Placeholder Cadillac Wheels Are Very Red, For A Very Good Reason

It’s difficult to believe that anyone in their right senses would ever want to order a set of Cadillac wheels resembling the bright red-orange units shown on the CT4 on this page. In fact, even if someone did want to do so, they wouldn’t be able to (at least not from the factory), because these wheels are not for sale.

Instead, the red wheels seen here are transit wheels, alternatively known as processing wheels. Essentially, they are placeholders for the “real” Cadillac wheels ordered with the vehicle.

As Cadillac spokesperson Stefan Cross explains to Cadillac Society, when a dealer places an order for a vehicle with accessory wheels, they are not fitted to the car at the factory. Instead, the car is given a set of these red transit wheels, which allows it to be transported to the dealer with the correct alignment for the specified tires.

Once the car has arrived, the dealer removes the factory tires from the transit wheels and installs them on the accessory Cadillac wheels. The transit wheels are then shipped back to the factory, where they are fitted as placeholders for another Cadillac.

Okay, but why are the wheels painted red-orange to begin with? As Mr. Cross explains, that’s done to ensure that they are never sold to customers as retail items. If the transit wheels were silver, a potential owner might step into their new Cadillac and drive it off the dealer lot without noticing anything was wrong. The red-orange color ensures that this wouldn’t happen.

As for the Cadillac CT4, it offers eight wheel choices from the factory, which you can see here. Want to stay up to date on all things Cadillac? Then be sure to subscribe to Cadillac Society for around-the-clock Cadillac news coverage. We also invite you to join the latest discussions in our Cadillac forums.