directional wheels

doug said:

Oddly enough, looks like the wheels are on backwards.

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They are. Does this make any significant difference given that the forces on the wheel will reverse when switching from traction to braking?

Are owners allowed to swap the front pair over and the rear pair over? (I think front and rear are different diameters)

FWIW, I think backwards looks better.

Yup. The wheels are on backwards. From the Tesla website: Tesla Motors - safety

"The unique design of the spokes leans clockwise on the right side of the car and counter-clockwise on the left."

But if the above statement is true, how do you put on the wheels "backwards" ?

Joseph said:

how do you put on the wheels "backwards" ?

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Umm, mount the right wheels on the left side and the left wheels on the right side?

TEG said:

Umm, mount the right wheels on the left side and the left wheels on the right side?

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You're right.

This was what I was thinking:

Wheels that have spokes spinning clockwise when viewed on the right side, will appear to spin counter-clockwise when viewed from the left side.

But, I forgot that a wheel can only be installed one way, so when mounted on a car, can only be viewed one way. A clockwise spoke wheel on the right side of the car, will still be a clokwise spoke wheel when mounted on the left side of the car because the wheel needs to be flipped over.

So, they have two different wheel designs for the same car (clockwise and counter-clockwise) Isn't that a bit unusual?

Joseph said:

So, they have two different wheel designs for the same car (clockwise and counter-clockwise) Isn't that a bit unusual?

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Yes it is!

Also, some modern tires have unidirectional tread patterns now. Tire shops sometimes mistakenly mount the tires backwards on the wheel so you get tires that draw in rain rather than push it out. (Not good when that happens).

TEG said:

Umm, mount the right wheels on the left side and the left wheels on the right side?

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If you prefer the wheels on the left side to appear clockwise (and on tghe rirght site counter clockwise), The better answer would be to have a tire place remount the tires so that they run in the correct direction after the wheels are mounted.

This is because the tires are designed to work better in one direction than the other.

Joseph said:

So, they have two different wheel designs for the same car (clockwise and counter-clockwise) Isn't that a bit unusual?

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Yeah that makes no sense to me from an aesthetic prospective and in an extreme case an aerodynamic one as the orientation could have a different affect on airflow on both sides.

I suppose from an economic viewpoint it's better to only have to order 2 sets of 2 wheels per car rather than 4 since the front and rear wheels are different sizes.

doug said:

Wow, great photos! I notice that the chirality of the wheel spokes is opposite from how we normally see them. Does Tesla have a preferred direction for aesthetic reasons?






.

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Chirality? Did you recently take organic chemistry? :smile:

TEG said:

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TEG, what happened to the front wheel on that red one? Looks like someone swapped the left and right sides....

Yep, it does look "backwards". That wouldn't be the first time we have seen a Roadster with mis-mounted wheels. I don't know if it was intentional or a mistake.

Dyslexic Ranger?

Same car - other side. Wheels definitely mis-mounted.

No problem with the original sport wheels, they're not sided!

mpt said:

No problem with the original sport wheels, they're not sided!

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But isn't there still a problem with the tire wear or vibration?