Are 21 inch wheels THAT bad on our cars ?

[cmarshack]

That's me. It does work. If you get tired of being cold in canada, come down to Texas and I'll show you!



There are no different alignment requirements for 19s vs 21s vs 22s. It just comes down to making sure your offset and tire size isn't so big that you run out of room in the fender well. But if you use my same tire sizes, the OD of my 22" wheels/tires is the same as the factory 21's, and the offset is about the same as well - just pop your 21's off and pop your 22's on.

I've found that many S's with the factory 21's rub, and it's because of the caster setting more than anything else. If you have rubbing with 21s or 22s within the factory tire OD, have an alignment shop adjust your caster and you'll never have a problem again.

Caster affects the position of the front wheel in the wheel well. It's adjusted on the front lower control arm, so you have a decent degree of room to eliminate rub in 99% of situations. My current Caster setting is +4.5 degrees on both sides, right within Tesla spec.

The only time my car rubs is when I'm taking a steep incline at an angle - and that's just because lowering means less suspension flex. But I have air suspension, so I just pop it back up to "very high" when making those entrances, and have no problems.

There are still a decent amount of tire options for 22's - I usually use Pirelli P-Zero Nero GT, but I'm trying ut Lexani's right now as a low cost option. The Vossens are a hybrid-forged wheel, so they're SUPER durable. Way more than the factory 21's. I've gone over holes that would crack a Tesla 21 and come across with no issues.

I have run 22" on 2 different lowered Model S's, and Aggmeister is spot on here. Nothing more to add.

With respect to tire wear, the older S's have know issues with bushing wear in the upper control arm that leads to excessive negative camber in the rear that cannot be adjusted for. This, with low profile tires causes the tires to wear unevenly and fail very fast.

See below how much tread is left here and the tire is toast. I added camber bushings after that photo to fix the issue.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Very informative. Thanks for the additional feedback. Have you experienced any rubbing when reversing with the steering wheel cranked to one side or the other?

When I bought the car, it had a set of factory 21's and was rubbing in reverse at full lock on one side only. That's when I had the alignment checked, and noticed the caster settings.

After adjusting the caster, that rub went away and has not returned even with the 22s.

On a side note, the SC did an alignment on my car a couple months back as part of fixing an air suspension issue, and they actually set the caster incorrectly...it was way out of spec on both sides, and had quite a bit of setback between the two. So, ask for the readout from the alignment machine and VERIFY that everything is within spec before leaving.

I have run 22" on 2 different lowered Model S's, and Aggmeister is spot on here. Nothing more to add.

With respect to tire wear, the older S's have know issues with bushing wear in the upper control arm that leads to excessive negative camber in the rear that cannot be adjusted for. This, with low profile tires causes the tires to wear unevenly and fail very fast.

See below how much tread is left here and the tire is toast. I added camber bushings after that photo to fix the issue.

View attachment 543300

Yikes, that tire looks almost new on the outer edge. Definitely toast on the inner.

TBH, while the factory spec for the S calls for a healthy dosage of camber, and so do most european cars. Your issue may be your rear Toe settings.

The factory spec calls for just a bit of toe-in, and if your car's settings have slipped and gone toe-out, you're basically just grinding the hell out of that inner edge of your tires going in a straight line.

Edmunds did a post-mortem on some roasted S rear tires, and found that while camber obviously affects wear, "just-the tip" wear like yours can be caused by excessive toe in the rear.

Tire Wear Post-Mortem - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Maybe check that when having your next set of tires installed.

 

[Russell]

Interesting because I found a post on reddit about someone who found 22" wheels without any rubbing and his S is lowered. He stated 22x9 ET 30 up front, 22x10.5 ET 38 out back. I'm curious if this works.

Rim size and offset is only part of the equation. With the right tire size it will work, with the wrong size it won't.

 

[shellderp]

if your Canadian city is anything like mine, the potholes will destroy 21" wheels