A contributing factor to the premature upper control arm failure is the front windshield gutter drain path.
Water is directed from the base of the windshield directly on top of the multi-piece upper control arm.
Draining water directly onto the multi-piece hybrid plastic/steel upper control arm is the cause of the premature failure of the upper control arm ball joint.
To address this issue, we had to remove the front trunk liner.
A few bolts later and the entire front trunk and trim panels quickly and easily were removed.
We disconnected the upper control arm from the upright which was easily separated after removing one bolt.
The lower shock mount was unbolted from the lower control arm.
5 comments
For some reason I cannot see any photos using multiple browsers.
Are the photo links broken?
Seems fine to me
BTW, is there no “tesla,” section under projects?
The stock upper control arm design is the real story here, and it is good to see it called out. A plastic and steel hybrid arm with a water-trapping ball joint is a failure waiting to happen, especially on a car that sees rain and road salt. Replacing it with a one-piece forged aluminum arm is the right fix, not just a performance upgrade. My tip for Model 3 owners hearing a clunk over bumps is to check that arm first and not let a shop replace the whole strut assembly when the arm alone is the problem, because the cost difference is large and the arm is a known weak point on these cars.
The new Tesla Y-L seems to have a magnetic damper in the rear. It would be interesting to see what the aftermarket brings out for that, that still works with the dash settings, but offers better valving or perhaps an aftermarket controller that offers even more settings than comfort and standard.