Aero wheels

[bwa]

(Cross posting since there’s currently discussion in three separate places… )

The following is about Tesla’s Aero wheels though:

Is it possible to remove the black (?) paint?

Otherwise, perhaps it’s possible to order them from the Italian (?) manufacturer (via Tesla) without the paint. Then one could give them an optional finish or perhaps leave them as is in aluminum. (Or are all aluminum wheels coated in something, even if they look unvarnished?)

That Photoshop you did of black-coating the stock Tesla aero wheels looks stunning.

I would not be at all surprised to learn that Tesla was strongarmed into adding the silver lines on their aero wheels by law enforcement forces who want to be able to see if you "stopped" properly at a red light or stop sign. I personally learned somewhere in some class that this is how LEOs judge whether or not you have "stopped" at a stop sign or stop light. Ever since then, I experimented with whether or not this helps me see faster and more accurately when someone is going at a stop sign or stop light, so I know sooner how to react in situations where they may misjudge my approach or turn, and so far, I have found it to be a safety feature to use this method to ascertain vehicle movement. I now basically depend on it. Making the wheel pizza-pan and/or completely uniform would remove this capability, would introduce a lot of unexpected processing time to realize there was an unusual error with this method (bumpers of car in peripheral view would not exactly move relative to my position angle to its background as expected), and even probably cause many fatal "T-bone" accidents from motivated drivers who use this method to (quite confidently) know if cross traffic is moving (and would end up plowing into you at full topped-up highway speeds in some farm communities if you misjudged). I'm going to have to remember this so that if I see a pizza pan wheel that I look elsewhere for car movement evidence, and slow down too.

I think the stock Tesla aero wheels look ugly as all hell (which agrees with most of you). But if there is some aesthetic way to make the aero wheels (the nice flat pizza pan DIY's or your photoshopped black-brushed stock wheels) obvious when they rotate even in regular driving conditions, then that would be the best of all worlds for safety and looks (but also allow LEOs to ascertain if you came to a full stop --- a detriment I'd accept if it meant safer driving due to drivers being able to see when you are stopped or not).

 

[jeff mccabe]

Ok, Got my previously owned 85S a few weeks ago and of course...Love it.

Having driven a home EV conversion(928 Porsche) for almost ten years and living with my limited range (80-100 miles), my 85 is a real relief .
But I couldn't leave well enough alone....Sorry honey ( my wife)
Here is my version of an aero wheel cover. You can see four choice of color and one see through polycarb one.
Im leaning toward the brushed aluminum or charcoal grey one ? What do you all think ?

Jeff McCabe

 

[JRP3]

Great idea, but how are you attaching them, (other than tape )? Did you drill into the rim? I like the brushed aluminum best as well. Any thoughts of filling in the narrow open spokes as well? You could leave a bit of space at the ends if you think you need the airflow for brake cooling.

 

[chriSharek]

Ok, Got my previously owned 85S a few weeks ago and of course...Love it.View attachment 167924 View attachment 167925 View attachment 167926 View attachment 167927
Having driven a home EV conversion(928 Porsche) for almost ten years and living with my limited range (80-100 miles), my 85 is a real relief .
But I couldn't leave well enough alone....Sorry honey ( my wife)
Here is my version of an aero wheel cover. You can see four choice of color and one see through polycarb one.
Im leaning toward the brushed aluminum or charcoal grey one ? What do you all think ?

Jeff McCabe

Wow! So, they are basically inserts for the "old" standard wheels. Very clever. I like the brushed aluminum myself. My Delivery Day is Tuesday and I'm getting these "old" standard wheels. Interesting idea.

Have you done any testing on how this increases your range? The car I ordered maximizes the range - I even justified the air suspension thinking it might get me a little more range when lowered at highway speed. Would be interested to hear your improved results with your inserts!

 

[AnOutsider]

Have you done any testing on how this increases your range? The car I ordered maximizes the range - I even justified the air suspension thinking it might get me a little more range when lowered at highway speed. Would be interested to hear your improved results with your inserts!

My thoughts as well. I'm curious how this helps range. If significant (say an extra 10 miles or so), then it's an easy mod for a great result.

 

[chriSharek]

My thoughts as well. I'm curious how this helps range. If significant (say an extra 10 miles or so), then it's an easy mod for a great result.

Right, AnOutsider. It won't take much. 10 miles is like ~5% of the total rated range of my 90D.

 

[dhanson865]

Great idea, but how are you attaching them, (other than tape )? Did you drill into the rim? I like the brushed aluminum best as well. Any thoughts of filling in the narrow open spokes as well? You could leave a bit of space at the ends if you think you need the airflow for brake cooling.

no need to close up the narrow slits, the aero improvement of what he did is just about exactly what you want for the ideal improvement. Should be good for 3-5% range improvement depending on all the usual variables (speed, temp, tire pressure, elevation, etcetera).

Ok, Got my previously owned 85S a few weeks ago and of course...Love it

Here is my version of an aero wheel cover. You can see four choice of color and one see through polycarb one. Im leaning toward the brushed aluminum or charcoal grey one ? What do you all think ?

Jeff McCabe

I'm going to say the order of my preference of the ones there is

brushed aluminum
black
clear
the whitish one
the grayish one (this one has a blue/green tinge that I don't like, if it were a darker gray or a gray closer to aluminum I'd be OK with it).

So when you say charcoal gray is that the one on the bottom left or the darker one on the right? The bottom left looks like a dull gray with a green/blue tinge, the one on the right looks black.

and please do give us the instructible version, how can I do the brushed aluminum like you did?

 

[ohmman]

I'm definitely eager to hear the results of this experiment as well. What a great idea.

