21" to 20" wheels switch -- never-ending drama

[State11]

I took an R1T from Rivian Shop w/ 21" wheels in order to get it sooner. It's been great, but I knew that I needed a winter solution (I live in Tahoe), so when the 20" wheels with the AT's became available, I purchased a set. An appt was set up and the tech delivered them, but couldn't install them for some reason. The tech did what he thought would let the R1T know that it now had 20's.....it didn't work. I installed the wheels myself. I let them know it didn't work and a 2nd tech came out and attempted to update the wheel config. Again it failed. I got a call today from the service center. They want me to bring the truck into the Sacramento SC so that they can update the cameras and charge me $400 to do so. That should enable the vehicle to realize it had 20's vs 21's. Seriously? I told her, no way I'm paying $400...that's insane. She agreed with me, but I'm stuck at the moment with a truck that thinks it has 21" wheels. Aside from it being annoying and affecting the range estimates, what else might it affect? Traction control? The SC rep was very nice and sympathetic, but couldn't do anything. Anyone else have any issues w/ swapping wheel sizes?

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[windblowlc]

I took an R1T from Rivian Shop w/ 21" wheels in order to get it sooner. It's been great, but I knew that I needed a winter solution (I live in Tahoe), so when the 20" wheels with the AT's became available, I purchased a set. An appt was set up and the tech delivered them, but couldn't install them for some reason. The tech did what he thought would let the R1T know that it now had 20's.....it didn't work. I installed the wheels myself. I let them know it didn't work and a 2nd tech came out and attempted to update the wheel config. Again it failed. I got a call today from the service center. They want me to bring the truck into the Sacramento SC so that they can update the cameras and charge me $400 to do so. That should enable the vehicle to realize it had 20's vs 21's. Seriously? I told her, no way I'm paying $400...that's insane. She agreed with me, but I'm stuck at the moment with a truck that thinks it has 21" wheels. Aside from it being annoying and affecting the range estimates, what else might it affect? Traction control? The SC rep was very nice and sympathetic, but couldn't do anything. Anyone else have any issues w/ swapping wheel sizes?

Experiences from others who have swapped wheels show updates do little to change range estimates. Traction control is not affected with wheel change, and going from 21" to 20" wheels actually increases the accuracy of the speedometer (manufacturers likes to have a speed limit buffer below actual.) The 20" wheels are 1" bigger in diameter than the 21" wheels, so now when you drive @80 mph, the speedometer will actually display 80 instead of 83 mph.

 

[R1Tkc]

No issues for me. They did say that I had to bring into the SC because they needed to reach out to corporate to update your wheels on the backend.

Once they did, my car showed that I had the 20s instead and range was changed as well. Roughly 290 on a full charge compared to the 320 I was getting on the 21s

 

[Zoidz]

Assuming I read this correctly, I'm struggling to dream up any reason why the cameras need updating to change the wheel size. In my KISS view of the world, there should be a user accesible setting to input the diameter or circumference of the tire. That's all that is needed.

 

[krockett]

Same scenario, picked up a shop vehicle with similar config as mine, aside from the 21” rims. I plan on going aftermarket anyways and will get 275/60R20 AT or MTs to match the 275/55/21 diameter.

 

[SACDFJC]

I did the same thing. Picked a truck from the shop with 21's. Bought a set of 20's and installed them. I drove the truck with the 20's for around 2k miles before having the truck reprogrammed. The SF SC recalibrated my truck at no charge. During that time I noticed zero ill effects other than the range, miles and speed being incorrect. No issues with traction control, braking, brake regen, etc. The speedo did read slightly higher (2mph) than my handheld GPS with 20's.

Now that I have had the truck reprogrammed to 20's the speedo is correct, but the range in miles is not. At 100% charge it still shows miles at 326, which is what it was with the 21's. In my opinion, paying to have the truck recalibrated to 20's is a waste of money.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

After reading through this I’m having trouble understanding why you would need to pay for this service at all. These are not aftermarket wheels and tires that you just found somewhere they are official Rivian products that you bought from the gear store.

If you require a reprogram to use the set that price should be included in the purchase of the set of tires.

 

[Count Orlok]

Do you plan to return to the 21s? If so, just drive it with the 20s and complain to customer service about a $400 charge for nonsense.

 

[COdogman]

There is no way they should be charging you to “calibrate” Rivian wheels and tires purchased FROM Rivian. This should be a simple change in the settings, not a visit from a tech or a trip to the service center.

With all the technology in this truck I find it impossible to believe they couldn’t allow for the owner to simply enter the wheel/ tire size in the settings and it re-calibrates on it’s own. This is just baffling.

 

[GreenOptimist]

There is no way they should be charging you to “calibrate” Rivian wheels and tires purchased FROM Rivian. This should be a simple change in the settings, not a visit from a tech or a trip to the service center.

With all the technology in this truck I find it impossible to believe they couldn’t allow for the owner to simply enter the wheel/ tire size in the settings and it re-calibrates on it’s own. This is just baffling.

Is it a legal requirement for the manufacturer to control since it will affect the odometer? (Over/under measuring miles driven?)

 

[EVnewb]

Can’t they do this remotely? Contact HQ and have them send it to your truck OTA? I thought that was part of the benefit of having a connected vehicle. Hopefully they add the ability to set your own wheel/tire sizes on the internal CPU one day.

And I agree with the others, don’t pay that $400. The CS person might not be able to do anything about that, but I bet her manager can comp that fee.

 

[COdogman]

Is it a legal requirement for the manufacturer to control since it will affect the odometer? (Over/under measuring miles driven?)

if it is then every other manufacturer would be in violation. There is no warnings from Toyota about me putting on different sized tires on my Tacoma. Definitely no demand that I pay for a service visit for them to recalibrate anything. If I called and asked them to do it I would honestly be surprised if they could.

If that were true then I maintain giving the owner the ability to adjust it in the settings by tire size would still be in compliance. It would put the responsibility on the owner to change it when they change tire size.

 

[p3ck]

They really need to add the ability to input the outside circumference and weight of the tire and calculate everything from this. Am I missing anything? Shouldn't this be possible.

 

[EVerywhere]

Is it a legal requirement for the manufacturer to control since it will affect the odometer? (Over/under measuring miles driven?)

No legal requirement, my 2014 Cayenne had a simple menu to select:
1. Wheel size
2. Tire type (summer, AS or winter)
3. Load (full or partial)

Worked every time, took maybe 15 seconds, no reason to visit the dealer, or call the factory every time I changed from summer to winter wheels/tires. This is an inexcusable oversight by Rivian that we can’t make the same wheel/tire selection ourselves.

 

[jjswan33]

Not sure what the $400 charge is for but for what it’s worth I was watching the TFL video where he put 37s on the Hummer EV (at least partially bought from GM) and the dealership charged him some ridiculous tech charges because they had to call to consult how to update the truck.

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