20" Aftermarket Wheels

[evodude919]

When I was looking for aftermarket 20 inch wheels, I couldn't find too much info on the topic. So, I decided to post this thread. I went to the Wheel Warehouse in Anaheim, CA after doing some online searches. These guys are great. They have a great selection of both affordable and custom forged rims. Devin, one of the sales associates, was very familiar with the Model S as he had worked on multiple Model S's prior to mine. Initially, he had encouraged me to get 22" rims. But, I wanted to change the look of the car and improve the handling while not sacrificing the efficiency too much. I felt like a 20 inch wheel was a good compromise. I eventually chose the TSW Nurburgring. They looked pretty good to me and I appreciated their weight. The 20 x 9 front wheel weighs 23.3 lbs and the 20 x 10 rear wheel weighs about 24.5 lbs. The offset was 35 mm for both. The tires I chose were the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 sized 245/40/20 F and 275/35/20 R. Both tires have about a 27.7 inch diameter which is the same as the stock 19" Goodyears I had. The tires are a little heavy, 28 and 30 lbs respectively but the combined wheel/tire weight (51.3 lbs, 54.4 lbs) is a little less than the stock wheel/tire combo (57 lbs). Wheel Warehouse took the TPMS off the stock rims and placed them on the aftermarket rims without any problems. This is a staggered setup so I won't be able to rotate my tires but can switch them around. I'm very happy with the handling now. The car feels a lot more buttoned down. The handling is more crisp. The wider rear tires give me excellent traction out of corners and the wheels line up a lot better with the fenders. As far as efficiency, I was getting about 300 Wh/mi with the stock setup. After 600 miles on the aftermarket rims, I'm getting about 310 Wh/mi. Not bad in my book. I drive about 50/50 in the city/freeway at about 40-60 mph city, 70-80 freeways.
By the way, I will be selling my stock rims soon I think.

 

[johnmodels]

I have similar design wheels, same exact size, staggered. And LOVE it! Can you please update us as to the life of your rear tires. I rotated mine, left to right, since they were not directional, and I will probably only get 9500 miles out of them. Fronts will go to probably 25000 miles.

Your car looks awesome!
John

 

[AnOutsider]

Looks good. You think the efficiency loss is the tires? The wheels are lighter so that shouldn't be it (could just be different driving too)

 

[mhpr262]

That looks just as good as I have always thought it would. IMO the 19'' look a little too small on the car and the 21'' a little too big.

 

[evodude919]

Wow, you have a very similar setup. I'm a little worried about tread wear. I will probably get ultra high performance all season tires next time. If the staggered setup is a problem I might put 255 tires all the way around.

 

[adurstewitz]

View attachment 27378

I have similar design wheels, same exact size, staggered. And LOVE it! Can you please update us as to the life of your rear tires. I rotated mine, left to right, since they were not directional, and I will probably only get 9500 miles out of them. Fronts will go to probably 25000 miles.

Your car looks awesome!
John

Your rims look darker, can you tell me where you got them?

 

[johnmodels]

I got them at Americas Tire, Formerly Discount Tire. The whole set was $1800 all said. The rears are wearing in the inside inch and will only last about 9000 miles. I did do a sire rotate to help and am getting am alignment next week.

I too agree that the 19's sit in and look a bit small IMO. No offense to anyone! The 21's look cool but sit in in the back a bit, and tire prices are a bit crazy. 20's have 40% less expensive tires and IMO are the perfect size.

Your rims look darker, can you tell me where you got them?

 

[gimp_dad]

Did either of you consider putting 285/35's on the rear rather than 275s? I guess Pirelli P-Zero has that size combination. Is there not enough clearance to support the 285s on the rear?

I actually have the 21s from the factory on my perf 85 but feel that the 245s on the rear look and feel a little bit feeble on such a wide, heavy car. IMO the wider the better on the rear.

