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Real World Experience with 19 Inch Wheels - who has received their S with them?

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Time to Finalize - have read many comments from people who have taken the Amped tour and Test drives, but wanted to get any input from people who have received their Model S with 19 inch wheels and what they think. Everything I have driven has 21 inch wheels on them, so I was wondering what real owners thought. Not interested in the discussion regarding snow tires, etc - just wanting feedback from those who have ordered, received, and are driving their S with 19 inch wheels and their thoughts. Thanks!
 
I have 1000 miles on my Sig S with the 19" wheels and Goodyear tires. No complaints here, but my car's not the Performance version...because I'm not a Performance driver. Even so, it sure is fun to punch the go pedal. :biggrin:
 
Same as stevezzzz, 19" wheels, close to 6000 miles so far, snow and ice, mountain roads, and lots of California easy driving. We live on a hill at 1500 feet and I wanted all seasons at least for driving in rain and the once in a while snow. You can't get all seasons on 21", and I would worry about not enough tread. I experienced a little planing while driving on soft slush in the mountains with the 19" standard tires. You gotta slow down.

Passed a jeep which had "traction" to take off on the snowy road, but didn't make the curve. Landed on the top. Probably dead. Sad. We were the 3rd car by him.
 
Love the 19" wheels. Only 450 miles so far, but the wet traction is outstanding. I have the Performance Model. I punched it on wet roads and it spun for just a second and took off like a rocket. I don't see any issue with the 19" wheels.
 
Could anyone with the 19" wheels post some good data on the energy usage with them (and for 21"'s from anyone else)? I'm very interested to see how easy it is to see the "cost" of driving with the 21"'s over the 19"'s. The only number I've seen from another post is 285W/mi at 60 mph.

Thanks!

Peter
 
It's hard to compare apples to apples: too many variables. All I can say really is that in 1000 miles of mixed driving I have averaged 332 Wh/mile. That's in a standard Sig S w/19" wheels at 5000' elevation, in mostly dry conditions.
 
Going to the Canada border probably helped a bit ;>
I plan on driving that many miles in the first month.

I doubt anyone will be able to tell differences between the wheels unless they are driven in a controlled environment/ long regular driving paths and habits with each tire



I have a feeling that it's a large enough difference that it's won't be very hard to see the difference. Say it's 7%, in a semi controlled test you drive with cruse control on at 60 mph on the highway for 5 miles. Take the number from the car, turn around and repeat with the opposite direction on the same road, then average the numbers. With 7% we would see numbers like 285W/mi and 305 W/mi which seems well in the range of measurable.

Peter
 
I have a feeling that it's a large enough difference that it's won't be very hard to see the difference. Say it's 7%, in a semi controlled test you drive with cruse control on at 60 mph on the highway for 5 miles. Take the number from the car, turn around and repeat with the opposite direction on the same road, then average the numbers. With 7% we would see numbers like 285W/mi and 305 W/mi which seems well in the range of measurable.

Peter
corrected. really pretty easy if you have a couple of jacks and cars. Tires on the wheels could make a little difference
 
2 cars need to drive side-by side on the highway, one with 21" and one with 19" and compare their data. Or maybe that's easier where I live and one can find quiet highways...

This kind of comparison gets pretty tricky. In practice you need two cars and four runs, minimum. In the first run car A leads and in the second run car B leads then switch wheels and repeat the two runs. They need to synchronize what accessories they have on, roof open, etc. Both cars need be equipped with the same options (other than tires). When starting out for each run, both cars need to be charged to the same level--the easiest way would be to do a normal charge just before each run. Ideally you want them to end the charge at the same time so you'll need two electrical connections. Less ideally, you wait until the batteries are both at the same temperature. Because it's going to take at least two days to do all four runs----the second two runs need to be done on a day with the same temperature and relative humidity. Each run needs to be long enough that stoplights and traffic won't skew the numbers, 100 km is the minimum distance 200 km would be even better.
 
@jerry33 - Perhaps a couple Model S owners would be willing to trade some celebrity for their time, having Mythbusters test it. ;)

As long as they have a good methodology. I've done a number of these kind of tests, and they aren't nearly as easy as it might seem to get results you can stand behind.