Model 3 Performance Changed 20" OEM Wheels to 19" OEM Wheels - The Economics and the Pros & Cons

[GoergeJetson]

After 40,000 miles on the original tires, I decided it was time to figure out if I wanted to spend $365 x 4 + tax + installation (~$1,662) for a set of 20" Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, or consider moving to a 19" wheel and cheaper tire. Sure, could have gone with a 20" Fallen Azenis FK510 (~$866 installed) if all I wanted to do was spend less on tires. If I went with the Falken tires, I was concerned my range would decrease and road noise increase. A did a lot of research before changing tire sizes, however, there isn't that much definitive information from Model 3 Performance owners who downsized their wheels from 20" to 19".

I decided to get a set of used 19" Tesla Sport Wheels from a former Tesla owner who sold their car with aftermarket wheels, have those wheels powder coated (just to be different) and install a set of 19" Hankook Ventus S1 EVO tires. Used set of wheels cost $550, powder coating $400, tires $1100 installed, TPMS sensors $78 on Amazon, total of $2,128. So I spent about $466 more than if I had just installed another set of PS4S tires.

Pros of the 19" wheels and tires:
1) I have an extra set of wheels in case I get a flat tire that I can't fix with a tire plug.
2) I can just drop off the wheels, have the tire shop swap out the tires, then I can put them on the car when I want without being concerned about the tire shop causing any damage to my car. I've had this happen more than once so, it's more just something I like to have more control over.
3) I spent more on this set of tires, but the next set of tires will cost about $600 less. Also, if I didn't spend money to have the wheels powder coated, it would have only been about $66 more.
4) Potentially more range. Some estimates show as much as a 3% decrease in range going from 19" to 20" wheels, however, so far I've not seen much in the way of a range increase, it seems more like a range neutral. I see very close to the same Wh/mi on my 80 mile (each way) commute to and from work, on flat land in roughly the same weather. It's gotten a bit cooler so I think I'm using a little more energy but that's more from the cooler temps than any change in the wheels and tires.
5) Very slight improvement in ride quality. It's not much, but I'd say the ride is ever so slightly smoother. Not much difference on rough roads though, which I had expected to feel some improvement but it does not seem to any much better.
6) Maybe a bit more protection against getting a bent wheel, however, I've not run into any issues with the 20" wheels.
7) Maybe another 0.1s faster acceleration, maybe.
8) Road noise is maybe 1db better as measure by my sound meter, but that's comparing a set of worn tires to a set of new tires which probably always causes a slight improvement in road noise.

Cons of the 19" wheels and tires:
1) Spent more than I would have if I had just replaced the OEM tires with another set of 20" PS4S tires.
2) Spent much more than if I had gone with the 20" Falken FK510 tires.
3) IMO, the OEM 19" wheels don't look as good as the OEM 20" wheels. Tires are the same diameter but the larger rims are more to my liking.
4) Overall grip, braking and handling probably not as good as with the Michelin tires but still seems to be pretty good.

After it's all said and done, I'm thinking that maybe if I'd have gone with the Falken FK510 tires, I might have been just as happy, although I would probably have lost a bit of range and performance. Also, I would not have an extra set of wheels in case of a catastrophic flat. I do carry a tire plug kit and a compressor in the trunk though.

I'm sure there is plenty more to discuss but I'll end this post with some pictures.

 

[euro.r]

Personally, I would've just spent the $1662 on new PS4Ss and called it day because as you pointed out in the Cons section, "3) IMO, the OEM 19" wheels don't look as good as the OEM 20" wheels."

I think if you lowered your car with your new 19" wheels that would totally change the discussion.

 

[GoergeJetson]

Personally, I would've just spent the $1662 on new PS4Ss and called it day because as you pointed out in the Cons section, "3) IMO, the OEM 19" wheels don't look as good as the OEM 20" wheels."

I think if you lowered your car with your new 19" wheels that would totally change the discussion.

Rather than just shell out nearly $1,700 for a set of tires, I decided to look for other options. I put on around 20k-25k miles a year on my car and was looking at how much money I'd save in the long run, like over the next several years.

As for lowering the car, the wheel gap is exactly the same since the diameter of the tire remained unchanged going from 20" to 19" tires. Besides, I'm not looking to spend more money to change the ride and handling of the car, just to have a 1/2" less wheel gap. This is just my observations of downsizing the wheels.

 

[ay221]

Aren't the 20s on the Tesla prone to flats?

 

[GoergeJetson]

Aren't the 20s on the Tesla prone to flats?

I don't think any more so than the 19" wheels, I don't think the nail cares what size tire you have when you run it over.

 

[Rice&Curry]

The low profile tires are more prone to wheel damage from high momentum impact on potholes and other road obstacles. So far as flats are concerned, I think there is no difference between 19 and 20" other than the 20" has more contact area with the road and hence has a very slight higher % chance in coming in contact with a nail/screw on the road.

