MPP is thrilled to announce our brand-new Rivian wheels! We spent months on this wheel design here in-house at MPP – aiming for something motorsport inspired, aerodynamic, functional and clean. We really love the way these Rivian wheels came out, and hope you do too! As with our Mega Mesh wheels, these wheels are made by Braid Motorsport in Barcelona, Spain.

So a bit about Braid. These aren’t no-name wheels from a questionable factory overseas. Braid Motorsport are leaders in motorsport wheels with a history in Dakar and WRC going back as far as the 1980’s. Braid also supply wheels into Formula E, E-TCR and make prototype wheels for a number of OEMs in Europe. These wheels are expensive, motorsport wheels. By focusing on high quantity and a few target sizes, we’re able to get the price significantly below what custom, made-to-order Braid wheels typically cost.

Pricing:

The individual wheel price is $1075 USD plus shipping.  Please contact us if you'd like to add a fifth wheel to your order.

21″ Wheel Option:

If you want to be ridiculous (like us) and have this wheel in a 21″ wheel size, contact us for additional details. This design is already completed and one-off versions in custom colors are available.

How The Wheel Was Developed:

Here at MPP, we fully designed the wheel in-house and used that as a starting point from which the expert wheel manufacturers at Braid could work with. We used 3D scans from the Rivian wheel wells to push the limits of wheel clearance to achieve the highest offset possible without causing interference with suspension components. This allows you to use a taller tire with less rubbing – as higher offsets result in a smaller fore/aft arc during steering. In addition, higher offsets improve range and keep the mud and rocks slinging off your tires where they belong – in the wheel wells.

In addition, we elected to go with a wider wheel rather than Rivian’s quite narrow 8.5″ selection for several reasons:

• A wider wheel provides enhanced steering response and grip on hard surfaces. As most of us drive our vehicles on paved roads most of the time, this is a win in the majority of use cases.
• A wider wheel allows us to put more shape into the face of the wheel without needing to change the offset. This effectively means that you have a more substantial-looking wheel (less flat), while also having the aerodynamic benefit of having the center of the tread further inboard compared to a narrower, lower offset wheel.
• While most believe a narrow wheel is always better for off-roading, a wider wheel does have some advantages. The primary one is that with less side-to-side movement of the tire, it’s easier to hold a line and not have the tire roll over as much as it would on a narrower wheel. This also works to protect the sidewall in certain circumstances.

There are however some downsides to a wider wheel. The primary one is that it is easier to scratch the wheels. So to address that, we have designed bolt-on bead protectors that protect the wheel if you’re navigating over rocks or other hazards that could damage the wheels. It’s also possible that wider wheels will result in de-beading more easily at very low air pressures. We plan on doing some testing to see what the de-bead force required is across different wheel widths and tire pressures. For curiosity!

Upon consulting with Braid, they suggested we focus on adding more strength to the wheel rather than focusing so much on weight savings. In the end, this makes sense. Our original target of 29lbs would have sacrificed us having the ultimate “bulletproof” wheel that you see before you. On that topic, both Braid and MPP worked in parallel on the FEA (finite-element-analysis) process to locate and optimize weight, without destroying the stiffness or style of the wheel. The backsides of the hubs are machined to remove “dead” weight there, and the spoke profile has been optimized for caliper clearance, stiffness, load capacity, and weight.

At the end of the day, while weight is important, we also know that when it comes to off-roading, going on long road trips, or towing, you need a wheel that you can rely on no matter what. So we built that.

After multiple revisions back and forth between ourselves and Braid, we placed our 3D model into our virtual Rivian to check for interference and clearance and ordered the initial prototypes. These prototypes fit perfectly and matched the 3D scan exactly. Ah, the joys of developing in the 21st century!

Technical Details:

We tried to put every feature into this wheel we could, knowing that potential wheel buyers are very picky and are looking to check all of those boxes. But in addition to the common features that everyone is looking for, we’ve also added some features that very few if any wheels on the market have.

Unpainted Mating Faces:

This is something that Braid takes very seriously. Having paint on the mating surface of the wheel is the main reason wheel companies require new wheels to be re-torqued multiple times, as the paint on both the lug nut side and hub side compresses. In addition, uneven paint on the hub side can result in a wheel that doesn’t run true – possibly resulting in vibrations.

Back-Machined Hub Face:

While we’re talking about the hub of the wheel, you can see how much material we’ve carved out of the back of the hub face. This is a ton of dead weight that serves no purpose, and we’re able to significantly reduce the weight of the wheel by machining quite deep in this area, with no downside.

Bead Knurling:

Knurling of the bead surface is critical for those airing down your tires. Deep knurls and unpainted surfaces mean maximum mechanical grip between the rim and the tire.

Barrel Reinforcing Ribs + Smooth Inner Barrel:

A signature feature of Braid wheels, these reinforcing ribs help significantly strengthen the barrel of the rim which is useful for those high-G landings you’re going to do with the kids in the backseat. No, that won’t shut them up. A smooth inner barrel helps with aerodynamics, and extra material is utilized here to prevent bending of the wheel – a common issue with heavy EVs.

Aero Cover & Accessory Mounting Holes:

Our Rivian wheels have threaded holes around the OD allowing for the use of future MPP aero covers and other accessory items, such as wheel protectors. Aero covers are useful in extending highway range, and bolt-on wheel protectors can help protect your investment when you tackle the trails. Stay tuned for future components that utilize these mounting holes!

Specs:

Wheel Size:  20×9.5 +46 – 32.5lbs 

Range & Efficiency:

Expect the wheel to match the OEM 20″ wheel in terms of range. We have confirmed a 75mph efficiency of around 2.15 mi/kWh.

• 275/65/20 BF Goodrich KO3 @ 60psi
• No aero covers or bead protectors
• Quad motor in conserve mode
• HVAC off
• 15 degrees C ambient temp, cloudy.
• Light wind

Load rating: 1200 KG

All wheel companies do their “load rating” differently, so comparing across companies isn’t very useful. However, FEA indicates our wheels are able to withstand up to 8G’s of vertical load without permanently deforming. In other words, you would need to hit something so hard that you compress the vehicle with over 6000kg (13,200 lbs) of force per wheel. Normally these kinds of forces bend or break other components such as dampers, bump stops, or suspension arms. If you put 8G vertical into these wheels, maybe we should be having a different conversation!

Wheel Colors:

Satin Bronze – as pictured above. This color will look good on almost all Rivian colors. The color appears almost gold in the sun, and a darker bronze in the shade. It’s simply beautiful.

Satin Anthracite This is a very dark grey and will allow the wheels to show a little bit more than a completely black wheel. A more subtle choice than the Satin Bronze for sure.

The wheels are powder coated in-house at Braid’s facility and the wheels are then post-machined at the contact faces as mentioned above.

For Rivian vehicles, we feel Satin Anthracite and Satin Bronze are the best fitting choices for Rivian’s lineup of colors.