[RBurke83]

Although it’s probably against the spirit of eco-modding I’ve gone down the expensive rabbit hole of full flat panel carbon fiber wheel covers for my Ioniq 6. My goal was to make something that rivals or exceeds the quality of the Lucid Sapphire EV’s carbon wheel covers. The outer/decorative layer is a camouflage woven pattern carbon/aramid blend with 4 layers of standard 3k weave behind it. I laid up 24”x24” panels on an old mirror and vacuum bagged them with an Amazon bedding bag and hand pump-which worked amazing by the way. After lots of thought on how to cut a perfect repeatable circle I finally made a circle jig for my dremel and epoxied the collar to the jig. I then cut out a circle using the jig on a piece of acrylic. I inserted a metal peg into the center with epoxy which the jig rotates around. My plan is to take this acrylic jig/circle and double side tape it to a carbon fiber panel and cut the carbon circle out. As far as attaching the cover to the wheel-I’ve decided on laminating in 5 pairs of aluminum wire loops which correspond to 5 of the standard I6 wheel spokes, then just double zip tie each loop pair behind the spoke. I’m going to use a 3/8” piece of foam rubber weather strip all the way around near the edge of the wheel, basically as a stand-off for aerodynamic and aesthetic purposes. I plan on cutting a small hole to access the air valve with a matching carbon cover which will rotate and close from the inside using a curved and thus pre-stressed carbon fiber ‘spring’. When it’s all finished I will post tuft test photos before and after.

Lemme know what ya’ll think and be honest I can handle some flaming!