From a Polish manufacturer of carbon fiber (CF) components (Dexcraft), some interesting info I found during my continued "should I or shouldn't I" debate on whether to purchase the ZO6/ZO7 CF rims:
Carbon Fiber Composites: properties | manufacturing methods | pros and cons
And in particular their comment about this disadvantage of CF:
Although carbon fiber offers many advantages regarding its properties note that carbon composite offers poor/modest resistance to impacts – that makes it fragile compared to steel or aluminum material. Therefore details or parts exposed to impacts are made from carbon-glass fiber composites, carbon-aramide composites, carbon composites including aluminum honeycomb or a combination of these. (emphasis added)
Now to be fair, this is a 2-year old (February 2020) Dexcraft article and it doesn't look like Dexcraft manufactures CF rims. Carbon Revolution spent 5 years of R&D for the actual ZO6 rims, using durability targets that "were extremely high", according to its website. And Tadge Juechter described the CF rims being "much much stronger" than aluminum.
And for those interested, I'll finish off with the November 2020 YouTube video from Speed Phenom (Austin) showing his experience with a damaged Mustang GT500 CF rim:
It may be that whatever Austin hit with his Mustang that caused the damage was a very odd occurrence and would have similarly toasted an aluminum rim. Plus there may have been continued improvements to impact resistance for CF rims, since that Mustang rim was manufactured. Even so, the cost to replace an aluminum rim would have been far less and I suspect that's a fair warning for anyone that might buy CF rims, along with the question of their availability especially in the first year or two of the ZO6 release. In my internet travels, I found several people suggesting that CF rims should remain on the track as opposed to regular street use, where the streets offer many more unknown obstacles, some of which may be unavoidable.
It will be interesting to see if the CF rims are covered under a tire/rim warranty and if so, the premium increase for same.
Given the 41 pound unsprung weight difference, plus the better handling, it's ++ tempting to buy the CF rims. But then there's also the question of the ZO6 being set up from factory for the CF rims and potentially having to recalibrate the vehicle if switching to an aluminum rim (only if you're fussy?? or MUST this be done??) and the cost/ease of doing that.
My debate continues and it may be settled once Canadian pricing is announced...
Carbon Fiber Composites: properties | manufacturing methods | pros and cons
And in particular their comment about this disadvantage of CF:
Although carbon fiber offers many advantages regarding its properties note that carbon composite offers poor/modest resistance to impacts – that makes it fragile compared to steel or aluminum material. Therefore details or parts exposed to impacts are made from carbon-glass fiber composites, carbon-aramide composites, carbon composites including aluminum honeycomb or a combination of these. (emphasis added)
Now to be fair, this is a 2-year old (February 2020) Dexcraft article and it doesn't look like Dexcraft manufactures CF rims. Carbon Revolution spent 5 years of R&D for the actual ZO6 rims, using durability targets that "were extremely high", according to its website. And Tadge Juechter described the CF rims being "much much stronger" than aluminum.
And for those interested, I'll finish off with the November 2020 YouTube video from Speed Phenom (Austin) showing his experience with a damaged Mustang GT500 CF rim:
It may be that whatever Austin hit with his Mustang that caused the damage was a very odd occurrence and would have similarly toasted an aluminum rim. Plus there may have been continued improvements to impact resistance for CF rims, since that Mustang rim was manufactured. Even so, the cost to replace an aluminum rim would have been far less and I suspect that's a fair warning for anyone that might buy CF rims, along with the question of their availability especially in the first year or two of the ZO6 release. In my internet travels, I found several people suggesting that CF rims should remain on the track as opposed to regular street use, where the streets offer many more unknown obstacles, some of which may be unavoidable.
It will be interesting to see if the CF rims are covered under a tire/rim warranty and if so, the premium increase for same.
Given the 41 pound unsprung weight difference, plus the better handling, it's ++ tempting to buy the CF rims. But then there's also the question of the ZO6 being set up from factory for the CF rims and potentially having to recalibrate the vehicle if switching to an aluminum rim (only if you're fussy?? or MUST this be done??) and the cost/ease of doing that.
My debate continues and it may be settled once Canadian pricing is announced...