 

[GoergeJetson]

The low profile tires are more prone to wheel damage from high momentum impact on potholes and other road obstacles. So far as flats are concerned, I think there is no difference between 19 and 20" other than the 20" has more contact area with the road and hence has a very slight higher % chance in coming in contact with a nail/screw on the road.

Not sure about more contact area on the 20" tire, they are the same width and same diameter as the 19" tire.

 

[jackmott]

• The contact patch of a 20" 235mm tire is the same as a 19" 235 tire, there is just less sidewall. The outer diameter is also the same, or nearly so.
• You are somewhat more prone to flat with 20"s since you are more likely to flat from breaking the wheels on a pothole
• There is not a significant range difference between just changing wheel diameters, when people talk about wheel diameters and range they are speaking imprecisely, it is usually that the tire is primary difference. The smaller wheels are usually specced with more efficient tires. Tire rolling resistance is a big deal when it comes to range. Aerodynamics a distant second, weight an even more distant third

If you wanted the ultimate performance, you would figure out what the best tire is you can fit on the car, and get a wheel to match that tire, whatever diameter that happens to be. If you wanted the ultimate range, you would find the best rolling resistance tire that will fit on the car, and get an aero wheel to match that tire. Generally enthusiasts approach wheels and tires from the wrong direction, picking wheels first and then tires as an afterthought. So it goes.

 

[dfwatt]

• The contact patch of a 20" 235mm tire is the same as a 19" 235 tire, there is just less sidewall. The outer diameter is also the same, or nearly so.
• You are somewhat more prone to flat with 20"s since you are more likely to flat from breaking the wheels on a pothole
• There is not a significant range difference between just changing wheel diameters, when people talk about wheel diameters and range they are speaking imprecisely, it is usually that the tire is primary difference. The smaller wheels are usually specced with more efficient tires. Tire rolling resistance is a big deal when it comes to range. Aerodynamics a distant second, weight an even more distant third

If you wanted the ultimate performance, you would figure out what the best tire is you can fit on the car, and get a wheel to match that tire, whatever diameter that happens to be. If you wanted the ultimate range, you would find the best rolling resistance tire that will fit on the car, and get an aero wheel to match that tire. Generally enthusiasts approach wheels and tires from the wrong direction, picking wheels first and then tires as an afterthought. So it goes.

It's amazing to me to hear all this discussion and angst in relationship to Flat tires and bent rims with 20-inch Tesla performance rims and no one is thinking that maybe at least 50% of the problem is the rim and not simply the size of it?

We've had one slightly bent rim in 65000 miles of driving on 20 inch rims and half of that is on crappy New England roads, but these are not the OEM rims these are aftermarket forged or 'flow formed' or rolled Barrel Wheels. They are actually far more resistant to impact than the OEM wheels which were not resistant at all.

My wife did have one flat tire but that had nothing to do with impact damage she just ran over a big nail. Hard to believe that an 18-inch wheel and tire assembly would not have met the same fate.

Please consider getting aftermarket wheels that are forged! You will really save yourself a lot of grief and in the end a lot of money by getting something that holds up over the long haul. Unfortunately Tesla cut major corners on this one. These are cheap Mexican OEM cast alloys. Not only are they brittle but they are heavy. Get rid of them if you are serious about not just performance but durability!

 

[jackmott]

Forged wheels might be more resistant, might not. Often forged wheels are lighter and total impact resistance isn't necessarily better, or enough better to matter. There just isn't much tire there in the OEM 20" size. Everyone thinks their new wheels are bullet proof till they find out they aren't.

 

[dfwatt]

Forged wheels might be more resistant, might not. Often forged wheels are lighter and total impact resistance isn't necessarily better, or enough better to matter. There just isn't much tire there in the OEM 20" size. Everyone thinks their new wheels are bullet proof till they find out they aren't.

I've owned at least 20 sets of forged wheels. I think you're just plain wrong. Forging allows you to get greater impact resistance and lesser weight. The notion that that greater strength is something that I'm conflating with being bulletproof is just a joke. Nothing is indestructible. But Metallurgy is metallurgy. Forged alloy is denser grain and stronger. Those are facts. Not suppositions.

 

[tm1v2]

Forged wheels might be more resistant, might not. Often forged wheels are lighter and total impact resistance isn't necessarily better, or enough better to matter. There just isn't much tire there in the OEM 20" size. Everyone thinks their new wheels are bullet proof till they find out they aren't.

Forged metal is fundamentally different though. We all know forged metal is stronger - it's less likely to crack. I believe that benefit holds even for very weight-focused forged wheels - they're still less likely to crack.

Putting this another way, at a reasonable limit of how thin/light/delicate one can make forged wheels before they'll bend too easily, they're still less likely to catastrophically crack than an equivalent cast wheel. At least that's my understanding.

