Technology has been pushed to new limits in the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 with a new 5-spoke carbon-fiber design and a rear wheel with 21 inches by 13 inch dimensions.

The new big-power high-rev Corvette C8 ZO6 has been built to withstand track operation, and the wheels can’t fall down on the job.
With 20x11 fronts and 21x13 rears, there is bound to be plenty of grip to go around, but without the weight penalty usually implied with a bigger and wider wheel.

With a high-pressure resin transfer molding process and “diamond weave” technology, these carbon wheels are allegedly as strong or stronger than an aluminum wheel, but providing a stiffer wheel for more repeatable tire performance.

The new 5-spoke carbon wheel isn’t only a Corvette first, it’s an industry first, and it took forever to properly engineer.

Five years, to be exact. In order to get the strength from 5 spokes of carbon that are needed to support the performance needed for a Corvette Z06, CR had to carefully position layers of fabric relative to one another to make them overlap each other in a stronger fashion at the point where the spoke meets the wheel rim.

Carbon Revolution says they had to incorporate something it calls ‘the ski jump’ which is a solid block of carbon connecting the front of the spoke to the back. It’s never been pushed into production until now.

A lightweight wheel with a big tire will help a car’s performance by increasing grip, acceleration, braking, cornering, and turn-in.
Most engineers would kill for this kind of all-around performance improvement.
It’s maybe not revolutionary to say that carbon wheels make a performance car perform better in pretty much every metric, but this is a revolutionary design.

Imagine the replacement costs of those rear 345 tires in case of a non-fixable tire flat ?