 

[rpavlicek]

Evodude: Can you tell us your total out of pocket for the wheels+tires? (And if you don't mind breaking it down into categories..that would be nice too )

Thanks!

 

[gtimbers]

Evodude: What is your assement of the ride quality and noise of your new setup compared to the 19" Goodyears? Thanks

 

[evodude919]

The total price was : Wheels ( 352 x 4) + Tires ( 169 x 2 + 221 x 2) + TPMS transfer (22.50 x 4) = 2278. I wanted to save $ and I thought the Hankooks were of reasonable quality. Looking at some other options, I think the Nitto Motivos are an excellent tire. Made in the USA, long tread life and good grip. I probably should have gotten these instead. The ride is a little bumpier and a little noisier with the new lower profile tires but the grip is a lot better. Even going in a straight line, I feel the car is better controlled. This is my budget friendly P85+ option on my 60, lol. I think 285's would be ok too on the rears. The fronts, you have to be careful with.

 

[gtimbers]

Evodude - I hate you! You just cost me $2400. The TSW wheels look awesome and with their low weight I am going to lose 7 pounds per position. I went with the new Michelin Sport A/S 3 tire. There isn't a lot of information about it other than user reviews but it is alleged to perform nearly like a PS2 in the dry with All Season behavior in other aspects. It is claimed to have a super smooth and quiet ride and greatly enhanced wear. (wear number is 500) I am hoping to greatly improve my handling and steering feel reduce tire noise and not cost myself any range. Only time will tell. I went with the standard 19" diameter but I chose a 9" wheel width instead of the stock 8". My experience in the past indicates that this improves steering response. I would have loved to go staggered but I am a big rotation freak (for noise reasons) and the staggered setup really puts a damper on rotation.

The stuff is on order and I should have it installed on Wednesday. It takes 200 - 500 miles of wear before the tires settle in so I won't be able to give a final report for a while. I will be able to report on noise and ride after 100 miles or so. I used Discount tire and the approximate breakdown is: Wheels ( 296 x 4), Tires ( 236 x 4 -70), TPMS rebuild kit (7 x 4), Mount and Balance ( 16 x 4) State tax for a total of $2351. The $70 line item is a Michelin rebate promotion currently going on. These tires have a 45,000 mile wear guarantee meaning that I will have some money towards my next set of tires should I stay with Michelin. I don't care what they are made of, they won't last more than 25k - 30k miles on the Tesla.

I now officially have a set of 19" Tesla rims and Goodyear RSA2 tires for sale. They have 5200 miles on them and show no signs of uneven wear. All 4 tires are indicating 9/32" tread all across the tire.

 

[biotweak]

Tire Wear after Another Month?

Hi Evo,

I'm going to be getting a very similar setup with the same sized wheels (Ace Convex) and tires (Hankook V12s). You mentioned your worry about tread wear, could you elaborate on what you meant? Is it excessive after another month of driving and the same issue others are reporting on the inside of the rear tires?

I have a choice between drilling between a 35-40 mm offset. I know you went with a 35mm and John on his car did a 38mm. I doubt it would make much difference on tread wear but you never know.

Thanks!