Nothing is unbreakable of course, nobody here is saying that.

 

[Trackjack]

I went with forged 19" wheels to replace the stock 20's on my M3P and feel it was a win--win proposition. I don't believe aesthetics suffered at all and both ride quality and wheel protection was enhanced. Stock vs after market wheel swap photos....

 

[tm1v2]

@Trackjack that looks great, better than stock. What wheels are those, and what's the wheel & tire sizes?

Also your track toy is a V6 Cup R Exige? That thing looks insanely fun. M3P must feel like a boat to you!

 

[Trackjack]

@Trackjack that looks great, better than stock. What wheels are those, and what's the wheel & tire sizes?

Also your track toy is a V6 Cup R Exige? That thing looks insanely fun. M3P must feel like a boat to you!

@tm1v2 -- Thanks for the kind words.

Wheels are 19x8.5" Martians shod with 245/40 Michelin PS4 tires.

The M3P feels surprisingly nimble for a 4000+ pound car, but is clearly not my choice for track duty. My Exige weighs in @ 2190 wet w/o me.

Added a new track toy to the stable just recently......

 

[Anthony1960]

Aren't the 20s on the Tesla prone to flats?

I’ve had 19’ Continentals and lost two passenger side tires from a pot hole in Connecticut never mind the screws and nails I’ve picked up over the years.

 

[stevehifi]

Wow you got 40k miles out a set of PS4S and worried about tire cost?
Further, you're driving an M3P and worried about losing range?

The 20s will improve steering sharpness over the 19s due to the shorter sidewall, so not something you want to give up.
Unless you're going to a wider 19" wheel to run a bigger tire, there's no advantage aside from lower tire cost.

But again you're driving a 'performance car' and worried about tire cost and range ... so not sure how you can complain about
consumables and cost to operate...(which is relatively cheap compared to a comparable ICE car)

 

[turns2stone]

Wow you got 40k miles out a set of PS4S and worried about tire cost?
Further, you're driving an M3P and worried about losing range?

The 20s will improve steering sharpness over the 19s due to the shorter sidewall, so not something you want to give up.
Unless you're going to a wider 19" wheel to run a bigger tire, there's no advantage aside from lower tire cost.

But again you're driving a 'performance car' and worried about tire cost and range ... so not sure how you can complain about
consumables and cost to operate...(which is relatively cheap compared to a comparable ICE car)

I went from OEM 20s to OEM 19s Sport V2s on my '23 Model 3 Performance. I previously spent 3 years with a '20 M3P on the 20s, so I'm very familiar with the pros and cons.

I don't notice any difference in steering sharpness. I do notice a difference in comfort, especially over broken roads. And the range benefit is real. Most of my driving is around town, so it doesn't matter. But on road trips, gaining an extra ~10% might mean saving 10+ minutes of charging when the family is just ready to be off the road and at the destination.

@GoergeJetson I'm surprised you didn't notice a difference in range/efficiency? I went from ~300Wh/m to 240Wh/m.

Probably most importantly, my anxiety level has gone way down. Specifically when driving through bad potholes, or where I might potentially curb a wheel. The 19s are like my 'throwaway' set. If one gets bent/broken/flat, I have another full set I can bolt on in about 45 min.

 

[GoergeJetson]

@turns2stone

I put the 20" OEM wheels and tires back on after a few thousand miles on the 19" wheels with OEM tires. I figured the OEM 20s still had some life left, I ended up getting nearly 61k miles out of the Michelin PS4S tires and they probably could go another thousand or so miles. My lifetime efficiency is holding steady at 303 Wh/mi. I've also changed jobs and now have a 54 mi round trip commute instead of 160 mi round trip commute so it's not as critical that I maximize my range as much. However, the best I ever saw on the interstate, driving at a constant 75 mph was 286 Wh/mi. I check my tire pressures often and keep them at or slightly above 42 psi. I don't expect to gain much efficiency, since I didn't see anything before but I will keep an eye it and report back.

 

[GoergeJetson]

For my 2019 TM3P, changing from OEM wheels with 20" Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires to 19" OEM wheels and Hankook Ventus S1 EVO 3 tires (same tire Tesla has been putting on the LR with 19" wheels from the factory) I'm still seeing no range improvement, my Wh/mi is about the same as before. Guessing the PS4S tires have fairly low rolling resistance even though it's also a high performance tire, and the 3 lb weight saving per wheel does not seem to be helping much either.

Originally, I thought I would try changing out the OEM wheels to the 19" size to save money on tires but I think in the long run, paying the extra money for the 20" PS4S tires that lasted probably twice as long, is the smarter alternative given I'm not seeing an improvement in range and possibly no cost benefit considering the tires are 2/3rds the cost but may only last half as long.