Wheels are one of the easiest ways to customize your car or truck. Sure, you can upgrade the engine or exhaust, buy a new suspension system, install some elaborate wrap over the paint, or even add a body kit to spruce things up. But most of those modifications require a lot of time, effort, and consequently money to install. And while a nice set of aftermarket rollers is almost never cheap, installing wheels is quick and easy enough for most vehicle owners to handle themselves. Offering Tesla owners a new way to customize their rides, Unplugged Performance just debuted a new set of wheels that offer plenty of style along with one incredibly clever feature.
Replaceable Guard Rings Make The Difference
If you haven’t heard of Unplugged Performance, the company bills itself as the “global leader in high-performance aftermarket upgrades for Tesla vehicles.” This firm manufactures wheel spacers, suspension components, bumpers and more, but their new UP Forged Road Warrior wheels are something a little different.
These unique rollers are designed for the Model 3 sedan, Model Y utility vehicle, and Tesla’s closely related Robotaxi. What makes these wheels special is that they’re fitted with a replaceable guard ring, basically an aluminum trim piece that protects the wheel from damage if the driver smacks a huge pothole or grazes a curb. According to the company, “This stealth integrated outer ring absorbs damage during curb or pothole impacts and can be swapped out without removing the tire,” a brilliant idea and seemingly a great implementation, too.
Aside from the easy serviceability of those guard rings, Unplugged Performance also offers a generous warranty. These wheels come with a lifetime replacement guarantee if you ever bend or crack one of them in normal use.
UP Forged Road Warrior wheels are designed to work with any factory Tesla tire, so there’s no need to purchase new rubber when upgrading your ride’s rims. These new wheels replace non-staggered, factory-installed units and are offered in 19- and 20-inch sizes. Additionally, satin black and gunmetal gray finishes are available, which should go well with nearly every paint color.
“The UP-RW Road Warrior is our Robotaxi wheel and the ultimate EV daily driven wheel,” said Ben Schaffer, the CEO of Unplugged Performance, in a media release. “It’s the most durable, most thoughtfully designed wheel we’ve ever made,” he added. “The Road Warrior is ready for battle in the harshest conditions and will bring a unique peace of mind that these are the last wheels you’ll ever need to purchase with our durability guarantee.”
Designed For Efficiency, Engineered To Last
According to Unplugged Performance, these new wheels were specifically designed for heavy-duty use, to meet the needs of high-mileage drivers, commercial customers, and, yes, even everyday motorists. These rollers feature a forged aerodynamic disc that is structurally integrated into the overall design. This configuration supposedly helps reduce air turbulence for greater efficiency and more range.
Adding a bit of context, the manufacturer claims these rollers “nearly matched Tesla’s lowest-drag production wheel, the 18-inch Photon Aero Covered wheel … coming within 0.010 Cd.” This makes these new rims one of the most aerodynamic designs ever produced.
Bring Your Checkbook, ‘Cause These Wheels Ain’t Cheap
If you drive a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y, or if you don’t drive a Robotaxi since, you know, they’re supposed to drive themselves, you can grab a set of these clever new wheels from Unplugged Performance for an introductory price of $2,595, roughly $650 apiece. That outlay gets you a set of 19s, but if you want the larger 20s, a set of four is going to cost you $400 more, $2,995. That works out to about $750 each.
Those per-rim prices are significantly higher than other wheels commonly available today, but the UP Forged Road Warrior design looks like a top-quality product, plus those replaceable guard rings sound amazing, as does the manufacturer’s generous guarantee.
TopSpeed’s Take
With electric vehicles, there are fewer opportunities for customization. There’s no exhaust system to tinker with, you can’t install a cold-air intake since there’s no combustion engine, and there probably isn’t much tuning work that can be done to the powertrain, but there are still avenues for making your EV unique, as Unplugged Performance has proven.
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