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You know what? I've never noticed the damping mechanism. I don't know if mine works or not, I don't think I've ever heard it break. 
Ownership Verified: Another Tesla lurking in the shadows...
- Thread starter eizbaer
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2005
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- 2,042
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- Germany, 44.7km from The Ring
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- Model Y, VW Bora Wagon, NA MX-5, Zastava
We need some videos! Maybe you didn't get itYou know what? I've never noticed the damping mechanism. I don't know if mine works or not, I don't think I've ever heard it break.
Well, it is quite well done, actually (except for the falling off part). It's only noticeable in that there's not a loud and disconcerting KLUNK sound when the handle snaps back into the car. The dampening only sets in on the last cm or two, it's not that the entire range of motion is slowed (very much like the typical kitchen drawer nowadays - goes fast 90% of the way, then slow and smooth for the last 10%).You know what? I've never noticed the damping mechanism. I don't know if mine works or not, I don't think I've ever heard it break.
I'll say this: if it weren't there on your car, you'd know. it does feel and sound wrong, as though the handle is actively trying to break your door every time you let go of it...
Free charging at work, finally!
no more 100% public charging nuisance...
no more 100% public charging nuisance...
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2005
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- 2,042
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- Germany, 44.7km from The Ring
- Car(s)
- Model Y, VW Bora Wagon, NA MX-5, Zastava
Free charging at work, finally!
NICE!
I can't wait for my company to offer the same - They already do in our newer offices in the U.S. and UK - We just don't yet have any newer offices in Germany
leviathan
Snores like a puppy
Charging at work was one of the main reasons I went with the 3 in the first place. Our Frankfurt office has a single charger provided by the building management (Wisag). Any renter can use it for free, so far there are no specific regulations on maximum times or anything. Used to be very relaxed as I was pretty much the only user through 2019, now there are several PHEVs that regularly plug in and use the spot as their parking for days on end... really hope they can get that sorted or add another wallbox or two soon.
Yeah... what starts out super nice (nobody caring how the charger is used) turns into rather annoying very quickly in that case...
When I got the 3 I was still working for a company that actually manufactured chargers themselves, but then I had to go and switch jobs! Not too bad, to behonest, that just meant that twice a week (120 km round trip commute) I had to have the car outside the office at one of the public chargers for half a day and then move it to employee parking during lunch. Also I had to pay ofc, despite the fact that the charger is operated by my employer...
Now though, we have about 20 charge points at our employee parking (those have been there since May - just not operational ffs) and, as far as I can tell, exactly three people using them. There's no signage or anything, so they're often ICEd, but since they're outside (vs. inside the parking garage), there are always open spots. That's probably going to change quicker than I'd like, though...
For now, they're free to use (just present any rfid), but they'll make the switch to subsidized rates for employees sooner or later. Luckily, as I know the colleagues in charge rather well, probably later rather than sooner
Funny thing: since there's so many chargers (on the other side of the fence - disclosure: I work for a municipal utility now and the local DSO has an additional 50 charge points for their fleet at least), they've booked a rather shitty load balancing system supplied by the charge point manufacturer it seems. Every time I plug in, despite the fact that in total there's maybe 10 cars charging (out of a possible total 70 or so), the amperage allowed by the charger jumps around like crazy for a minute until it settles at 16A
Since I was involved in the development of such systems before, I can only imagine what the hell they did to end up with such a weirdly oscillating behavior (rather like old-school PID control...).
When I got the 3 I was still working for a company that actually manufactured chargers themselves, but then I had to go and switch jobs! Not too bad, to behonest, that just meant that twice a week (120 km round trip commute) I had to have the car outside the office at one of the public chargers for half a day and then move it to employee parking during lunch. Also I had to pay ofc, despite the fact that the charger is operated by my employer...
Now though, we have about 20 charge points at our employee parking (those have been there since May - just not operational ffs) and, as far as I can tell, exactly three people using them. There's no signage or anything, so they're often ICEd, but since they're outside (vs. inside the parking garage), there are always open spots. That's probably going to change quicker than I'd like, though...
For now, they're free to use (just present any rfid), but they'll make the switch to subsidized rates for employees sooner or later. Luckily, as I know the colleagues in charge rather well, probably later rather than sooner
Funny thing: since there's so many chargers (on the other side of the fence - disclosure: I work for a municipal utility now and the local DSO has an additional 50 charge points for their fleet at least), they've booked a rather shitty load balancing system supplied by the charge point manufacturer it seems. Every time I plug in, despite the fact that in total there's maybe 10 cars charging (out of a possible total 70 or so), the amperage allowed by the charger jumps around like crazy for a minute until it settles at 16A
Since I was involved in the development of such systems before, I can only imagine what the hell they did to end up with such a weirdly oscillating behavior (rather like old-school PID control...).
