2014 Camaro Z/28: Too Fast for Its Wheels

It should be all fun for drivers who like to spend their weekend at the track. It’s fast, light and grippy. In fact, it’s so grippy that GM engineers had to cope with an unexpected challenge during development. After all, creating a capable track car ain’t easy.

During testing, Camaro Z/28 engineers noticed that the tires were providing so much traction, and the brakes so much stopping power, that the wheels rotated at least a full 360 degrees inside the tire. Since no one wants wheels that slip inside the tires they’re wrapped in, something had to be done.

To prevent slippage, which is known to cause diminished acceleration and braking performance, Chevy tried an old racing trick by applying abrasive paint around the bead of the wheel. The solution wasn’t good enough, so the Camaro Z/28 team switched to media blasting, a procedure that adds texture to the paint by shooting grainy material through an air gun at the wheel’s surface.

The latter finally got the tire to hold to the wheel, allowing the car to benefit from its 7.0-liter V8 engine without wasting horsepower and torque.

As a brief reminder, the 2014 Camaro Z/28 hides an LS7 unit under the hood, which sends 505 hp and 481 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. The vehicle starts at $75,000 and comes without air conditioning and a proper sound system to help reduce weight. Both, however, can be had as an option for $1,150.

The 2014 Camaro Z/28 is scheduled to arrive in US dealerships this spring. Until then, make sure you click past the jump to find out more about Chevy’s wheel slip problem.