New style round wheel covers-- where do rear tabs align?

[roebling]

I just picked up my new Cybertruck and it came with the new OEM, round, one piece, bureaucrat-safe wheel covers. But they weren't installed, just thrown in the boot, still shrink-wrapped together. My question: the back side of the discs has a single pair of (presumably) alignment tabs on one of the seven spokes. As the truck's OEM wheels also have a single point of discordance, their air valves, I suspect the wheel covers' molded tabs are aligned relative to the tire valves. But, where? No instructions were provided in the packaging of the wheel covers but probably no one at Tesla HQ anticipated that their Orlando techs would shirk such an easy task as snapping on 4 hubcaps.
Anybody know anything about proper installation of the new OEM wheel covers? Don't know that the extra weight of the molded-in alignment tabs could throw those big tires out of balance but neither do I want to guess wrong and have to buy a set of those pricey monsters any sooner than necessary!

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[roebling]

Studying the pictures, I now think I know how these new wheelcovers were supposed to be installed. On the backside, between the (alignment?) tabs but near the hub is a tiny molded-in icon, maybe ¼"x¼". Hard to tell, obscured by raindrops as it is, it could be a poorly formed Tesla "T" logo, but I've had 3 Teslas and "poorly formed" has never been an attribute of their manufacturing. It looks to me like a well-formed tire pressure sensor and so I'm betting the Tesla v.p. for Hubcap Design or some harried engineer, perhaps, thought that design explained everything perfectly clearly -- that "spoke" goes over the tire pressure sensor/sender unit, a/k/a the tire valve.

 

[Garee]

Wife likes to drive over curbs and so far two wheel covers have come off. Fortunately I retrieve them and put them back on. I have warned her twice! I might even put my phone number en graving them inside. They are $150 for a pair. Has anyone lost wheel covers in this way?

 

[roebling]

Studying the pictures, I now think I know how these new wheelcovers were supposed to be installed. On the backside, between the (alignment?) tabs but near the hub is a tiny molded-in icon, maybe ¼"x¼". Hard to tell, obscured by raindrops as it is, it could be a poorly formed Tesla "T" logo, but I've had 3 Teslas and "poorly formed" has never been an attribute of their manufacturing. It looks to me like a well-formed tire pressure sensor and so I'm betting the Tesla v.p. for Hubcap Design or some harried engineer, perhaps, thought that design explained everything perfectly clearly -- that "spoke" goes over the tire pressure sensor/sender unit, a/k/a the tire valve.

Studying the pictures, I now think I know how these new wheelcovers were supposed to be installed. On the backside, between the (alignment?) tabs but near the hub is a tiny molded-in icon, maybe ¼"x¼". Hard to tell, obscured by raindrops as it is, it could be a poorly formed Tesla "T" logo, but I've had 3 Teslas and "poorly formed" has never been an attribute of their manufacturing. It looks to me like a well-formed tire pressure sensor and so I'm betting the Tesla v.p. for Hubcap Design or some harried engineer, perhaps, thought that design explained everything perfectly clearly -- that "spoke" goes over the tire pressure sensor/sender unit, a/k/a the tire valve.

Uh, noooo, that's all wrong. When I dried the water off the wheel cover, surprise, the "tire sensor icon" wiped off as if it too was just water. (It was.)
So I tried putting wheel covers on, without thinking, like a real mechanic . I centered the molded-in spring-loaded "Y"s on spokes, and 1) it wouldn't attach, and, worse, 2) the metal spring component scratched my new ride's painted wheel spokes. After many hours of intense study, or maybe just a half a minute that seemed like hours, I decided it might work if I aligned the hubcap's seven rear, spring-loaded "Y" clamps between each of the 7 pairs of wheel spokes, instead of centering a Y's over every other spoke. The sole tabbed spoke, I still suspected, should be located opposite the tire air valve, to help balance the wheel.
Still don't know if that's what the tabs are for, maybe they're an aid to future automation of the installation, but I know the 7 spring-loaded Y's in the backs of the wheel covers locked into place between those 7 pairs of spikes, each one with a satisfying loud "CLUNK". So, WTH, I'm calling the job done!

 

[ABILISK]

You figured it out. There are 7 pairs of spokes on the wheel and the 7 Ys on the cover go between each pair.

 

[roebling]

You figured it out. There are 7 pairs of spokes on the wheel and the 7 Ys on the cover go between each pair.

And the tabs?

 

[Outlaw1]

Not sure what you mean. It just all locked into place for me when I aligned the Y's and the center piece to the wheel. I hit all around the hub cap and the center to lock everything in place.

 

[ABILISK]

And the tabs?

I honestly never noticed the tabs, I started using center caps instead of covers pretty immediately.

 

[Alto]

I just picked up my new Cybertruck and it came with the new OEM, round, one piece, bureaucrat-safe wheel covers. But they weren't installed, just thrown in the boot, still shrink-wrapped together. My question: the back side of the discs has a single pair of (presumably) alignment tabs on one of the seven spokes. As the truck's OEM wheels also have a single point of discordance, their air valves, I suspect the wheel covers' molded tabs are aligned relative to the tire valves. But, where? No instructions were provided in the packaging of the wheel covers but probably no one at Tesla HQ anticipated that their Orlando techs would shirk such an easy task as snapping on 4 hubcaps.
Anybody know anything about proper installation of the new OEM wheel covers? Don't know that the extra weight of the molded-in alignment tabs could throw those big tires out of balance but neither do I want to guess wrong and have to buy a set of those pricey monsters any sooner than necessary!

Can you air to the tire without removing this wheel cover?

 

[roebling]

Not sure what you mean. It just all locked into place for me when I aligned the Y's and the center piece to the wheel. I hit all around the hub cap and the center to lock everything in place.

Can you air to the tire without removing this wheel cover?

Probably but I haven't tried it yet. I can see the air valve but it's slightly below the surface of the wheel cover. An angled air chuck might go right in there. Most people will just pop the hubcaps off, though. They attach really easily, after you figure out the alignment.

 

[Garee]

Love my wheel covers, FYI do not let your wife drive over curbs, they fall off. Luckily, it has done it twice, and I have recovered them and reinstalled them with road rash.

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