Free charging at work, finally!
My current employer stated that they had free charging for employees and customers at parking when i applied to the position :3
Free charging is always a plus, even if the other stall is daytimes used to charge colleagues 330e plugin (and maybe after the year changes, one other ev).
Soooo, after commenting on leviathans thread that I had a set of additional door seals in my trunk for months I got an email last week from Tesla offering me a free pair of these:
Sort of feels like they realized that those should’ve been there and any amount of sand or salt or grit or whatever on the road is going to screw up the door sills or something? So maybe they thought better offer these things as retrofit Items for free before anyone thinks of complaining… did you other Tesla people get the same offer? It was very much an automated email with a custom one time rebate code.
Anyway, the process seems simple enough, they attach with two push pins and one screw, so I might as well spend some time cleaning the outrageously dirty car, attach those mud guards (but not the flaps that come with them - Google at your own risk, holy carp ? those are horrid) and fit the second set of door seals.
Sort of feels like they realized that those should’ve been there and any amount of sand or salt or grit or whatever on the road is going to screw up the door sills or something? So maybe they thought better offer these things as retrofit Items for free before anyone thinks of complaining… did you other Tesla people get the same offer? It was very much an automated email with a custom one time rebate code.
Anyway, the process seems simple enough, they attach with two push pins and one screw, so I might as well spend some time cleaning the outrageously dirty car, attach those mud guards (but not the flaps that come with them - Google at your own risk, holy carp ? those are horrid) and fit the second set of door seals.
TIL "Schmutz" is a real word and not one of those words my grandfather made up.
leviathan
Snores like a puppy
Oh yeah, I got the same email, and "bought" them as well - actually picked up today. So I, too, have a set of not-yet-installed door seals, this kit, and also a pair of frunk lifters. Sounds like I need to take a couple hours on a nice weekend and get it all onto the car.
oh yes, one of teslabjörns favorites ?
Ha, so similar program then (minus the trunk lifters for me, although I keep my cable up front, so might be helpful) - maybe we manage to peer pressure each other into actually following through over the weekend…
WDWBen
Subaru Killer
I grew up knowing about schmutz; benefits of grandparents who spoke Yiddish and parents who understood it.
So today I did what I posted somewhere around here was my plan for the weekend and fitted the free mudguards and the additional Chinese brand door seals… I may add some pictures especially of the latter nightmare at some point in the future.
mudguards: easy enough, takes all of 5 minutes and some crawling around on the floor. Dumbest part is actually having to cut off some plastic dustcap which no longer fits - which in my case was actually collecting sand and stuff on the inside! So good riddance I guess… also the fit isn’t quite perfect, both guards look slightly misaligned because the push pins holding them in place actually do much more for alignment (but don’t really, because push pins) than the one screw holding the piece on. It’s weird, but it works ok-ish. I’m fine with the result.
now the damn additional door seals… they go on the outermost edge of the doors to close up any openings around the doors to reduce wind noise and dust buildup on the door sills (is that the right word?) - since the Factory seals sit very far on the inside of the door. I actually went with one of the tailor made sets with different rubber profiles and everything made just right for the model 3 doors, 8 self-adhesive rubber seals total.
Installation: simple enough. Quick clean, apply some adhesive „primer“ and on they go… which is easy enough for 6 of the 8 seals (around bottom&rear of both doors + front edge of rear door). Then you’re supposed to fit one each on the front edge of the front doors… which is nigh on impossible! There’s multiple hinges plus the cables going into the door all in your way, plus with the door open you’re left with like 2 cm of room for your fingers, the damn rubber seal and somehow pulling the tape off. Ugh… nearly broke my fingers!
anyway, managed to get it all on, had a 60 km drive on the autobahn and I THINK wind noise is considerably down… however, that just means now my tire noise is even more prominent so I don’t know whether the overall noise level is that much improved…
tl;dr: not sure if worth.
mudguards: easy enough, takes all of 5 minutes and some crawling around on the floor. Dumbest part is actually having to cut off some plastic dustcap which no longer fits - which in my case was actually collecting sand and stuff on the inside! So good riddance I guess… also the fit isn’t quite perfect, both guards look slightly misaligned because the push pins holding them in place actually do much more for alignment (but don’t really, because push pins) than the one screw holding the piece on. It’s weird, but it works ok-ish. I’m fine with the result.
now the damn additional door seals… they go on the outermost edge of the doors to close up any openings around the doors to reduce wind noise and dust buildup on the door sills (is that the right word?) - since the Factory seals sit very far on the inside of the door. I actually went with one of the tailor made sets with different rubber profiles and everything made just right for the model 3 doors, 8 self-adhesive rubber seals total.
