How happy are you with your Martian wheels?

[Nam Vu]

I wanted to inquire about users feedback and review regarding Martian wheels. Please post the wheel size you purchased and if they achieve your goals? For me I am looking for increase acceleration and increase efficiency… also has anyone trying to put on the aero cap from a model y 18 in onto an MW03 18 inch?

 

[jombolo]

Yeah just to be clear - it wasnt really a vibration perse, it was more of a wha wha wha wha tire noise that was vibrating in my head
Turns out the wheels did need balancing, have them back on the car and its much better - but still more tire noise than my acoustic foam uberturbine 21"

Thanks for the update, Matt. So, to summarize you are happy with your Martian Wheels and would buy them again?

 

[DIRKULA]

New Martian MW03 Wheels on my 2022 MYP. Will report on performance of wheels vs. the 21-inch staggered Überturbines they replace. Although, after just 30 plus miles, they seem quieter and slightly less harsh in road surface feedback.View attachment 827107

Update on my MW03 18inch Martian wheels with Pirelli AS3 Scorpions: prior to replacement averaging 266 Wh/mi with the heavy Uberturbines. Now, 4k miles later and with some heavy AC summer use, the average is 249 Wh/mi. At this rate my average should be 237 Wh/mi before summer or lower...

 

[Matt1667]

Thanks for the update, Matt. So, to summarize you are happy with your Martian Wheels and would buy them again?

Quick update and to answer your question jombolo: I think at this point the answer is no, I’m not happy with the Martians, and no, I wouldn’t buy them again as much as I want to love them. The one saving grace is that I’m not sure yet if my issue is wheel or tire related (hoping it’s tires!).

Details: I just finished a 400 mile road trip up to Tahoe and back from San Francisco - and unfortunately the balancing of the wheels last week didn’t fix my issue unlike I thought after a quick test drive. I’m still getting an annoying wah wah wah noise between 55mph and 70mph. We drove through all sorts of weather this weekend and that noise was the one constant.

I think at this point I’m going to swap the new tires that came with the wheels as installed by Martian with another new set of tires - $$$ - this time with acoustic foam, and maybe 275 40’s vs. the current 255 40’s?

Is it possible to get a faulty set of tires? Feeling bummed as these are Michelin pilot sport AS 4’s and should be amazing, and the 21” uberturbines with the same wheels with acoustic foam are super quiet.

If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the basically new set of tires I pull off the martians either - seems like a costly mistake that I can’t do anything about, and if I swap the tires and the noise is still there???? Yikes I don’t want to think about it.

Here’s a photo from the weekend, the wheels look great in any case:

 

[jombolo]

Quick update and to answer your question jombolo: I think at this point the answer is no, I’m not happy with the Martians, and no, I wouldn’t buy them again as much as I want to love them. The one saving grace is that I’m not sure yet if my issue is wheel or tire related (hoping it’s tires!).

Details: I just finished a 400 mile road trip up to Tahoe and back from San Francisco - and unfortunately the balancing of the wheels last week didn’t fix my issue unlike I thought after a quick test drive. I’m still getting an annoying wah wah wah noise between 55mph and 70mph. We drove through all sorts of weather this weekend and that noise was the one constant.

I think at this point I’m going to swap the new tires that came with the wheels as installed by Martian with another new set of tires - $$$ - this time with acoustic foam, and maybe 275 40’s vs. the current 255 40’s?

Is it possible to get a faulty set of tires? Feeling bummed as these are Michelin pilot sport AS 4’s and should be amazing, and the 21” uberturbines with the same wheels with acoustic foam are super quiet.

If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the basically new set of tires I pull off the martians either - seems like a costly mistake that I can’t do anything about, and if I swap the tires and the noise is still there???? Yikes I don’t want to think about it.

Here’s a photo from the weekend, the wheels look great in any case:

I would approach this in two parallel ways to pinpoint the exact issue. However, if it's a noise, my hunch is it's the tires.

