What is this?

It is attached to the wheel hub and spins. It's held on by a bungee cord into the fender. There doesn't seem to be any electronics installed on it or anything. The metal cylinder thing does not spin. All badges and logo's were taped off so I'm sure its for testing, but what does it do? Measure how many wheel rotations?

 

Drove away with a boot on the car hahah id guess its for the speedometer possible if its a test vehicle

 

I was thinking it was to ensure the speedo was correct. But who knows.

 

???

Could it be a car magazine or something similar...tho on a public street...

 

But what is attached to the wheel hub?

 

I don't think that's a bungee cord. That is wiring you can see it going inside the car. The other cord has a clasp on it.

Testing obviously but for who knows what. My guess is there is more to the equipment that might have been removed.

 

Encoder

 

It actually was a bungie cord. There was no wires going into the car. I couldn't get a good pic from the side.

 

Idk then. The one on the right looks like wire with a plug of some sort.

I'm interested in this now. Haha

 

Same here. My wife works for GM and asked one of the guys in Yuma's testing grounds what it is. Waiting for him to contact us back.

 

It's nothing

 

^boo

 

Still waiting for a response.

 

it's a hand break everyone should know that. NO CLUE, looks like they drove off in the midst of an alignment.

 

Got a reply back from my wife's co-worker at GM "No clue. If I were to guess it has to do with making sure the speedo is accurate".

I've shown so many people this pic and not one valid answer yet.

 

I wasted 30 minutes googling it, you are probably right.

 

Next time I see something like this I'm going to follow the guy and ask him what the hell it is. It was a test car, all the badges and stuff were taped off/blacked out.

 

It's a go pro so you get get the view of a hub cap

 

It is a wheel mounted telemetry system. Used by automotive designers* for measuring acceleration, wheel vibrations and other parameters. Pretty standard test equipment for tuning a car's suspension. All OEM use them to determine the best spring rates, braking balance, etc. They are made to mount to just about any rotating part on a car or truck, including driveshafts and even steering wheels.

This is a typical vendor: http://www.atitelemetry.com/product/wheel-mounted-telemetry-systems/


* I used to be one. I don't do that anymore, thankfully.