 

[jeff mccabe]

Great idea, but how are you attaching them, (other than tape )? Did you drill into the rim? I like the brushed aluminum best as well. Any thoughts of filling in the narrow open spokes as well? You could leave a bit of space at the ends if you think you need the airflow for brake cooling.

Im going to use safety wire for initial testing. The wire will join pairs from behind. Two out-most pairs , then two in in word pairs. This will require me to remove wheels to install.
The smaller openings, will be left as is. They should have little effect, ill find out soon enough ?

 

[jeff mccabe]

Wow! So, they are basically inserts for the "old" standard wheels. Very clever. I like the brushed aluminum myself. My Delivery Day is Tuesday and I'm getting these "old" standard wheels. Interesting idea.

Have you done any testing on how this increases your range? The car I ordered maximizes the range - I even justified the air suspension thinking it might get me a little more range when lowered at highway speed. Would be interested to hear your improved results with your inserts!

Testing next week !

 

[AoneOne]

Just like the metal roof, I'd prefer to use body-color inserts. If not that, then black. An automotive-grade (3-D metallic, like the premium body paint) would be a plus.

I've got the 3Q2013 aero wheels which are a greenish-grey to my eye. It's not bad against my dark-blue car, but matched would have been better.

 

[jeff mccabe]

no need to close up the narrow slits, the aero improvement of what he did is just about exactly what you want for the ideal improvement. Should be good for 3-5% range improvement depending on all the usual variables (speed, temp, tire pressure, elevation, etcetera).

" My thoughts exactly, they should have little effect."



I'm going to say the order of my preference of the ones there is

brushed aluminum
black
clear
the whitish one
the grayish one (this one has a blue/green tinge that I don't like, if it were a darker gray or a gray closer to aluminum I'd be OK with it).

So when you say charcoal gray is that the one on the bottom left or the darker one on the right? The bottom left looks like a dull gray with a green/blue tinge, the one on the right looks black.

and please do give us the instructible version, how can I do the brushed aluminum like you did?

Yes, I will post some more photos on how I install them. The brushing effect, was done because my Laser at work doesn't like cutting Aluminum because of the reflectivity, so I just put a swirl pattern on top in order to cut them. Turns out , it looks kind of cool !

 

[jeff mccabe]

Just like the metal roof, I'd prefer to use body-color inserts. If not that, then black. An automotive-grade (3-D metallic, like the premium body paint) would be a plus.

I've got the 3Q2013 aero wheels which are a greenish-grey to my eye. It's not bad against my dark-blue car, but matched would have been better.

Yes, my initial idea was to match the body color, but once on the car, they just didn't look right. I will test with the brushed look , but I can always change them later.

 

[AoneOne]

Matching a light body color might not work well without a border to visually separate it from the aluminum wheel spokes. To my eye the brushed aluminum looks too uniform, too much like a pizza pan.

 

[JRP3]

no need to close up the narrow slits, the aero improvement of what he did is just about exactly what you want for the ideal improvement. Should be good for 3-5% range improvement depending on all the usual variables (speed, temp, tire pressure, elevation, etcetera).

But we don't yet know his results. I'd assume that what he's done will probably give the majority of gains as is, just maybe not as much as a full cover.

 

[dhanson865]

But we don't yet know his results. I'd assume that what he's done will probably give the majority of gains as is, just maybe not as much as a full cover.

you don't want full cover, full would allow the brakes to overheat on a long downhill or other situations were braking is used frequently.

I can tell you from past experience and eyeballing that coverage that there is no point bothering with the narrow channels. If you want fully enclosed wheels you need to be driving the kind of cars they drive on EcoModder.com that don't need tons of braking power because they are light and don't have 19" rotors with oversized racing calipers. Like say a geo metro Details: Daox's Metro - 1999 Chevrolet Metro Fuel Economy - EcoModder.com

But if you care about the difference between 3.1% and 3.2% improvement or the difference between 3.17% and 3.18% keep testing. I'll just say the environmental variables will swamp any control you try to use so your data will be invalid if you try for that level of accuracy.

 

[dhanson865]

Yes, I will post some more photos on how I install them. The brushing effect, was done because my Laser at work doesn't like cutting Aluminum because of the reflectivity, so I just put a swirl pattern on top in order to cut them. Turns out , it looks kind of cool !

I think even a 3% range boost is worth the effort and I like that it hides the rusty calipers I've seen on some of the CPOs.

Solution A: pay to sand and repaint calipers, get 0 range increase
Solution B: put on aero mod, hide calipers, get noticeable range increase even if minor.

I would be curious to know the weight difference between the black, clear, and aluminum.

 

[jerry33]

I would be curious to know the weight difference between the black, clear, and aluminum.

Won't matter--unless there is a very large difference--because the weight from these inserts is fairly close to the centre of rotation.

 

[JRP3]

you don't want full cover, full would allow the brakes to overheat on a long downhill or other situations were braking is used frequently.

Regen should keep braking to a minimum, plus people have used full pizza pan covers on the Model S. It's not as if there is no airflow, the inside of the wheel still has airflow around the rotor. I did suggest leaving a bit of space on the ends if inserts were also used on the narrow slots. Not that I disagree that the majority of improvement has already likely been achieved.

 

[jerry33]

Regen should keep braking to a minimum, plus people have used full pizza pan covers on the Model S. It's not as if there is no airflow, the inside of the wheel still has airflow around the rotor. I did suggest leaving a bit of space on the ends if inserts were also used on the narrow slots. Not that I disagree that the majority of improvement has already likely been achieved.

The car covers Tesla sells have mesh where the front wheels are. So apparently, even when parked, the engineers felt there needs to be some airflow through the wheels.