Proud New Papa

Have been waiting two long years to join the Tesla family. Saturday, became the proud new Papa of a Midnight Blue 85kWh with tan interior that, happily looks much better in person than in photos. Added a set of wheels and now am luvin every second of it. Previously had a Chevy Volt, which was a great car. Small little thing but was amazingly solid and drove like a big car. All that battery weight down low really help that car ride nicer than my Jag at the time. Was a great car that served its purpose, but finally got the car I really wanted. Was definitely worth the wait!!!!

commasign said:

Congrats! Love the wheels. What are they?

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Thank you everyone for the kind comments. My choice in wheels was very much inspired by the Saleen wheels. I saw the Saleen version at the auto show and loved the wheels. I called Saleen several times to see about getting a set. After about 2 months and several calls & e-mails, they finally responded. $7,250 for the wheels and tires, no tire pressure sensors included. Add about another $350 for those, bringing the total to $7,600. Certainly pricey and I was willing to consider them. I called and e-mailed them again and never got another response. After reading about their impending bankruptcy, I'm no longer surprised considering they make it very hard to do business with them. They originally told me they wanted all the money up front to order them, despite me saying I would pick them up in person. With the lack of response and bankruptcy, I chose not to give them $7,600 + tax with nothing in return.

So, I searched and searched and searched and found my wheels. They looked very similar to me. Not exact, but pretty darn close. The Saleen wheels are a light weight alloy wheel, custom made for the car. My car is the base S85 model, so performance is not an issue to me. Also, I'm more concerned about range. Reading Tesla's release, wheel weight has no real effect on range, so the light weight wheels were of no benefit to me in terms of range. Mine are cast aluminum wheels. Compared with the stock 21" wheels, these are two pounds lighter, so no weight penalty. The biggest difference? PRICE. I chose to keep my stock wheels, tires, sensors in tact. That way I can either sell them separately for $3,000+, based on prices I've seen online, or put them back on the car if I sell it. I didn't get the Continental tire either. Again, performance is not a concern. Tire life is more of a concern. Hearing stories of people wearing out the Continental's after less than 15,000 miles seems ridiculous. Especially considering I just priced a new one with Tesla at $459 (tax and mount/balance included). I've read several people have changed their tires to the Hancook Ventus V12 evo2 and been very happy with them and gotten around 30,000 miles out of them. Got them for less than $200 each. So, $800 for a set of tires versus stock tires at over $1,500. If you have a performance model and are commonly taking corners at the limit of the car, then the Continental's likely have better grip. For everyone else, it appears they're all happy with the Hancook. The tread pattern is very similar. Anyway, my entire tire & wheel package, including tire pressure sensors, came out to less than $2,500 and I got a look very similar to the $7,600 package from Saleen. More than happy! The wheels are: Niche Essen M146, 21" x 9" with a 35 mm offset. They fit perfectly within the fenders. The tire size is the same as the stock tire on the Tesla, so no penalty in range for riding on a bigger tire. Also good for those that would rather keep their stock tires and sensors. Or, sell your stock wheels and tires and put a $1,000 in your pocket when your done!! LOL. If you need a reference on where to get them, send me a message. The place I got them was great. Excellent customer service




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One more thing, they do offer a staggered setup for the Tesla as well, with 21" x 10.5" wheels in the rear.

For anyone interested, because the wheels are a little wider than stock at 9" instead of 8.5", I chose to swap the tires to fill out the wheels just a little better. Went with 275/30/21 Pirelli's. They are almost identical in overall diameter as the stock sized tire, but the extra width brought the edge of tire right out to the end of the wheel for a now perfect fit.

While the stock 245/35/21's will fit on the 21x9" wheel, I highly recommend going with the 275/30/21 if you're even remotely anal about the look being perfect. The added benefit is a little more tire rubber on the ground for likely improved handling. I guess the possible down side could be slightly less range due to the tire being wider. Same reason the range with 21" wheels from Tesla is rated at 3% less than 19" equipped cars. I however have not noticed a difference in range in the real world. Still averaging between 317 to 349 wh/mi.