It has only been three days since Umar Farooq bought a brand new $100,000 Cybertruck. However, a little rain fell, and he noticed his Cybertruck wheels were completely rusted. Here is how to stop the same thing happening to your Cybertruck.
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The Cybertruck’s radical, unpainted stainless steel exterior has been a hot topic of discussion since the truck was unveiled back in 2019. As the first vehicle in more than a generation to feature such an exposed stainless steel exterior, doubts about rust were natural.
Some early Cybertruck owners, including prominent YouTubers, pointed out that they had already accumulated several rust spots on their Cybertruck body panels.
Fortunately, you will be happy to know that Tesla has already addressed the issue and revealed that the rust spots seen on the Cybertruck body are “rusting metal debris collected from the road” and that the stainless steel is not rusting.
Given that Tesla has developed a brand new stainless steel alloy with significantly improved rust resistance properties for the Cybertruck exoskeleton, it's not surprising that the Cybertruck's stainless steel body panels aren't rusting. This reassures owners and enthusiasts about the high quality and durability of their Cybertruck.
The fact that the Cybertruck stainless steel body panels aren’t rusting is good news; however, one Cybertruck component, the Cybertruck’s wheel, appears to be rusting and doing so at an unexpectedly rapid pace.
When Tesla first started delivering Cybertrucks, the EV maker included a futuristic, angular aero wheel cover to go over the wheels.
However, soon after Cybertrucks with this wheel cover hit the streets, Tesla discovered that the wheel cover was rubbing against the side of the Cybertruck tires and causing accelerated wear and tear.
Tesla has already issued a recall on the Cybertruck wheel covers, and the EV maker is no longer delivering new Cybertrucks with this feature. Tesla is also currently working on redesigned aero wheel covers; however, in the meantime, the exposed wheel hubs are revealing an issue with the all-electric truck.
The middle part of the Cybertruck wheel was expected to remain mostly under wraps. However, now that the aero wheel covers have been recalled, you can see that many Cybertrucks on the road have rusted wheel hubs.
This was, unfortunately, the case for a new Cybertruck owner, Umar Farooq. Umar shared the issue he has encountered with his Cybertruck on Facebook, in the Cybertruck Owners group. Umar writes, "Not happy. Little rain and that much rust on day three,"
Together with his post, Umar included a picture of his Cybertruck showing the wheel hub is already visibly rusted.
As mentioned above, Umar is not the first Cybertruck owner to notice rust on his wheel hubs. However, with the rust showing up only three days after he took delivery of his brand-new truck, this might be a new record time.
Given the fact that Umar has spent north of $100,000 to purchase a Foundation Series Cybertruck, we can imagine that it is particularly disappointing to see his Cybertruck succumbing to rust only days after he bought it.
It’s important to note here that the rust issue seen on the Cybertruck wheels does not indicate the same issue will happen on the body panels.
As already mentioned, Tesla is using a brand new anticorrosive stainless steel alloy created in-house for the Cybertruck exoskeleton, whereas the wheel hub is likely regular steel provided to Tesla by a supplier.
Having said that, it’s understandable you don’t want to be driving around a visibly rusted vehicle if you paid seven figures for the vehicle. So what is the solution?
Tesla has not provided an update on the status of the redesigned Cybertruck aero wheel covers. This means no OEM solution is currently available; however, third-party Tesla accessory shops have created a solution for the rusting wheel hub problem.
RPM Tesla accessories is already selling easy-to-install Cybertruck hub caps. The 7-sided hub cap and lug nut covers snap onto the Cybertruck wheel hub and are color-matched to the satin black Cybertruck cyber wheels.
On their website, RPM Tesla Accessories writes, “Our new Cybertruck Center Wheel Heptagon Hub & Lug Nut Covers are made from rigid ABS plastic with Cybertruck matching satin black finish.”
RPM Tesla Accessories sells four sets of hub caps and lug nut covers for $60, which means you will not have to break the bank to fix the Cybertruck rusting wheel issue.
You can also customize your Cybertruck hub cap with various Tesla logos and other decals sold separately for that extra special final touch.
Overall, we are not affiliated with RPM Tesla Accessories, but we believe that the company’s small wheel cover looks better than Tesla’s current core wheel cover offerings and even better than the discontinued larger wheel covers.
Currently, this is all the information we’ve regarding the Cybertruck wheels; however, we’ll be sure to keep you posted if we learn more about Tesla’s plans. Until then, make sure to visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
So, what do you think? Are you surprised to see the Cybertruck wheel hubs completely rusting only three days after delivery and experiencing a little rain? Do you think this is a concern for anyone looking to take his/her Cybertruck off-roading? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below by clicking the red “Add new comment” button.
Image: Screenshot from RPM Tesla Accessories YouTube video
For more information, check out: I Was Cruising Down I-10 Using FSD When My Tesla Screeched & Swerved Suddenly, I Was Annoyed Thinking Phantom Braking Until a Deer Jumped Out Right In Front of Me
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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