“Is that the Performance?”
A man in a muddy F-150 walked away from his own pump, crouched next to my front wheel, and asked me one question.
“Is that the Performance?”
I drive a Long Range Model Y. Two months ago, nobody looked at it twice.
I'm Mike. I'm 47, an HVAC estimator in Mesa, Arizona, and I don't buy myself things. Let me back up.
My 9-year-old called our car “the rental” in front of everyone
In March of last year I bought a Pearl White Model Y Long Range. Best car I've ever owned. Then my brother-in-law Dave bought the Performance.
Same color. Same body. Except when you look through his wheels, there's a big red caliper sitting there like a stripe on a uniform. Through mine, a gray lump of cast metal with brake dust baked into it.
At the Fourth of July cookout both cars sat side by side in my sister's driveway. My son Tyler walked out, looked at both, and said it loud enough for the whole yard:
“Dad, why does Uncle Dave's look like the race version and ours looks like the rental?”
Everybody laughed. Dave laughed the hardest. I went and stood by the cooler for twenty minutes pretending to look for a specific soda.
“why are those red on your car and gray on mine”
a Model Y owner's wife, quoted in a YouTube comment
What was hiding behind my spokes
First I called a shop about painting the calipers. The answer: $500 at minimum, three days without the car, and once it's painted, it's painted. I need the car for job sites.
Then I looked at the $30 covers online. Bad idea. Thin red plastic, letters way too big, one hanging crooked like a loose hubcap. The forums were brutal.
“They will break or fall off eventually”
th3suffering on r/TeslaModel3
“Painting the stock calipers is permanent, could hurt resell value”
a Model Y owner on r/TeslaModelY
Was I just posing as a Performance? I asked myself that first
One comment stung more than the rest: red covers on a non-Performance make you a “P poser.” I'm not putting a badge on a car I didn't buy.
Then I read the owners who actually drive these cars. The line most of them draw is the badge, not the color. And the reason Tyler's comment hurt was simple: Dave's car looked finished and mine looked like it was waiting for something.
So I set my own rule: no P badge, no lying about it, and if anybody asks, I tell them it's a Long Range. The covers are cosmetic. They don't change the brakes, and the seller says exactly that. If red ever feels like too much, the same covers come in Stealth Black.
“It’s fine in my book as long as you aren’t upbadging by putting the performance emblem on it.”
nickfromstatefarm on r/TeslaModel3
“If you’re doing it because you like how it looks, go for it!”
SCWeak on r/TeslaModel3
The least flashy guy at work had red calipers
Ray runs our service trucks. He wears the same canvas jacket in 110 degrees. One morning he pulled into the lot in his Model 3 and I noticed it before I noticed him. Red calipers.
“Since when do you have the Performance?” He grinned like he'd waited a month for that. “I don't. Those are covers. Hundred and fifty bucks. Took me half an hour on a Saturday.”
I got down on one knee in the parking lot. They weren't plastic. Thick aluminum, cut to the shape of the caliper, tight against it with no gap. No wobble when I pushed on one.
I asked the two things I was scared of. “Do they rattle?” “Nope.” “Do they fall off on the freeway?” “I've done Flagstaff and back twice. They're still there.”
What made me trust them was a line that said who they're NOT for
That night I found the site he used: TeslaHubs. You don't buy “Tesla covers.” You pick your exact car: Model Y, Model Y Juniper, Model Y Berlin-built, Model 3, Model 3 Highland, or Model S/X in two year ranges. Each one is cut differently.
And one line said they're not for Performance or Plaid trims or modified calipers. That made me trust them more. If you're not sure which set fits, you email them your VIN before you order.
$149.99 for the Model Y set, free shipping, four covers in Performance Red, Cyber Cyan, Plaid Yellow or Stealth Black. A 30-Day Perfect Fit Guarantee, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. I picked Performance Red. Obviously. See the Model Y set he used
Saturday morning, about 30 minutes and one cold beer
When the first wheel came off I almost felt sorry for my car: black brake dust, orange rust at the edges. Everything I needed was in the box: the hardware, the Loctite, even the tools, plus a step-by-step video.
Screws in, stainless clips on, snug. Fronts, then rears. About half an hour of actual work. When the last wheel went back on, Tyler came out in his socks and said one word: “Whoa.”
Then the gas station
I'd stopped at the Circle K on Baseline for air and a Diet Coke. The F-150 guy kept glancing over, left the nozzle in his truck, and crouched right by my front wheel.
“Is that the Performance?” “No. Long Range. Those are covers.” “No way. Those look factory.” A stranger took a picture of my wheel.
Two months later, through summer heat, two monsoon storms and a lot of freeway miles: no rattle, no buzzing over the speed bumps at Tyler's school.
At the next family dinner Dave crouched by my wheel the same way the F-150 guy did. “When did you get the red calipers?” “About ten thousand dollars after you did. Mine were $149.99.” He didn't laugh. Tyler did.
The red caliper was never about brakes. Nobody at a gas station can see your brakes. It's the one detail that makes a Model Y look finished, and now mine does, honestly labeled as a Long Range.
“You know the funny part? 99% of people will think they are exactly the same as your Brembos.”
a commenter on r/sportscars
I wasn't the only one
After this ran in an earlier form, three more owners told us how they got to the same place. Each took a different road.
I almost paid $800 to paint my calipers red. Then my husband tried it for $46
Renee, 39, dental office manager, Charlotte · Model 3 Highland
“The first quote was $800: pull the calipers, strip, mask, paint, bake, bleed the brakes. Three days, no loaner. I said I'd think about it. That night my husband Marcus said the words every wife dreads: ‘I can do that myself.’”
