Report: GM Planning Carbon Fiber Wheels for Performance Cars

We told you last year about one-piece carbon fiber wheels for Corvettes that were unveiled by Carbonline Wheels out of California at the 2015 SEMA show.

Now comes word from autoblog.com that General Motors is thinking seriously about offering carbon fiber wheels for some of its high-end performance cars, perhaps the Chevrolet Corvette and Camaro and Cadillac V-series models.

No word on how soon GM would offer the wheels, but autoblog.com says it’s likely that Australian company Carbon Revolution would supply the wheels, the way it does now for the Ford GT and Mustang Shelby GT350R.

William Rodgers, GM light polymer systems technical fellow, research and development, divulged the information to autoblog.com that the Cadillac V’s would be good candidates to get the wheels. That means the Corvette and Camaro would likely be considered, too.

High-performance cars like the Z06 would seem to be a natural fit since the wheels are considerably lighter, with GM saying carbon fiber wheels would cut 35 pounds off each vehicle while improving driving dynamics because the material is stiffer and provides wheels with lower unsprung and rotational mass.

We don’t know what all that technical talk means exactly, but it sounds like a win-win situation, other than the fact that carbon fiber is pretty expensive. GM is apparently testing the wheels to make sure they would hold up to everyday driving hazards like potholes and general wear-and-tear. GM is also checking repair costs, though Rodgers said the likely option would be to just replace a damaged carbon fiber wheel.

As for the high cost now, Rodgers says GM thinks the price of the exotic material will come down as carbon fiber becomes more mainstream on other cars.

Source:
autoblog.com

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