doug

VP13

Flickr Photo Download: Tesla in Half Moon Bay

Oddly enough, looks like the wheels are on backwards. I think we normally see the wheels oriented so that the spokes are angled towards the direction of forward motion, not away from it as we see here.

malcolm

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)

doug

I think front and rear tires may be different widths as well (at least they are on the Elise) so i wouldn't swap them. At any rate, the unusual direction of the spokes on the wheels indicates a left/right swap, not front/back.

The directional spokes must be just for show and shouldn't have any affect on the traction since the rim of the wheel should not be deforming. The tires, however, are likely directional. So maybe the tires got mounted to the wheels opposite from normal.

pgwoosley

FWIW, I think backwards looks better.

Joseph

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" ?

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TEG

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

Joseph

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?

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"Success is 99% failure" - Soichiro Honda

TEG

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).

pgwoosley

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.

doug

Saw VP13 last night and the wheels are still angled differently than "normal".