally left one of my jackpucks.com jack pucks attached to the bottom after my last tire swap. It stayed there for several days and several hundred miles until I noticed it. As with anything you pay for what you get but with diminishing returns the more you pay.

Fair point. I see a set of four aluminum with magnets for $79. I'll buy them and move on to my next bad idea

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[Blueassassin]

I keep telling people that ask me about the truck that I've had it over a year now and haven't even checked the oil little own changed it. Some of these newer cars are getting so complex and expensive for the services. I think its Audi that doesn't even have a drain plug you have to suck the oil out the top of the engine now.
Ya tire rotations are not something to complain about having to do.

 

[RivAW]

yo

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
[/QUOT

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

Stop being so over dramatic. You can buy the pucks in a lot of places (including Amazon or EV Sportline.com). You just have to spend the bare minimum effort to find them. Additionally, they are required for Tesla and other EVs to and are not unique to Rivian. Regardless, any decent tire shop should be able to rotate your tires either with pucks of their own or via alternate means. Finally, a little self-responsibility.....owners should familiarize themselves with their new ~90K vehicle before finding themselves in an emergency situation of their own creation by their own ignorance.

 

[rlawsoncrew]

You should strongly consider getting a spare. If Rivian won't sell you, buy from third party sellers. Tires failures can leave you in the middle of nowhere. I had a recent close call, but somehow the tire held off the massive bolt on my other car.

We are also unlikely to find replacement tires easily in an emergency

I'm going to buy a separate off road set and plan on buying a spare. Not sure if the computer could handle a different spare tire than the four originals. In the old days of transfer cases you could wreck the clutch plates doing that.

 

[jjswan33]

I'm going to buy a separate off road set and plan on buying a spare. Not sure if the computer could handle a different spare tire than the four originals. In the old days of transfer cases you could wreck the clutch plates doing that.

I wouldn't be concerned on a Rivian. The R1S compact spare has a smaller diameter than any of the OEM tires.

I second the call for a spare, especially if you have the 21s. I got stuck for 6 days in MT recently trying to get a replacement 21" tire. Regretted not carrying my 20" spare with me.

 

[rlawsoncrew]

I wouldn't be concerned on a Rivian. The R1S compact spare has a smaller diameter than any of the OEM tires.

I second the call for a spare, especially if you have the 21s. I got stuck for 6 days in MT recently trying to get a replacement 21" tire. Regretted not carrying my 20" spare with me.

Thanks, you're right. Originally this was going to be used almost exclusively in my home area. I have lots of vehicles to default to if the R1S was down. With the price Diesel, it's now my primary vehicle.
Lots of traveling (12,000 miles in 3 months) on it.

 

[R1Thor]

It’s a quickjack 7000 tlx. Got it mainly for my model 3 with hopes I could lift the Rivian. It does work for the Rivian but you need to be pretty careful a go easy when lifting the Rivian. Wish they made longer frames that would reach the Rivian jack points without turning the lifts sideways.

PSA: I reached out to QuickJack as I was going to get this exact setup and they were VERY adamant I not use it with the Rivian, as it exceeds their weight rating.

I totally get there's safety factors to consider, and that this seems to be working for now, but repeated use can result in catastrophic failures when you're using pneumatic or hydraulic systems. Likely worst case is simply you 'drop' your vehicle OR it gets stuck in the air, but .... not worth the risk in my opinion. I did ask QuickJack if they had any plans to build bigger systems, and as of April 4 this year, they said they weren't planning to build anything bigger.

 

[Dark-Fx]

PSA: I reached out to QuickJack as I was going to get this exact setup and they were VERY adamant I not use it with the Rivian, as it exceeds their weight rating.

They can't say "you'll probably be okay" because if something happens, even if it was your fault, they could still end up liable. I'd consider this setup for rotating tires but I'd never get under a vehicle where it's overloaded.

 

[R1Thor]

They can't say "you'll probably be okay" because if something happens, even if it was your fault, they could still end up liable. I'd consider this setup for rotating tires but I'd never get under a vehicle where it's overloaded.

You're not wrong, but again, I'm going to look at this from an engineering standpoint. Do all of the statics lineup in a way that it's likely non issue? Yes, likely. But highly improbable this system was ever tested with repetitive stress to raise and lower (which is actually more stress on the hydraulics, counter-intuitively) such vehicle weight that you're inviting premature failures.

