March 10, 2025 – Hawthorne, CA The long awaited day finally arrived! We got the notification that our 2026 Model Y was ready for pick up. Just one issue… the car is a six hour drive away in Tesla’s Fremont factory in Fremont, CA (Bay Area). That did not stop President of Unplugged Performance, Ben Schaffer to make the trip! He flew to the Bay Area, headed straight to Tesla’s Fremont factory, picked up the new Model Y, and then drove it back to Los Angeles, CA the same night. Below is a X post of how his journey looked.
Flight to Fremont this AM, drive back to LA in the new Model Y tonight.
A long day but oh so worth it.
The new Y is 🧈 pic.twitter.com/fBvW1k46zq— Ben Schaffer (@BenSchafferUP) March 9, 2025
During that 360+ miles excursion back to our headquarters, he was able to get very familiar with the car’s ins and outs. The first of course, without even having to get in the car was the new styling cues. As beautiful as the car is, the OEM cast wheels leave much to be desired in the looks department. Which is why he called ahead and wasted no time in getting a set of 22×9.5” UP Forged CYBRHEX wheels mounted on a set of 265/30r22 Yokohama Parada Spec-X tires. The CYBRHEX’s design perfectly complements the 2026 Tesla Model Y Juniper futuristic look, while its forged aluminum construction, paired with Yokohama’s, provides the performance and safety expected from the Tesla brand.
Thanks to the precision machining done on these forged monoblock wheels and the high quality manufacturing of the Yokohama tires, almost no additional wheel weights had to be added to perfectly balance the CYBRHEX forged wheels. With weight and runout being two of the most critical factors when it comes to range and getting the smoothest ride as possible out of your Tesla, this wheel and tire combo accomplish that. The Parada Spec-X tires were developed for pickup trucks, SUVs, and modern muscle cars checking off just about every box that the versatile 2026 Model Y offers. Their quiet ride and longer tread life make them a perfect candidate for this newly refreshed Model Y and their superior handing and wet weather traction capability make them ideal for spirited drivers —like the race obsessed team here at Unplugged Performance.
You may be wondering why 22”? The car comes with 19” or 20”, why step up to 22”? Well firstly, all Unplugged Performance are made from lightweight 6061-T6 forged aluminum which is significantly lighter and stronger than OEM cast aluminum. We’ve also opted to swap out the heavy steel OEM lug nuts with Unplugged Performance lightweight open-ended titanium lug nuts that share the same large mounting design as the OEM for optimal surface to surface contact. We will have a video comparing the OEM Wheel weight to a handful of popular UP Forged Wheel designs and fitments for the new Model Y in the near future. We also know many Model Y owners choose not to modify their suspension, while we feel it is one of the biggest upgrades you can make to improve your car’s ride as well as its look, we wanted to show how the right size wheel and tire combo can fill your fender’s wheel gap to provide an aesthetically pleasing look even the most diehard tuner could respect. With the main goals of this set up being aesthetics and demonstrating how just a minimal amount of modifications could make a large impact, we have several other wheel set ups coming like the lightweight UP-03 in both a street and off-road set up, and the hypercar inspired UP-05 forged wheel. All of which we’ll provide specs and a full photo gallery of in the coming days! Stay tuned for more 2026 Model Y modification and reviews!
