Soft OEM rims?

There's been a few mentions I've noticed here on TMC about bent rims and I didn't think much of it (except "what the heck are you driving over?!?") ... until recently.
I complained about a vibration or shimmy that would happen on the highway -- kinda like a wheel out of balance, but intermittent. Sometimes it was a smooth drive, other times not so much. I have the 21" rims from Tesla. I was told that all my rims are in various states of being bent ... :scared: I really haven't hit anything major -- nothing I haven't hit in any of my other cars (which didn't cause problems). And I know Aaron (who has 19's) just found out the same thing about his car. So now with the other TMC reports (someone here has been through something like 7 rims) and my car (and Aaron's) I'm really starting to wonder ... I want a smooth ride but why on earth would I replace all my rims (either 21's or 19's -- doesn't appear to matter) if they'll just bend again? Should I go with another set? How do I know those will hold up? ... thoughts?

yobigd20 said:

if you feel the vibration increase as speed increased it's probably just tire imbalance.

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Except that it's inconsistent. I've had tire imbalance before. This isn't it. Plus Tesla investigated and rotated the wheels and they're visibly warped (they're clearly not perfectly round while watching them rotate).

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Uncle Paul said:

21" rims on Tesla will be much more susceptible to bending that the 19" because the lower profile tires provide much less impact resistance that the much same diameter tires on the smaller 19" wheels.

This applies to all vehicles, not just Tesla.

Switching to 19" will give your wheels much more protection, as well as a smoother ride.

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I would just go to 19's except that I know the 19's are bending, too. So I could spend a lot of money only to not end up solving the problem.

The potholes here aren't THAT bad (and I'm good at avoiding them). Like I said I've hit much worse (including in the Roadster!) and never had issues in other cars. Been living and driving here for 23 years. All four of my wheels are bent.

The real question I'm asking here is do we know of better rims that I should get or should I just go with Tesla's 19's and cross my fingers? I don't want to spend another few thousand dollars and just hope ...

green1 said:

I'm curious, I haven't been seeing threads about bent 19s, only about bent 21s, do you have more information on this?

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I haven't done the research here to count who has what -- I'm only aware that a friend of mine who owns one with 19's has been told by Tesla all his rims are bent.

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meloccom said:

If your wheels are not too distorted there are companies that can straighten the wheel without replacement.
I had a Mercedes that I couldn't get the wheels to properly balance until my tyre\tire shop sent the rims to be straightened.
Ran the repaired wheels for 5 or 6 years after that without problems.

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Interesting -- thanks for the tip!