Steel wheels (steelies) and Wheel Force Transducers (precision measurement equipment) spotted on Cybertruck prototype 4/06/2023

[beeeasybro]

The Cybertruck spotted @ the Fremont factory on 4/6/23. Those are definitely strange rims. What do you think is going on here with all these wires taped up to it?

Update:

Attached to the steel wheels are Wheel Force Transducers, a multi-axial precision measuring system that captures three forces and moments on a rotating wheel.

Wheel force transducers are designed for use in the development and testing of complete chassis and chassis components of different vehicles such as passenger cars, SUV, commercial vehicles, race cars and industrial vehicles. During measurement, a wheel force transducer replaces a standard wheel and measures the forces and moments acting on the tire contact patch."​

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[CYBRSMTH]

The Cybertruck spotted @ the Fremont factory on 4/6/23. Those are definitely strange rims. What do you think is going on here with all these wires taped up to it?

Update:

Attached to the steel wheels are Wheel Force Transducers, a multi-axial precision measuring system that captures three forces and moments on a rotating wheel.

Wheel force transducers are designed for use in the development and testing of complete chassis and chassis components of different vehicles such as passenger cars, SUV, commercial vehicles, race cars and industrial vehicles. During measurement, a wheel force transducer replaces a standard wheel and measures the forces and moments acting on the tire contact patch."​

Reminds me of a sink strainer.

 

[Sirfun]

ll the recent betas have these aero-deflectors in front of the wheels

On the crash test unit they had the lower bumper/trim pieces yanked to view the underside angles

I guess some of you are ok with those aero mods. I'm dead set against them. I already mentioned they don't make sense for off road use (think ground clearance). In addition to that, I had always hoped/ anticipated that Tesla would take advantage of the use of Air Suspension to get the CT very low like a car at highway speeds. Adding appendages like these COULD be an issue with having the CT down low like this.

I took the original photo of the CT and with a graphic program lowered the body to make this image. While I was at the Petersen, they had the CT in a rear end lowered configuration to show using the ramp to load the bed. Here's a photo I took that shows how low that Prototype could go.

 

[cvalue13]

I guess some of you are ok with those aero mods. I'm dead set against them. I already mentioned they don't make sense for off road use (think ground clearance). In addition to that, I had always hoped/ anticipated that Tesla would take advantage of the use of Air Suspension to get the CT very low like a car at highway speeds. Adding appendages like these COULD be an issue with having the CT down low like this.

I wouldn’t say I’m “ok” with them at this point, so much as I’m reporting their apparent existence and have some good reason to understand the cost/benefit analysis Tesla is probably making in these decisions.

Like a Jeep wrangler, few buyers will so regularly use the CT for the cases where these aero mods will have costs.

Meanwhile, every buyer will experience the benefits.

And to meeting Tesla’s focus on a headline EPA range for the CT, these things add up.

For those that have a desire to delete these aero mods for their use cases: some but not all of the offending pieces appear to be easily or cleanly “deleted” by the buyer.

In the crash test video for example, Tesla removed the front aero deflectors in front of the wheel, presumably to open up the visibility for under-body footage

Doesn’t *seem* too ugly if a deletion - though who really knows if in practice the attachment tabs require these pieces to not loosen other portions of trim

Conversely, other portions of aero trim don’t seem to permit if such potentially clean deletion: eg the rear aero trim over the receiver and frame recover points. If removed, there’s just more stuff under there, and doesn’t appear clearance will all that improved, nor will those giblets look to clean hanging down

the bottom photo immediately above is of an alpha proto, and I can’t recall if we’ve seen any pre-production proto with these giblet covers removed to see how much hangy-downs are there

in either event, though, a person deleting these aero trim pieces will be accepting the range impacts of removal. Presumably, those range impacts are non-negligible, or else Tesla would not have added them (knowing full well that offroad clearance, approach angles, etc., will be an otherwise important selling point)

 

[Baldey]

DIRTY

I wanna put a Prince sticker on mine... See how many people make the connection

 

[Kahpernicus]

I wouldn’t say I’m “ok” with them at this point, so much as I’m reporting their apparent existence and have some good reason to understand the cost/benefit analysis Tesla is probably making in these decisions.

Like a Jeep wrangler, few buyers will so regularly use the CT for the cases where these aero mods will have costs.

Meanwhile, every buyer will experience the benefits.

And to meeting Tesla’s focus on a headline EPA range for the CT, these things add up.

For those that have a desire to delete these aero mods for their use cases: some but not all of the offending pieces appear to be easily or cleanly “deleted” by the buyer.

In the crash test video for example, Tesla removed the front aero deflectors in front of the wheel, presumably to open up the visibility for under-body footage

Doesn’t *seem* too ugly if a deletion - though who really knows if in practice the attachment tabs require these pieces to not loosen other portions of trim

Conversely, other portions of aero trim don’t seem to permit if such potentially clean deletion: eg the rear aero trim over the receiver and frame recover points. If removed, there’s just more stuff under there, and doesn’t appear clearance will all that improved, nor will those giblets look to clean hanging down

the bottom photo immediately above is of an alpha proto, and I can’t recall if we’ve seen any pre-production proto with these giblet covers removed to see how much hangy-downs are there

in either event, though, a person deleting these aero trim pieces will be accepting the range impacts of removal. Presumably, those range impacts are non-negligible, or else Tesla would not have added them (knowing full well that offroad clearance, approach angles, etc., will be an otherwise important selling point)

Seems to be about 4.523".

 

[CyberGus]

...the bottom photo immediately above is of an alpha proto, and I can’t recall if we’ve seen any pre-production proto with these giblet covers removed to see how much hangy-downs are there

I will forever more refer to my hangy-downs as "giblets"

 

[S.H.Peterson]

I will forever more refer to my hangy-downs as "giblets"

GIBLETS!

IM DYING!!!!

 

[cvalue13]

I will forever more refer to my hangy-downs as "giblets"

 

[Ebby Jones]

Personally -- I hope they have a simple steel rim. Repairable. Cheap to replace if needed.

I really don't care what the wheel looks like.

My interests resolve around the diameter and width of the tire (dirt road capable), durability, cost to repair/replace -- maybe a nod to aero performance.

I'm in love with the stainless steel body so I don't have to worry about a stupid paint job. Give me wheels where I can apply the same sentiments.

My current GMC truck is 27 years old. I'm hoping the cybertruck lasts longer.

I got 12 years out of my GMC truck. The body was badly rusting out and the transmission was feeling ready for its second $6,000 repair. 140,000 miles and ready for the junk yard. There are Tesla cars with over a million miles on them. The CT may prove to be a smart long term ownership proposition.

 

[CybertruckAgent]

The Cybertruck spotted @ the Fremont factory on 4/6/23. Those are definitely strange rims. What do you think is going on here with all these wires taped up to it?

Update:

Attached to the steel wheels are Wheel Force Transducers, a multi-axial precision measuring system that captures three forces and moments on a rotating wheel.

Wheel force transducers are designed for use in the development and testing of complete chassis and chassis components of different vehicles such as passenger cars, SUV, commercial vehicles, race cars and industrial vehicles. During measurement, a wheel force transducer replaces a standard wheel and measures the forces and moments acting on the tire contact patch."​

I was hoping these would be an optional homage to the Delorean…

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