Lifestyle
Reasons to Have a Tesla Tire Repair Kit and 2nd UMC
I’ve been thinking about buying a few Tesla accessories for a while now and finally broke down and picked up the Tesla tire repair kit and second Universal Mobile Connector (UMC). Although these accessories are a far departure from other common upgrades (ie. FobPocket and Center Console CCI) that Tesla owners have been known to indulge in, I thought they were necessities for several reasons.
Having a 2nd Tesla Universal Mobile Connector (UMC)
I work near the Tesla store in Natick, Massachusetts which offers two High Power Wall Connectors (HPWC) and four NEMA 14-50’s for use by Tesla owners. As one may expect the HPWC’s are in higher demand and, more often than not, are not available. While I have a lot less range anxiety these days, simply because I’ve gotten accustomed to my driving style and range capabilities of the vehicle, it’s still a great option to be able to charge for free, especially if it’s in walking distance from work.
ALSO SEE: Should You Leave Your Tesla Charger (UMC) Plugged In?
I’ve heard on many accounts that it’s not great for the NEMA 14-50 connector to be unplugged on daily basis as it causes wear on the plug itself. I suppose I can leave it plugged in all the time, but since I’m always on the go and never know know when I’ll need an extra charge, I broke down and bought a second UMC.
Forum users have suggested getting a HPWC for home as a way to keep your UMC truly mobile, but I decided against this for reasons as follows:
- Buying a 2nd UMC is approximately $600 cheaper.
- It’s nice to have a backup UMC especially on long road trips in the event one fails.
- I don’t need the fast rate of charge provided by the HWPC so there’s not much value in paying the extra cost.
I feel a lot better about having a UMC with me at all times. One thing to note is that the 2nd UMC does not come with a second J1772 adapter and only comes with a NEMA 5-15 and NEMA 14-50 adapter.
Total cost, $700.
Tesla Tire Repair Kit
I really did not want to buy one of these. Trust me – I didn’t. Tesla only wants you to use their tire repair kit only in the event you can’t reach a Tesla Service Center within a reasonable amount of time. But if you’re in a pinch and Tesla Service is no where to be found. this device can come in pretty handy.
- How to repair a flat tire on the Tesla Model S
- A Guide to Planning a Tesla Road Trip
- Top 5 Lessons from a First Tesla Road Trip
- Tesla Road Trip Battery Range Planning
What pushed me over the edge is the fact that I have a slow leak in my right rear tire. I’m losing about 10 psi per week and it made me nervous enough about my (then) upcoming NJ road trip that I sprung for the device. In addition to fixing a flat by injecting sealant into the tire, it also acts as a regular tire inflator which I thought would give me some peace of mind especially with a leaky tire.
Other fix-a-flat type products on the market operate in the same fashion, but ultimately I went with the Tesla tire repair kit since the price difference was minimal.
A couple things to note on the tire repair kit. I found it difficult to neatly wind the cables back onto the bottom of the device. I also found the metal around the pressure hose that connects to the tire valve to be poorly constructed (it doesn’t look like it will last long).
I had the opportunity to use the repair-kit, only to inflate the tire with air while on my Tesla road trip, and can say that it works great.
Summary
While the second UMC and Tire Repair kit were pricey additions to my Model S, I found them to be useful additions that help alleviate any anxieties with taking a long road trip. Tesla Motors is the only source for the UMC so you’re stuck eating that cost, but you may be able to save a few bucks on an aftermarket tire repair kit.
Tags: UMC, road trip
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s answer to Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey got way more specific
Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”
In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.
Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer https://t.co/bVHzUmY9WN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2026
When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”
The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”
Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.
Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026