Installation: simple enough. Quick clean, apply some adhesive „primer“ and on they go… which is easy enough for 6 of the 8 seals (around bottom&rear of both doors + front edge of rear door). Then you’re supposed to fit one each on the front edge of the front doors… which is nigh on impossible! There’s multiple hinges plus the cables going into the door all in your way, plus with the door open you’re left with like 2 cm of room for your fingers, the damn rubber seal and somehow pulling the tape off. Ugh… nearly broke my fingers!
anyway, managed to get it all on, had a 60 km drive on the autobahn and I THINK wind noise is considerably down… however, that just means now my tire noise is even more prominent so I don’t know whether the overall noise level is that much improved…
tl;dr: not sure if worth.
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I was tempted by the mudflaps but abandoned the idea once I saw that they were only available for the front, I thought it would look odd. I haven't been offered them, must just be a German thing.
It looks alright tbh, but I don't trust the way they're mounted at all. Seems a little flimsy tbh. Also, they don't really sit properly - so yay more bad clearance things, just don't look too closely! In the second pic, getting the lip all the way at the top to sit on that corner nook properly was a pain - and tbh I didn't manage to make that work properly on the other side.
Before:
After:
Also I just read a post on reddit about the smelly AC and that reminded me I might as well change the filter and blast the damn thing with AC-cleaner while I'm at it. It's not bad at all with my car, but if it's been wet the next time I start the car there's a slight smell. While that does go away after less than a minute, I guess it doesn't hurt to just a fiver's worth of foam down there. I have to open the stupid thing anyway to change the filter.
Also²: two years of ownership coming up - time sure flies! Official registration 31st May 2019, although they pushed delivery twice back then so I ended up actually picking the car up some time mid-June. Because of all the home office I'm "only" at 55kkm until now.
Edit: let's take the chance for a pic-dump!
parked at work this week, nice. I've seen 50+ on occasion... I'm always astonished that this doesn't lead to stuff just stopping to work.
Some time in winter 2019/2020 - the first time autopilot / ACC crapped out on me because of the snow buildup in front of the radar (as stated in some other thread):
My choice of last-mile transport, in case the charger is more than a few minutes walk from my actual destination... 1999 style! did I post that before? who cares!
Last edited:
Update, as I just crossed 60k km this week...
Honestly, nothing to report. Some internal fittings are rattling about a little - but it's not driving me crazy yet. Also maybe it's because we installed an iso-fix baby seat that my BIL still had lying around. It works, that's really all I can say for it, and there's enough room back there to put the seat into the base without having to move the passenger seat all the way forward or anything.
Anyway... also, if there's tesla people with an apple watch here, I rather like the Watch for Tesla App, developed by some single skandinavian guy. I no longer pull out my phone when disconnecting the charger or putting the cable in the trunk or anything. I just hit two buttons on the watch while walking up to the car. In theory, I could also just let Siri do it, I guess... but I'm way too self-conscious to start talking into my watch out in public
PS: the eagle-eyed viewer will have noticed I've changed the cars name again at some point. Still bummed I didn't order a blue one, as it'd still be called cookie monster (since the plate spells cookieees).
Honestly, nothing to report. Some internal fittings are rattling about a little - but it's not driving me crazy yet. Also maybe it's because we installed an iso-fix baby seat that my BIL still had lying around. It works, that's really all I can say for it, and there's enough room back there to put the seat into the base without having to move the passenger seat all the way forward or anything.
Anyway... also, if there's tesla people with an apple watch here, I rather like the Watch for Tesla App, developed by some single skandinavian guy. I no longer pull out my phone when disconnecting the charger or putting the cable in the trunk or anything. I just hit two buttons on the watch while walking up to the car. In theory, I could also just let Siri do it, I guess... but I'm way too self-conscious to start talking into my watch out in public
PS: the eagle-eyed viewer will have noticed I've changed the cars name again at some point. Still bummed I didn't order a blue one, as it'd still be called cookie monster (since the plate spells cookieees).
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Ooh, I hadn't considered the chance of a watch app being available, I shall try it out. I don't wear the watch all of the time so it might not be much help though.
As far as the colour, you could always get it wrapped in blue. If you need an argument for it then it protects the paint. Not sure how you deal with changing the colour in Germany though.
As far as the colour, you could always get it wrapped in blue. If you need an argument for it then it protects the paint. Not sure how you deal with changing the colour in Germany though.
Bit late for that now, after 60Mm, isn't it?
But yeah, I thought about it... but no, I've mostly gotten used to it now.
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As someone who just painted a 31 year old shed of a Land Rover, if you're mad/committed enough then there's no such thing as too late.Bit late for that now, after 60Mm, isn't it?
I like the Knight Rider look that comes with black if the chrome is covered.