When I was looking for aftermarket 20 inch wheels, I couldn't find too much info on the topic. So, I decided to post this thread. I went to the Wheel Warehouse in Anaheim, CA after doing some online searches. These guys are great. They have a great selection of both affordable and custom forged rims. Devin, one of the sales associates, was very familiar with the Model S as he had worked on multiple Model S's prior to mine. Initially, he had encouraged me to get 22" rims. But, I wanted to change the look of the car and improve the handling while not sacrificing the efficiency too much. I felt like a 20 inch wheel was a good compromise. I eventually chose the TSW Nurburgring. They looked pretty good to me and I appreciated their weight. The 20 x 9 front wheel weighs 23.3 lbs and the 20 x 10 rear wheel weighs about 24.5 lbs. The offset was 35 mm for both. The tires I chose were the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 sized 245/40/20 F and 275/35/20 R. Both tires have about a 27.7 inch diameter which is the same as the stock 19" Goodyears I had. The tires are a little heavy, 28 and 30 lbs respectively but the combined wheel/tire weight (51.3 lbs, 54.4 lbs) is a little less than the stock wheel/tire combo (57 lbs). Wheel Warehouse took the TPMS off the stock rims and placed them on the aftermarket rims without any problems. This is a staggered setup so I won't be able to rotate my tires but can switch them around. I'm very happy with the handling now. The car feels a lot more buttoned down. The handling is more crisp. The wider rear tires give me excellent traction out of corners and the wheels line up a lot better with the fenders. As far as efficiency, I was getting about 300 Wh/mi with the stock setup. After 600 miles on the aftermarket rims, I'm getting about 310 Wh/mi. Not bad in my book. I drive about 50/50 in the city/freeway at about 40-60 mph city, 70-80 freeways.
By the way, I will be selling my stock rims soon I think.
View attachment 27376

 

[Musterion]

Did you need to use hub centering rings for those of you that describe your setup, or do any of the 20" wheel options fit the Tesla hub without need for adapter?

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Perfect size, and that Hankook tire is/was very highly rated in Consumer Reports and Car and Driver tests from a few years ago.

I find it odd that with the two new wheels Tesla introduced last month they STILL didn't introduce a 20" wheel!

The 19's are too small.

The 21's are a bit too large.

TWENTY inch wheels is the sweet spot . . .

 

[gimp_dad]

I finally got some time to go order these. I used America's Tire. Ordered the TSW Nurberbring mirror cut with 21x9 front and 21x10 rear. But there are a couple of things they did at the store that have me a bit worried:
1) they claim I should use 25mm offset for fronts. Seems everyone uses 35mm. Anyone have a comment of whether 25mm will be OK up front with my setup (using Hancock 245s),
2) they say the only wheel lugs that are small enough diameter for these rims are 2" long. Seems long and that they will stick out to far. What lugs did you guys use? Both of yours look great,
3) the TPMS they ordered said 315MHz but I understand Tesla uses 433MHz.

I don't want everything to arrive next week and still not work. Any feedback would be very helpful to me. Excited about getting wider rear tires (285s) finally.

None of this is going to help my suspension looseness (I have a P85 with air suspension) but at least it will look better...

I decided to go with the Hankooks for the first set and move to PS2s once the first set wears out. In this way I justify to myself that with cheaper tires the initial upgrade is only slightly more than if I switched my Contis for PS2s on my stock 21" rims. These tires and rims are only slightly more than 4 PS2s.

When I was looking for aftermarket 20 inch wheels, I couldn't find too much info on the topic. So, I decided to post this thread. I went to the Wheel Warehouse in Anaheim, CA after doing some online searches. These guys are great. They have a great selection of both affordable and custom forged rims. Devin, one of the sales associates, was very familiar with the Model S as he had worked on multiple Model S's prior to mine. Initially, he had encouraged me to get 22" rims. But, I wanted to change the look of the car and improve the handling while not sacrificing the efficiency too much. I felt like a 20 inch wheel was a good compromise. I eventually chose the TSW Nurburgring. They looked pretty good to me and I appreciated their weight. The 20 x 9 front wheel weighs 23.3 lbs and the 20 x 10 rear wheel weighs about 24.5 lbs. The offset was 35 mm for both. The tires I chose were the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 sized 245/40/20 F and 275/35/20 R. Both tires have about a 27.7 inch diameter which is the same as the stock 19" Goodyears I had. The tires are a little heavy, 28 and 30 lbs respectively but the combined wheel/tire weight (51.3 lbs, 54.4 lbs) is a little less than the stock wheel/tire combo (57 lbs). Wheel Warehouse took the TPMS off the stock rims and placed them on the aftermarket rims without any problems. This is a staggered setup so I won't be able to rotate my tires but can switch them around. I'm very happy with the handling now. The car feels a lot more buttoned down. The handling is more crisp. The wider rear tires give me excellent traction out of corners and the wheels line up a lot better with the fenders. As far as efficiency, I was getting about 300 Wh/mi with the stock setup. After 600 miles on the aftermarket rims, I'm getting about 310 Wh/mi. Not bad in my book. I drive about 50/50 in the city/freeway at about 40-60 mph city, 70-80 freeways.
By the way, I will be selling my stock rims soon I think.
View attachment 27376

