Why Do High-end Car Wheels Appear to Rotate Backwards?
3 Answers
Wheel rotation appearing backwards is caused by the persistence of vision in the human eye. When observing objects, the image of the object remains on the retina for a brief period, approximately between 0.05-0.08 seconds. The principle of wheel rotation appearing backwards: 1. Floating wheel hubs: During the movement of luxury cars, the wheels give the impression of sliding. This is because luxury car wheels use floating wheel hubs based on a principle similar to that of a roly-poly toy. Floating wheel hubs employ an additional bearing that can move around the central axis. When the wheel is in motion, this bearing keeps the wheel hub in a floating state. 2. Added counterweight: Additionally, floating wheel hubs are appropriately weighted to maintain stability during movement. As a result, no matter how fast the car is moving, the wheels of a luxury car give the impression that the wheel hubs are not rotating.
I often encounter this issue when chatting with friends about cars. Simply put, it's just an optical illusion at play. High-end wheel rims appear to rotate backward in videos or photos, but this is merely a result of the synchronization between the camera shutter and the wheel's rotation speed. For example, when a wheel rim has a specific pattern and the car is moving, if the number of rotations per second happens to match the shutter frequency, it can create this reverse effect. In real-world driving, this doesn't affect the vehicle's performance at all—it's just your eyes playing tricks on you. I recommend adjusting the shutter speed or angle when filming car videos to avoid this phenomenon, such as avoiding the standard 24 frames per second and switching to 60 frames instead. Additionally, some wheel rim designs are more complex and more prone to this effect, but it's not a malfunction—you can drive with confidence. The actual rotation direction of the wheels is normal, no problem at all.
This phenomenon is quite strange. When I first bought the car, I thought there was a major issue. After some research, I realized that the reverse rotation of the wheel hub was purely an illusion caused by filming. When the wheels are rotating forward, if the camera's capture interval matches the rotation rhythm—such as high-speed rotation being frozen at certain moments—the image can appear to show reverse motion. I've tried filming my car with a smartphone, and the difference is immediately noticeable when adjusting the shutter speed between fast and slow. During normal driving, it's completely safe; the wheel hubs rotate steadily forward, unrelated to the illusion. If you frequently see such videos on social media, don't worry about your vehicle's health—it's not a mechanical fault. The key is that the wheel hub design is normal, and driving remains comfortable as usual.