Can you drop the R1 from the ~12-16" of height and cause no damage? Likely... but then you go to use that setup again on your Model 3 and drop it and suffer suspension or sub-frame damage, that's on you.

Everyone considers static loads, but in situations like this, it's the dynamics and recursion that are going to shorten the lifespan of EVERYTHING within the lifting system. Hell, even depending on what fluid they're using, will only be certified for specific loading due to thermal thresholds and the opportunity for fluid shear to prematurely break down the fluid, which is going to cause seals to leak prematurely.

Like seriously, this is just a bad idea...

 

[Grabs10]

PSA: I reached out to QuickJack as I was going to get this exact setup and they were VERY adamant I not use it with the Rivian, as it exceeds their weight rating.

I totally get there's safety factors to consider, and that this seems to be working for now, but repeated use can result in catastrophic failures when you're using pneumatic or hydraulic systems. Likely worst case is simply you 'drop' your vehicle OR it gets stuck in the air, but .... not worth the risk in my opinion. I did ask QuickJack if they had any plans to build bigger systems, and as of April 4 this year, they said they weren't planning to build anything bigger.

My RIS scales out at a few pounds under 7000. No underbody shield or spare. Lifts rated for 7000 according to their documentation so within their limits to lift my R1S

 

[Dark-Fx]

You're not wrong, but again, I'm going to look at this from an engineering standpoint. Do all of the statics lineup in a way that it's likely non issue? Yes, likely. But highly improbable this system was ever tested with repetitive stress to raise and lower (which is actually more stress on the hydraulics, counter-intuitively) such vehicle weight that you're inviting premature failures.

Can you drop the R1 from the ~12-16" of height and cause no damage? Likely... but then you go to use that setup again on your Model 3 and drop it and suffer suspension or sub-frame damage, that's on you.

Everyone considers static loads, but in situations like this, it's the dynamics and recursion that are going to shorten the lifespan of EVERYTHING within the lifting system. Hell, even depending on what fluid they're using, will only be certified for specific loading due to thermal thresholds and the opportunity for fluid shear to prematurely break down the fluid, which is going to cause seals to leak prematurely.

Like seriously, this is just a bad idea...

Should also consider that there are some R1s that are actually under 7000 lbs when empty. All R1 GVWRs are 8,532 lbs, and Rivian says the maximum payload capacity is up to 1,764 lbs depending on the configuration.

Mine is well over 7k though.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I had jack pucks in hand before I took delivery of the truck based on the aforementioned threads on this forum about them.

Same. As soon as I knew my delivery date I put the pucks on order.

 

[Grabs10]

On the R1S and even the tesla I am not a fan of the quickjack rubber blocks. They deform and compress a bit under each of these vehicles. Probably going to order some UHMW blocks to replace the rubber…. Or just make some out of some steel tubing.

from a mechanical prospective and use prospective in my brain I think the lift of the tesla is a bit harder on the lift then the Rivian lift. The lift is pretty much flat and takes some wiggling to get the jack pucks and the blocks on the quick jack when jacking up the tesla. The lift cylinder is pretty much horizontal and the steel supports are pretty much horizontal when it has to lift 4500 lbs or so. On the Rivian with it in offroad mode and tire change activate the lift cylinder is at more of an angle pushing up and the steel supports more upright when it starts taking weight. You can hear the difference in the electric pump load between the vehicles and it is working less hard when lifting the Rivian IMO just based on sound. Yes there is a structural component and just based on life experiences steel is stronger in compression Versus a longitudinal force like a lever. When lifting the tesla all the stress appear to be more of a lever type stress vs a compressive type stress when lifting the Rivian.

I bet quickjack has engineering data on failure and I would guess it’s stronger the higher it lifts just based on physics and design.

 

[iansriv]

Had my first flat in years on my three week old R1S (Myles). A huge piece of metal got in one of the tyres. Looked like a shrapnel. I'm sure I wasn't under fire. Luckily (?) Discount tire was 4 miles away. I used the tyre inflator and made it. Unfortunately, the tyre had to be replaced. DT did a great job. They had the pucks and even asked me to put it in wheel change mode. It took a day to get the 20" Pirelli in and DT covered me with a "loaner" tyre. Damage was about $450 but could have been much worse as I was wearing a white Jermyn Street shirt and could not stand any stains on that.

 

[WorldComposting]

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

I didn't even think about this but do have the underbody protection. Is it okay to lift the vehicle by the underbody shield?

This might sound like an idiot question but I've never had underbody protection that wasn't plastic on a vehicle before.

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