Gemini Wheel Covers => Damaged Rims

[Lumpydog]

Posting this as a heads-up (warning) to others - as I did not see similar posts about this type of damage from Gemini Wheel Covers.

When I took delivery of my Model Y, I immediately took off the Gemini Wheel Covers because I really like the rims underneath - I used the Tesla Wheel Caps to finish the rims. I planned to use the Gemini wheel covers for long distance travel - which happened last weekend. I snapped the wheel covers on before the trip, drove 230 miles round-trip, got back home and pulled the wheel covers off. I was pretty unhappy to find that the wheel covers had etched black marks into the outer edges of the rim - some of the marks/scuffs were pretty deep into the wheel's finish - every 3-4 inches. The wheel cover basically sands/abrades the rim where it touches. See pictures below - with the area that rubs on the cover circled in red.

My fix was to use some mild/medium paint compound and a LOT of elbow grease to get the marks out (about 95% of them). It took over an hour. Some marks are too deep and remain. If you haven't removed your wheel covers, it's probably too late. If you plan to keep the wheel covers on, no reason for concern.

I see that 3rd party Gemini wheel covers include foam tape (think insulation/frost king with single sided peel and stick) that you affix to the same area of the wheel cover to prevent this kind of damage. It's too bad Tesla could care less about adding a similar and extremely inexpensive protective measure. I'm not surprised though.

I'll be adding foam tape for future trips - I'm guessing there is a point of no return where you can't undo the wheel cover damage...

 

[MY1stEV]

Interesting, looks like they have changed the design of the Gemini wheel cover. Used to be dozens of tiny nubs on the back that left little marks all around the wheel.

 

[Pianewman]

Agree with MY1stEV. This is old news, but sadly, NEW marks!
I've just given up on the wheel covers altogether. The 3-5% increase in efficiency just...isn't...worth...the...damage to the rims.

 

[pontelaspilas]

took mine off at 300 miles and it's been off since. using foam may or may not trap more particles. looks like hubcap revision d. the ones i took off mine were revision c on dec 2022. my lifetime kwh is 250-260 currently.

 

[TypeX]

Posting this as a heads-up (warning) to others - as I did not see similar posts about this type of damage from Gemini Wheel Covers.

When I took delivery of my Model Y, I immediately took off the Gemini Wheel Covers because I really like the rims underneath - I used the Tesla Wheel Caps to finish the rims. I planned to use the Gemini wheel covers for long distance travel - which happened last weekend. I snapped the wheel covers on before the trip, drove 230 miles round-trip, got back home and pulled the wheel covers off. I was pretty unhappy to find that the wheel covers had etched black marks into the outer edges of the rim - some of the marks/scuffs were pretty deep into the wheel's finish - every 3-4 inches. The wheel cover basically sands/abrades the rim where it touches. See pictures below - with the area that rubs on the cover circled in red.

My fix was to use some mild/medium paint compound and a LOT of elbow grease to get the marks out (about 95% of them). It took over an hour. Some marks are too deep and remain. If you haven't removed your wheel covers, it's probably too late. If you plan to keep the wheel covers on, no reason for concern.

I see that 3rd party Gemini wheel covers include foam tape (think insulation/frost king with single sided peel and stick) that you affix to the same area of the wheel cover to prevent this kind of damage. It's too bad Tesla could care less about adding a similar and extremely inexpensive protective measure. I'm not surprised though.

I'll be adding foam tape for future trips - I'm guessing there is a point of no return where you can't undo the wheel cover damage...

View attachment 968971View attachment 968972View attachment 968973

So i picked my 23 MY up in July.. immediately went on 3 roadtrips and have 4200 miles...
at about 2000 miles i did an iron decontamination and polish.. pulled the caps and had those SAME marks all over my rims (i bought the gemini cap kit also) but left the hubcaps on to max out range for the trips.

I made a tesla service appt a few weeks ago since we were leaving for disney.. i went this morning & showed them that damage.
They are replacing all 4 rims with new ones! They ordered them today and i go back 9/7 for the swap.



