Aftermarket Wheel help

[Ronnie_xciii]

Help! Does anyone know if this screw or bolt has any importance or can it be removed. There was an issue with the wheel company that custom made my wheels and it seems that the screw or bolt is the issue to why the wheels won’t sit flush. This is on a 2022 Model 3 SR+

 

[tm1v2]

That bolt is there to hold the rotor on while the wheel is off. Once the wheel is on and torqued I'm pretty sure that bolt doesn't matter at all, so yeah I think you can just skip it.

Heck on my M3P one of those rotor retention bolts was super loose and just fell out when I took the wheel off. Not stripped or anything, it screwed back in fine, it was just loose from the factory.

Maybe on cars with wheel bolts (not studs) getting the wheel on without the rotor retention bolt would be awkward, if the rotor can just rotate freely or falls off real easy. Don't really know, every car I've owned has studs thankfully. With studs that's not an issue.

 

[tm1v2]

do i need rotor retention bolts - Google Search

There's probably some relevant advice in those search results. Again keep in mind wheel bolts vs studs though, Teslas have studs so the rotor isn't going to just spin around like on a European car with their silly wheel bolts.

I see one result there (not a Tesla) saying their rotor has play on the hub, the center machining isn't a precise fit. That sounds kind of bad and if the rotor retention bolt helps center it on their car I'd say that's useful. I don't recall any looseness in the fit of my M3P rotor on the hub while it was missing the retention bolt that had fallen out though, so I think it'd be fine. Something to check for on your car with the retention bolts off.

I'm certainly not a wheel fitment expert though, hopefully someone who is will chime in.