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Tesla Cybertruck Aero Wheel Covers Are Chewing Into Tire Sidewalls

The Cybertruck's fancy Goodyear tires are being chewed up by its wheel covers. Here's what's happening next.

Tesla has said that the Cybertruck's production ramp-up would take some time. Like any of its new vehicle launches, the automaker will likely find processes that can be improved upon, costs that can be cut, and components that don't wear in the real world as they did in testing.

As it turns out, that's exactly the case with the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck's aero wheel covers. Some early adopters have found that the covers are eating away at the sidewall of their tires. As a result, Tesla has reportedly stopped including the aero covers with new Cybertruck deliveries, possibly until they are redesigned. Let's dig into the problem with the help of a video by .

factory tires on the Cybertruck are pretty unique. In fact, they're made by Goodyear specifically for the Cybertruck, complete with custom sidewalls. That's not to say you can't get a similar size replacement for them, but the fancy designs on the sidewall of the factory tires are unique to Tesla.

That being said, the design in the sidewall is meant to match up to the Cybertruck's aero covers. These hard plastic covers function similarly to the ones found on the Model 3; they are removable and meant to improve range. However, they extend past the actual wheel itself and mesh into the design of the aero cover.

The entire cover isn't hard plastic, however. Tesla anticipated that the cover could make contact with the tire itself, so it made the ends of the covers a softer, flexible rubber compound so that they wouldn't dig into the sidewall. The covers are also spaced out from the edge of the tire several millimeters so they don't actually make contact with the wheel under normal driving circumstances... or so Tesla thought.

As it turns out, a heavy vehicle will deform the bottom of the tire outward at the contact patch where the tire meets the ground. That's completely normal. In fact, it's been this way pretty much since the first tubeless radial tires were commercialized by Michelin in the 1940s. But that deformation causes the aero cover's rubber to make contact with the sidewall of the tire.

So with each rotation of the sidewall, the rubber caps of the aero cover rub the sidewall and remove a small portion of the rubber. You can see how this can become a problem after a decent amount of miles. It could also be the reason that we saw one of these aero covers fly off of a Cybertruck in September.
clear that Tesla is looking to fix the issue. With the covers no longer being available until at least March, something is in the works. And it's not like Tesla hasn't explored alternative aero cover designs in the past; its current ones just look less like something you'd pick up off the shelf at AutoZone—hopefully, for the sake of new owners, it will remain that way if the covers are desdesigned as expected.

While this is definitely an issue of premature wear, I can't help but wonder which will come first, replacing the tire due to sidewall wear, or replacing the tires due to a 6,800 pound, 845-horsepower EV chewing through tread?

https://insideevs.com/news/707193/te...el-cover-flaw/

 

It's stuff like this that detracts me from Tesla. I was a fan of this thing, but now it looks like it's just a gigantic piece of junk that looks cool.

Based on things I've seen it unable to do (like take a minorrrrrr off road incline a FWD car could probably do), then this mess with tires?? Tire and rim combo engineered so badly, what the hell else is janky???

 

Just give it one or two revisions, and I guarantee it will be one of the best trucks out there. Tesla is known for putting out products that are still not quite ready, it will get better as they work out the kinks. First generation Tesla products are for enthusiasts and techies, not for "normal" buyers

Had I based my decision for buying my model Y on a first generation model 3, I probably wouldn't of bought a Tesla

 

so an obscrure and unique tire / wheelcover issue makes the vehicle a 'gigantic piece of junk' in your view. not biased much then.

if you're looking for critical videos of cybertruck designed to stir things up to get views, you'll find them. (about any item or service for sale). controversy sells.

 

Uhhh, yeah kinda. This gets a pass??? You're giving it one. Why can Telsa get away with this stunning lack of quality control? Tesla always gets a pass. Imagine a Lexus delivered like this. They can't even design the wheels right... I am assuming this causes a safety hazard. It sure doesn't speak well for the rest of the vehicle. This thing ain't cheap.

I saw a gentle incline that the CT couldn't make it up. It wasn't a paid for thing.

 

Extremely classy way to try and dish out insults. Jealous maybe? Well, glad there are a lot of people below your median that made Tesla the the number one seller around the world, as well as making it the 8th highest company in capitalization

Keep up the personal attacks

 

Tesla can get away with it because...they are not Lexus. Tesla has been releasing vehicles in their early stages since the Roadster. Early adopters fund their vehicles, and they constantly make incremental improvements. And this strategy works, their cars get better over time and now they outsell any car Lexus has to offer. The only vehicle in North America on the market that outsells the model Y is the F-150.

This issue with the tires will be fixed, if it's truly an issue they will change the tires in warranty and then move on to the next discovered issue. That's Tesla's philosophy, if someone doesn't like it, buy a Lexus 😂

 

A $13,000 Mitsubishi Mirage, or whatever the cheapest car on the market is with self eating tires would be unacceptable.

 

the tire damage thing is odd as you'd have expected that particular issue to manifest itself during testing where Tesla engineers put exponentially more miles on this truck than any owner has been able to do since taking delivery. Regardless, fix as you find is exactly how Tesla goes about things. It will get addressed one way or the other.

 

Oops, yeah they should've caught that.

I'm guessing proper air pressure in the tires might slow down the damage from rubbing.

Just a guess tho.

 

I would rather drive a Cyber truck with self eating tires than a Mitsubishi Mirage with perfect non eating tires. And I don't even like the Cyber truck looks. But I think we've established you won't be getting a Cyber Truck 😅

 

Accidental double post...

 

I agree that approx half of people in general are morons but this doesn't always coincide with intelligence.

For instance the first point you made does not logically connect with the second point. Lol

 

imo I think this is the issue. People here who defend Tesla's are pretty biased when it comes to any other manufacturers and it causes other people to sway on the extreme of hating on Tesla. (not saying others aren't biased towards toyota / lexus).

Example is seen here, hubcaps have existed for maybe 100 years or more, yet Tesla could not get it right. Sure, its a bit different than other hubcaps, but imo that's irrelevant. Now instead of saying how ridiculous this issue is, how did the engineers not see this happening and they f*ed up. We get "This issue with the tires will be fixed, if it's truly an issue they will change the tires in warranty and then move on to the next discovered issue."

However, I am 100% sure when the Bz4x had the possibility of wheels falling off you likely didn't dismiss it saying "the issue with the wheels falling off will be fixed". You probably ridiculed Toyota and the BZ4x.


Now my opinion is both issues are ridiculous and should have been caught well before vehicles were sold to customers. Complete oversight by both manufacturers and down right silly. A wheel falling off might be considered a worse issue but a hubcap digging into the sidewall increasing the possibility of a blow out isn't much better.

 

I admit, I'm biased towards Tesla, but that being said, Tesla was never founded as a Luxury brand, or even a Premium brand (that label was put on them). From it's very beginnings it put out experimental vehicles, and never claimed otherwise. So I put Toyota/Lexus on different footings. For example, a bumper falling off of an early Model 3 driving off the Tesla lot was the norm, but wheels falling off of a BZ4x was a surprise. When Tesla comes out with a half baked vehicle, usually only early adopters buy them until Tesla fixes all the issues. When Toyota comes out with a half baked BZ4x that can barely get 150 miles range, takes an hour to charge, I was completely shocked. I myself would never ever buy an earl Model Cyber Truck...I would wait a couple of years for them to iron out the issues. I expect when Toyota or Lexus comes out with a new vehicle it's perfect.

I have different expectations when it comes to Toyota and Lexus, a brand that's been around for nearly 100 years now and prides themselves on perfection. Take it or leave it