Musterion's New Staggered Ride (20" wheels + XPEL wrap + Opticoat + Alignment)

[landover]

@yobigd20 I like the first set the best. The Crome ascents really set the Crome on the car off. IMO the white looks the worst.

 

[digitaltim]

Love the setup - been debating what I am going to do once the winter wheels come off. I was not planning to go back to the 21s.

I have been waffling between the Motegi MR126s and the Rial Luganos...your staggered setup looks awesome....and I am craving a different look than the rest of the pack.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[yobigd20]

Love the setup - been debating what I am going to do once the winter wheels come off. I was not planning to go back to the 21s.

I have been waffling between the Motegi MR126s and the Rial Luganos...your staggered setup looks awesome....and I am craving a different look than the rest of the pack.

Decisions, decisions...

I am actually not a fan of the Rial Luganos. IMO they look like a cheap knock off and they just don't look right on the car with all that extra tire around it.

 

[digitaltim]

I am actually not a fan of the Rial Luganos. IMO they look like a cheap knock off and they just don't look right on the car with all that extra tire around it.

I am with you...

20s seem to be the good compromise to fill the wheel well.

 

[Turtle]

Looks great!

 

[Uncle Paul]

Must have been really tempting to paint those pockets body colored instead of white.

 

[Panacea]

Please forgive the naiveté behind this question, but does anyone know how the 20 inch wheels will do with respect to inner tire wear? Also, I have the 21s with the Contis on my car and haven't been driving lately but I did take it out one day a few weeks ago when the temp warmed up in the 50s and the roads were dry. Unfortunately, when I left for work it was still dark out and I hit a pothole (I swear it wasn't there the day before) and of course I got my first flat. So what are the expectations for the 20s wrt potholes?

 

[yobigd20]

Please forgive the naiveté behind this question, but does anyone know how the 20 inch wheels will do with respect to inner tire wear? Also, I have the 21s with the Contis on my car and haven't been driving lately but I did take it out one day a few weeks ago when the temp warmed up in the 50s and the roads were dry. Unfortunately, when I left for work it was still dark out and I hit a pothole (I swear it wasn't there the day before) and of course I got my first flat. So what are the expectations for the 20s wrt potholes?

as long as you're alignment is good, then you're fine. If you think you may have an issue, then get your alignment checked.

you also should not be driving around on those 21s in winter. you're just asking for a flat. summer performance tires get too hard in freezing temps and can't really take a pothole. get some 20" tires that were made for winter and that should be fine for most potholes. can't guarantee you that there isn't one out there with your name on it though.

 

[Musterion]

20" wheels redux

The latest upgrade. Christmas present: folding bike for commuting at work. Dahon Vector P8, 20" wheels.

Matches car:

Folded:

Fits in frunk:

 

[Matahari]

I was looking at purchasing these Motegi MR126 wheels and one of the suppliers I called mentioned the wheels cannot handle the load of the Tesla (each wheel handles 1400 lbs and the total of 2800 lbs is < 3131 GAWR on the rear axle). I called TireRack (they list this wheel on their website) and at first the Sales rep indicated the wheel would work but he eventually checked with their Engineering team and Engineering agreed these wheels are not rated for the Tesla.

I've been enjoying this car too much to get this post together earlier, but wanted to share my "new ride" which has now been substantially street tested. The short story is that after driving a loaner P85 and doing some experiments to compare to my S85, I decided that a large part of the handling difference came from the wheels/tires. Following the path of many others here, I decided on the sweet spot of 20" wheels which have a large choice of reasonable tires, and gave me the opportunity to reduce unsprung weight, choose my new look, and add a staggered configuration. As you see from the photos below documenting my odyssey, I did a lot of my own measurements using household tools and assistants to plan the new config, did the research, and settled on a set of extremely lightweight wheels by Motegi Racing (MR126, lifetime structural warranty):

• Front: 20x8.5, 21.9 lbs., Offset +38mm (Backspacing 6.22”)
• Rear: 20x10, 24.75 lbs., Offset +38mm (Backspacing 6.93”)

I chose to couple these with the highly rated Hankook Ventus S1 noble2 UHP tires:

• Front: 245/40ZR20 99W 500-AA-A
• Rear: 275/35ZR20 102W 500-AA-A

The wheel and tire load and speed ratings exceed the OEM wheel specs. In addition, despite the stagger, there is a significant unsprung weight savings: including wheels and tires, this configuration saves about 25 lbs. (10%) unsprung weight vs. the stock 19" configuration, and about 40 lbs. (16%) over the stock 21" Tesla config.

I did a special order by phone from TireRack to get the right configuration since it is not listed in the database (the closest I found was searching for a staggered configuration for a Camaro SS 1SS). In my PG&E EV Charging thread, PGE EV Rate Timing Chart by Musterion, there is a rendering of the car with the wheels which helped me decide on them and the color, black with milled accents. After they arrived, I was still waiting for some special lug nuts before installing. In the meantime, I took the car to get paint corrected and to do an XPEL Ultimate wrap and Opticoating (thanks Joe at Orinda Motors). So I took the opportunity to Opticoat the new wheels too before installation. Back home, after removing the old wheels at around 3500 miles, I noticed uneven wear on the inside edges of the rears, which triggered my alignment suspicions. I wrote another post on this at Checked Alignment: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - Page 16 which confirmed and fixed the problem (final alignment posted below).

I wanted to thank the many members of this forum for the excellent advice and exhaustive feedback on the Model S in general, and specifically all the reports on various coatings, wheel, and suspension configurations. In particular, my configuration geometry (but not wheel or tire type) matches @johnmodels (My new wheel/tire setup, and tint.) and he gave me useful info on tire pressures. Originally I found that 45 psi all around was not so stable and I was experiencing the now infamous floaty feeling of a misaligned car with toe out in the rear. Indeed, after alignment, the feeling was like night and day, and I now run 45 psi all around with a rock-solid grip. I have logged efficiencies before and after the wheel change, and see similar or better efficiency with the new wheels. I will compile these numbers and post them here later after I choose a cutoff date before the recent spike in low efficiency due to the cold weather spell in the Bay Area. Aesthetically, the XPEL / Opticoat is stunning, and the new wheels are eye-popping. You can see in the photos that the rear wheels are now nearly flush with the fenders (about 26 mm further out than the stock configuration). Behold:

View attachment 38500View attachment 38501View attachment 38502

 

[yobigd20]

I was looking at purchasing these Motegi MR126 wheels and one of the suppliers I called mentioned the wheels cannot handle the load of the Tesla (each wheel handles 1400 lbs and the total of 2800 lbs is < 3131 GAWR on the rear axle). I called TireRack (they list this wheel on their website) and at first the Sales rep indicated the wheel would work but he eventually checked with their Engineering team and Engineering agreed these wheels are not rated for the Tesla.

Well that disappointing. Glad you did your homework though. Saved me that headache. Now the search is on again for a good set of 20" wheels...