1. Wheels: you can take your wheels to a wheel repair shop and they can verify there is no warping, etc. with the wheels. This would either identify or eliminate your wheel(s) as the issue
2. Tires: As you mentioned, unfortunately, swapping tires is the only way to determine if you've got a bad tire. Of course you could just buy 1 new tire and swap it 4 times to see if there is one bad tire through process of elimination. I doubt you have multiple bad tires. If you plan to replace all 4 with an acoustic foam tire, take a look at Hankook Ion Evo AS SUV. They just came out and seem pretty promising, Check out here YouTube These will likely be my next tire. Discount Tire/America's Tire

I really don't think your "wah wah wah" has anything to do with your tires not having acoustic foam. Many people (including myself) are using non-acoustic-foam tires. I'm on Conti Pro Contact LS and they are smooth as hell. They are at 4/32" and are now getting louder, but i wouldn't describe it the way you are.

 

[Matt1667]

I would approach this in two parallel ways to pinpoint the exact issue. However, if it's a noise, my hunch is it's the tires.

1. Wheels: you can take your wheels to a wheel repair shop and they can verify there is no warping, etc. with the wheels. This would either identify or eliminate your wheel(s) as the issue
2. Tires: As you mentioned, unfortunately, swapping tires is the only way to determine if you've got a bad tire. Of course you could just buy 1 new tire and swap it 4 times to see if there is one bad tire through process of elimination. I doubt you have multiple bad tires. If you plan to replace all 4 with an acoustic foam tire, take a look at Hankook Ion Evo AS SUV. They just came out and seem pretty promising, Check out here YouTube These will likely be my next tire. Discount Tire/America's Tire

I really don't think your "wah wah wah" has anything to do with your tires not having acoustic foam. Many people (including myself) are using non-acoustic-foam tires. I'm on Conti Pro Contact LS and they are smooth as hell. They are at 4/32" and are now getting louder, but i wouldn't describe it the way you are.

Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply, I think I’m going to do exactly what you’ve said - confirm it’s not the wheels through a wheel repair place 1st, and then try swapping each tire with just 1 new tire, one at a time, (I hadn’t thought of doing it that way, but it makes perfect sense).

Also thanks for sharing the EE vid on the hankook ion Evo’s - definitely would go that route if I replace all four now. Love how detailed engineering explained gets in his videos too.

I’ll update here later in the week how I go.

 

[jombolo]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply, I think I’m going to do exactly what you’ve said - confirm it’s not the wheels through a wheel repair place 1st, and then try swapping each tire with just 1 new tire, one at a time, (I hadn’t thought of doing it that way, but it makes perfect sense).

Also thanks for sharing the EE vid on the hankook ion Evo’s - definitely would go that route if I replace all four now. Love how detailed engineering explained gets in his videos too.

I’ll update here later in the week how I go.

Hey Matt,

Have you been able to isolate the issue yet?

 

[Matt1667]

Hey Matt,

Have you been able to isolate the issue yet?

Hey Jombolo - problem solved! (Although I took the nuclear approach vs. the long troubleshooting path).

Last week I took the car in to my tire guy, twice. His diagnosis was that it just sounds like super loud tire noise and didn’t seem localized to a specific tire - also nothing wrong with the wheels, and everything else seemed in order.

I wasn’t prepared to start replacing tires and troubleshooting further because honestly I need the car and I’ve already wasted a bunch of time on this, so I ended up just pulling the trigger on a set of Hankook ion evo’s.

Installed Friday and now the car is whisper quiet. I haven’t taken it for any long trips yet but super impressed by these tires - and wheels are now totally great.

End Result: Yes the Martian’s are amazing, yes I would recommend them - and absolutely pair them with a set of hankook evo ion’s. I’m now selling the old tires for cheap, big loss but it was worth my sanity.

Side note: it’s so quiet in the cabin now it feels unnatural, the car also feels very zippy and comfortable, overall I think ion evo’s and martians are the perfect match, super happy so far.

Here’s a random photo I took this morning, looking good - sorry the lighting isn’t the best.

 

[jombolo]

Hey Jombolo - problem solved! (Although I took the nuclear approach vs. the long troubleshooting path).

Last week I took the car in to my tire guy, twice. His diagnosis was that it just sounds like super loud tire noise and didn’t seem localized to a specific tire - also nothing wrong with the wheels, and everything else seemed in order.