 

[Dreamin]

I finally got some time to go order these. I used America's Tire. Ordered the TSW Nurberbring mirror cut with 21x9 front and 21x10 rear. But there are a couple of things they did at the store that have me a bit worried:
1) they claim I should use 25mm offset for fronts. Seems everyone uses 35mm. Anyone have a comment of whether 25mm will be OK up front with my setup (using Hancock 245s),
2) they say the only wheel lugs that are small enough diameter for these rims are 2" long. Seems long and that they will stick out to far. What lugs did you guys use? Both of yours look great,
3) the TPMS they ordered said 315MHz but I understand Tesla uses 433MHz.

I don't want everything to arrive next week and still not work. Any feedback would be very helpful to me. Excited about getting wider rear tires (285s) finally.

None of this is going to help my suspension looseness (I have a P85 with air suspension) but at least it will look better...

I decided to go with the Hankooks for the first set and move to PS2s once the first set wears out. In this way I justify to myself that with cheaper tires the initial upgrade is only slightly more than if I switched my Contis for PS2s on my stock 21" rims. These tires and rims are only slightly more than 4 PS2s.

1) The 25mm wheel will be 10mm (~1/2") more outboard than 35mm. So it will "fit" as far as not rubbing on the inside. Unclear if it will look 'flush' with the fender or look like it sticks past the fender. Definitely have them test fit the wheel before mounting the tire.
2) Same comment from my tireshop. I believe my lugs are 2". See 3rd and 4th pics here: New 20 Tires
3) Have them document that the TPMS's will be replaced free of charge (including mount/dismount/rebalance) if Tesla is unable to pair them with the car.

What offset did you get for the rear wheel?

 

[gbdesai]

My TSW 20" fit with a +35 offset but maybe 21 may be tougher. My rear wheels are 10" and do stick all the way out and align with the top part of the fender and stick out at the lower parts.

 

[gimp_dad]

1) The 25mm wheel will be 10mm (~1/2") more outboard than 35mm. So it will "fit" as far as not rubbing on the inside. Unclear if it will look 'flush' with the fender or look like it sticks past the fender. Definitely have them test fit the wheel before mounting the tire.
2) Same comment from my tireshop. I believe my lugs are 2". See 3rd and 4th pics here: New 20 Tires
3) Have them document that the TPMS's will be replaced free of charge (including mount/dismount/rebalance) if Tesla is unable to pair them with the car.

What offset did you get for the rear wheel?

Thanks for the help. The guys at the shop are good and passionate but pretty young and inexperienced. I had them call Tesla about the TPMS and they were told it will work. They are willing to document that they will make it right if they don't work.

Rear offset is 35mm. Sounds like that will be right at the edge (thanks, gbdesai). I can live with that even though I think the issue with the looks of the rear tire has a lot to do with the tire not extending far enough under the car. I don't have an issue with the fronts seeming to be a little further out to the edge as long as they don't look like they are sticking out beyond the fender. Will make them show me before we finalize.

Everything is in now except the TPMS sensors. Hopefully install will be tomorrow or Wed. I'm excited about this low cost way to try out a stagger setup.

 

[gbdesai]

I have pictures of mine in the "Grey Ghost" thread if you want to see what a +35 front and back look like. Mine was done in an America's Tires in San Ramon, CA they can talk to Jason or Travis there for more info...