If you make an appt they should do the same, they didnt even do push back or anything it was pretty easy.
They all said they never saw that damage before (didnt know if that was usual service deflection) but my first experience was pretty good! I thought the miles in the short time was gonna be an issue but wasnt!

Good Luck

 

[Lumpydog]

took mine off at 300 miles and it's been off since. using foam may or may not trap more particles. looks like hubcap revision d. the ones i took off mine were revision c on dec 2022. my lifetime kwh is 250-260 currently.

"Trap more particles..." yep, that's really the challenge here. The wheel cover's contact points act like sand paper, trapping particulate matter and then vibrating to sand/grind down the surface underneath. I don't go more than 500 miles round trip at a time... so maybe foam tape works over that time frame? I think I'll pass on testing further.

I was not aware that there were different wheel cover revisions - which implies Tesla can't figure out how to make a non-damaging cover. The wheel covers that came with my June 2023 built MY (apparently revision d) do a great job of grinding (etching) one inch lines into the outer rim at 4-6 inch intervals. It looks like prior versions also did a great job at etching/trashing the rims. Great. My experience was probably a worst case scenario as the first half of the trip was in heavy rain - wet sanding is more effective than dry sanding.

Pianewman - yep, agreed - not worth the damage. I was able to remove a lot of the damage with rubbing compound but not all of it. I imagine most MYLR buyers won't pull the wheel cover off until it's WAY too late to repair with rubbing compound.

I guess the moral of the story here is - if you don't like the wheel covers. Take them off on delivery day and put them back on when you go to sell...

A few shots of the revision d covers:

 

[Lumpydog]

So i picked my 23 MY up in July.. immediately went on 3 roadtrips and have 4200 miles...
at about 2000 miles i did an iron decontamination and polish.. pulled the caps and had those SAME marks all over my rims (i bought the gemini cap kit also) but left the hubcaps on to max out range for the trips.

I made a tesla service appt a few weeks ago since we were leaving for disney.. i went this morning & showed them that damage.
They are replacing all 4 rims with new ones! They ordered them today and i go back 9/7 for the swap.



If you make an appt they should do the same, they didnt even do push back or anything it was pretty easy.
They all said they never saw that damage before (didnt know if that was usual service deflection) but my first experience was pretty good! I thought the miles in the short time was gonna be an issue but wasnt!

Good Luck

Really good to know. I cleaned my rims up to the point where they probably won't oblige. Add to that - my local SC is not cooperative and I'm better off not trying to depend on them. But great to have this post as others may try that route. Thank you for sharing - interesting to see that Tesla will address.

 

[TypeX]

Really good to know. I cleaned my rims up to the point where they probably won't oblige. Add to that - my local SC is not cooperative and I'm better off not trying to depend on them. But great to have this post as others may try that route. Thank you for sharing - interesting to see that Tesla will address.

Yea i was generally surprised but ultimately happy.
I told the guy.... should you order new hubcaps since that was the cause & then there was alot of staring and no response lol

I'm going to install the Gemini cap kit after the new ones come next week & just put the hubcaps in the attic.
I dont have any trips coming up and the gameplan was to use the tires up on the Geminis then demote then to winter tires & get aftermarket wheels.

If they didnt warranty them i was going to do what you did & pray for the best lol

 

[poundsand]

I made a tesla service appt a few weeks ago since we were leaving for disney.. i went this morning & showed them that damage.
They are replacing all 4 rims with new ones! They ordered them today and i go back 9/7 for the swap.

If you make an appt they should do the same, they didnt even do push back or anything it was pretty easy.

My car was delivered with curb rash that took a pea sized chunk out of the rim and it took multiple trips, bounced between locations, and waiting around HOURS to get them to reapprove a replacement on appointment day, after being approved previously and waiting a month for an appointment, before they'd replace it. so saying they should.do the same.for.you should, at min, come with a huge ass ymmv caveat.