“Two cans of caliper paint, blue tape and trash bags. Total: $46. It took the whole weekend. He scrubbed the brake dust with my toothbrush. Then a gust came through the garage door. Red mist on the rotor, on his white sneakers, and a perfect red circle on my garage floor. The first coat ran. Monday I took an Uber to work.”
“I went back to the shop to just pay the $800. I asked one question: ‘What happens if the paint chips?’ ‘Then it's chipped.’ I put my card back in my purse. That one question saved me $650.”
“The covers had a set cut just for the Highland. $149.99. About 30 minutes in our driveway, with no paint and no three days without my car. Stealth Grey with Performance Red behind the spokes. And if I trade the car in, the calipers underneath are exactly how they came.” See the Model 3 Highland set
I found a cracked caliper cover in the gravel on I-71. So I checked mine after an Ohio winter
Greg, 58, retired lineman, Columbus · Model Y Juniper
“I spent 31 years as a lineman. I've seen what happens to things that aren't bolted down right. I'd read they fall off at 70 mph. Then I found one on the shoulder of I-71: thin red plastic, cracked clean in half, the clip tab snapped off. That's a rock thrown at the car behind you.”
“My grandson Caleb sent me the TeslaHubs page with a text that started ‘OK GRANDPA HEAR ME OUT.’ I read it twice looking for the catch. Aluminum, not plastic. Screws and 304 stainless-steel clips. Loctite in the box. That's how I'd do it. The Juniper has its own cut, and I emailed my VIN first anyway.”
“We screwed them on with the Loctite. I pushed hard on one. Nothing. Then I drove a whole Ohio winter: salt trucks, slush up to the hubs, 4 degrees in January. I listened every day for a rattle. I never heard one.”
“In March the kid at the tire shop pulled a wheel and stopped: ‘These are covers? I thought it was a Performance.’ He checked all four for me. Still tight. That cracked plastic one hangs on a nail in my garage now. I show people both: thin plastic with a snapped clip tab on the nail, aluminum with screws, 304 stainless clips and Loctite on the car.” See the Model Y Juniper set
I tried to get into a stranger's Model Y. Now I find mine from the elevator
Dana, 34, ER nurse, Plano · white Model Y
“After a 13-hour shift I pulled on the door handle of a white Model Y in the hospital garage. A man eating a burrito in the driver's seat looked at me like I was robbing him. Mine was three spaces down. Also white.”
“There are seven white Model Ys on level 3. I counted. A wrap was $3,800. New wheels, $2,000 and up. Every white Model Y looks like five others on your street, and I'd accepted being a white jellybean in a sea of white jellybeans.”
“Then a coworker's white Model Y flashed bright blue behind the spokes. ‘They're covers. A hundred and fifty dollars. My dad put them on in half an hour.’ I went with Plaid Yellow. My husband followed the video. About 30 minutes. No wrap, no new wheels, no paint.”
“Monday: seven white Model Ys, one with yellow calipers. I found my car from the elevator doors, first try. A surgeon in the elevator asked if it was the Performance. I said, ‘Nope. It's the nurse edition.’” See all four colors
Dramatization based on customer experiences. Individual results vary.
What buyers wrote in published reviews
The stories above are dramatized. These are not: they are published customer reviews, quoted word for word (cuts marked with ...) and linked to where they were posted. TeslaHubs says 10,000+ Teslas have been upgraded.
“A great experience from start to finish. Ordered the yellow aluminum caliper covers for a 26 Tesla 3, they shipped fast and are great quality ... Great communication whenever I had questions”
“Fantastic product. Will recommend it to friends.”
“Great product and well packaged. Would have been 5 stars if it came with some instructions. A fabulous upgrade to the car. They look amazing.”
Editor's note: The current TeslaHubs page lists a 30-minute step-by-step video walkthrough in the kit.
“Easy to install”
Which set fits your car (and which cars it doesn't)
Fitment exactly as the TeslaHubs page states it: four aluminum-alloy covers, fixed with screws and 304 stainless-steel clips. For compatible stock calipers only; not for Performance or Plaid trims or modified calipers. Each model and year range takes a different cut, so pick your exact car on the page.
- Model Y
- Model Y Juniper (2025+)
- Model Y Berlin-built
- Model 3
- Model 3 Highland
- Model S/X 2018–2022
- Model S/X 2023–2025
Not sure which set fits? Email [email protected] with your VIN before you order.
Three ways to get red calipers
| Paint job: 3 days of downtime, and it's permanent | $500+ |
| Performance trim: more for the badge and the look | $10,000 |
| TeslaHubs covers (Model Y and Model 3 sets): about a 30-minute DIY install, and they come back off | $149.99 |
Model S/X 2018–2022 and 2023–2025 sets: $169.99.
- Four aerospace-grade aluminum covers, one per wheel, powder-coated in Performance Red, Cyber Cyan, Plaid Yellow or Stealth Black.
- The complete kit: all hardware, Loctite and tools, plus a 30-minute step-by-step video walkthrough.
- A cosmetic shell over the stock caliper. The brakes work exactly as before, and the calipers underneath stay untouched.
- 30-Day Perfect Fit Guarantee: pick your exact car on the page, or email [email protected] with your VIN before you order and they confirm the set.
- 30-Day Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee: install them, drive with them, and if you're not 100% thrilled, send them back for a full refund.
- Lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. Free shipping.