--- title: "The Cybertruck’s Wheel Covers Are Tearing Up Its Tires" description: "Tesla's Cybertruck's aero wheel covers are causing considerable wear in the rubber, a glaring design flaw that's already haunting buyers." date: "2024-02-02" modified: "2024-02-02" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-wheel-covers-tearing-up-tires" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "cybertruck" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # The Cybertruck’s Wheel Covers Are Tearing Up Its Tires ![Tesla's Cybertruck's aero wheel covers are causing considerable wear in the rubber, a glaring design flaw that's already haunting buyers.]() *\Image: Tsportline via YouTube\* ## There's the Rubber Tesla [made a big splash]() with the unconventional design of its long-awaited and much-delayed Cybertruck. One bold design choice of the final consumer version was the truck's tires and hexagonal wheel covers, which are meant to help the truck be more aerodynamic. But as it turns out, those covers may hug the tire a little *too* closely, causing considerable wear on the rubber, as YouTube channel and Tesla customization shop Tsportline has found in a [new video]() — and that's bound to sting, considering [how long]() fans had to wait and [how much money]() they paid for the truck. ## Within Spec As [*Electrek* explains](), the vehicle's brakes still need to be cooled with air, which forced Tesla to keep a small gap between the cover and the tire. At first, the EV maker seems to have overshot the mark, with a cover dangerously flying off a Cybertruck while it was driving down a freeway, as spotted in a [September video](). Now, Tsportline has found that in its effort to have the cover hug the wheel as closely as possible, Tesla may have misjudged the gap yet again. When weight is applied to the tires, they bulge outward, causing the aero wheel cover's sharp edges to make contact with the tire. Despite Tesla opting for rubber-tipped covers in an apparent effort to address the issue, Tsportline still noticed the "aero cover grinding away the sidewall of the tire" after the vehicle was driven a "couple thousand miles." And now users on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum have also [started noticing]() their vehicles were being shipped without covers. "No explanation other than they would be sending a tech to install the caps on the 1st \[of February\]," one user [wrote](), adding that they received a message that Tesla is "investigating all the covers and they won’t be delivering the caps until March." In short, it's a glaring design oversight that highlights the EV maker's struggle to bring the radical pickup to market and the [compromises]() it had to make to get there. It's certainly not a good look, especially given the truck's eye-popping price tag. **More on the truck:** *[Cybertruck Drivers Reveal Terrible Range Over First 10,000 Miles]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()