I wasn’t prepared to start replacing tires and troubleshooting further because honestly I need the car and I’ve already wasted a bunch of time on this, so I ended up just pulling the trigger on a set of Hankook ion evo’s.

Installed Friday and now the car is whisper quiet. I haven’t taken it for any long trips yet but super impressed by these tires - and wheels are now totally great.

End Result: Yes the Martian’s are amazing, yes I would recommend them - and absolutely pair them with a set of hankook evo ion’s. I’m now selling the old tires for cheap, big loss but it was worth my sanity.

Side note: it’s so quiet in the cabin now it feels unnatural, the car also feels very zippy and comfortable, overall I think ion evo’s and martians are the perfect match, super happy so far.

Here’s a random photo I took this morning, looking good - sorry the lighting isn’t the best.

Great news that it wasn't the wheels, but sucks you had to replace fairly new tires. And thanks for the pic. Would be great if you could provide an update on the Hankook tires in a few thousand miles. They will probably be my next tire. And thanks for the pic of the wheels. I'm debating between the Martian MW03's and Titan7 T-S5's in Machine Black.

 

[SpicyPaneer]

Quick question, the MW website stays they are forged, but they seem flow forged to me it’s there are putting pieces together. They are quite expensive too An average of $649 each . Too. Can anyone post of them is Satin Gun Metal? I don’t want to go black wheels as my ppf is colored too.

 

[jombolo]

Quick question, the MW website stays they are forged, but they seem flow forged to me it’s there are putting pieces together. They are quite expensive too An average of $649 each . Too. Can anyone post of them is Satin Gun Metal? I don’t want to go black wheels as my ppf is colored too.

Why do you think they are "putting pieces together"? Does it state that somewhere on their website?

 

[Teedub21]

I was on their site looking at the 19x9 options. At just shy of $3k for a set seems pricey for what I’m pretty sure is a forged in China wheel. I know people here do love them though.

 

[SpicyPaneer]

Why do you think they are "putting pieces together"? Does it state that somewhere on their website?

From the op post of the excuses he received. Unless MW can show you the forging process, they are flow forged wheels. Pretty pricey for flow forged. Titan 7 are fully forged wheels and they are prices anywhere from $550 - $650 a rim.

 

[SpicyPaneer]

I was on their site looking at the 19x9 options. At just shy of $3k for a set seems pricey for what I’m pretty sure is a forged in China wheel. I know people here do love them though.

People are downgrading their wheel size to get softer ride too. If you have Gemini wheels I’m to assume your getting or looking for 19’s also. Most of the MW reviews are on lower than factory wheels size. The smaller the rim the bigger the sidewalk = smoother ride quality.

 

[Teedub21]

People are downgrading their wheel size to get softer ride too. If you have Gemini wheels I’m to assume you’re getting or looking for 19’s also. Most of the MW reviews are on lower than factory wheels size. The smaller the rim the bigger the sidewalk = smoother ride quality.

I have a performance, so 21” wheels. Looking at 19’s and 20’s. The car actually rides very nice. New comfort suspension does help. I like the look of the Uber Turbines but not a lot of tire sidewall and the wheels are very heavy.

 

[bodosom]

Hey Jombolo - problem solved! (Although I took the nuclear approach vs. the long troubleshooting path).

Although you're done at this point I wonder if a road-force check would have revealed anything.

 

[Matt1667]

Although you're done at this point I wonder if a road-force check would have revealed anything.

That's a really good question - I wonder too but alas too late now - This is good advice for anyone with a similar issue to get a road-force balance vs. just a traditional balance.

 

[SpicyPaneer]

I have a performance, so 21” wheels. Looking at 19’s and 20’s. The car actually rides very nice. New comfort suspension does help. I like the look of the Uber Turbines but not a lot of tire sidewall and the wheels are very heavy.

Me too 19x9 square setup, the current 9.5 offer zero rash protection on the 9.5 rim in the front.

 

[whisperingshad]

I went with 19" x8.5 Avant guards, save weight and were cheaper than Martians

 

[jombolo]

I went with 19" x8.5 Avant guards, save weight and were cheaper than Martians

pics please?

 

[whisperingshad]

pics please?

In my profile pic, but let me find the thread too