dcher

I am planning to order the Z07 package with carbon fiber wheels and going to daily drive and track the car from time to time. We all know wheels occasionally get curb rash. I am wondering how difficult it will be to repair when the inevitable curb rash occurs. I guess having the black carbon flash coated wheels make most sense. Thoughts?

PurpleLion

I would forget about the carbon wheels. Too expensive. Listen to what Tadge says about the wheels, impact of heat, etc... when he was talking in the Speed Phenom interview. The stock forged wheels appear to be fairly light, but you may be able to save 5 lbs per wheel going with aftermarket aluminum.

Carbon fiber has limitations - great for race cars, great for pretty bits if you need that sort of thing, but has its' limitations in the workaday world.

dcher

One of the benefits of the carbon wheels is if you order them GM electronically modifies the suspension set up to take advantage of the reduced unsprung weight. That along with the carbon wheels should improve handling and track times.

jvp

They don't. They change the ABS tuning and the steering tuning. Not the suspension tuning. Unless you're driving on a knife's edge at the track, they're not going to help you with track times, either.

Latterlon

They are cool, but I’d get an aftermarket set of forged monoblocks from Forgeline or HRE, for maybe less money, and not worry about catastrophic damage on a road trip.

Vito.A

The carbon wheels are absolutely beautiful! They are manufactured by Carbon Revolution in Australia. I doubt they are repairable. You would just replace it and make a coffee table out of the damaged wheel.
Your real issue would be to find a tire/wheel shop that will mount new tires on these wheels. My opinion is we are making progress with carbon parts but wheels are still a few years out from being practical.
2023 Chevy Corvette Z06 Carbon Fiber Wheels Are Extremely Cool (roadandtrack.com)

Chrjones2

I had carbon fiber rims on my gt350r and ended up buying a set of forgelines for $5500 as my daily driving wheels. My forgeline wheels were only 3.5lbs per wheel heavier as well. The gt350 wheels are $24,000 a set and I believe Chevy is using the same company to make the z06 wheels called carbon revolution.

If you go with carbon fiber wheels they really aren’t a good cruising wheel… A curb or pebble can set you back $1000 for repair once you factor in shipping and a month downtime. Very few shops will help you to repair one in my experience and even less shops know how to properly do it.

Zaro Tundov

If you have to ask this question you cannot afford CF wheels.

MitchAlsup

Note: race cars do not use CF wheels even with all their advantages, the disadvantages of the wheel coming apart ½ way around a circuit out weights the added performance when still in operating condition.

fasttoys

CF wheels come with a lot of complexity when changing out tires. If you have Z07 with CupR2 tires on CF wheels you will be changing tires at $3,500 every 3 to 5k miles. No thanks just loose about 20 pounds it will be more healthy and you get to save some money too.

dcher

I think I can afford the wheels. thanks for your concern. It’s not a financial issue that I have. Just a cosmetic one regarding the difficulty in getting the wheel repaired. I am planning to add the Z07 to my current car collection which includes a Lamborghini Hurucan Performante, Tesla plaid, BMW M5 and M2.

Chrjones2

$1000 after shipping is typical repair cost that the Shelby guys are seeing with their carbon fiber wheels. Main problem is the roughly month down time while you ship them out. Spyder composites in California is popular for carbon fiber wheel repair.

2cnd Chance

That would be 20 lbs sprung weight. The CF Wheels are 40 lbs unsprung weight, big difference.

dcher

It might be easier to repair the black painted carbon wheels. If they get scraped one simply needs to sand or buff out the scratch and paint with a matching gloss black.

village idiot

I bet the car will feel notably more responsive to even the average HPDE driver with CCB and carbon wheels. That's a lot of unsprung rotating mass at the edges of the car.

With that said, I'm more worried of the carbon wheels at the track than the street. I can avoid potholes on the street and not curb them. I didn't curb my aftermarket C7 wheels or my Viper years in a combined 5 years. Both were expensive to refinish, so I just didn't try to cut it close to curbs.
On the track though, you drop tires. You hit curbing. You spin off into the dirt and rocks. It happens. Pros do it.
I've also had some pretty gnarly rock chips in my track wheels from track days.

They're just above my pay grade. I'm really shocked GM didn't offer other weight reduction options for $12k.

PurpleLion

I should have been more explicit. I was not talking about carbon fiber wheels per se, just carbon fiber in general, tub, etc. Carbon fiber, like fiberglass, depends on the integrity of its resins. Very modern chassis design can typically use a carbon fiber tub which provides a very strong and lightweight basis for a race car. We can thank Colin Chapman and his Lotus Elite for the first use of this construction methodology.

DaveFerrari458

Does the Z07 have different wheel & tire sizes than the Z06? Can one switch back to non CupR2 tires once the initial ones wear out?

sainthoo

40# less of unsprung weight will make anyone faster. If someone can’t take advantage of that kind of a change, they have no business in a performance car on track, or maybe anywhere else.

Anthony2020

Im getting the z07 package without the CF wheels

George_L

I'm planning to put in a little track time but I'm a newbie and would not benefit from the CF wheels. I do, however, love the look, especially with the exposed CF aero. Somewhere I read about someone who had their wheels made to look like CF with a wet overlay process. Basically, the pattern is floated on the water and the wheel is lifted through the floating pattern and it sticks to the wheel. It is then baked or heated to cure the wheel. Has anyone had any experience with this process?