Here’s Why The C8 Corvette Stingray Currently Offers Only Two Wheel Designs
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As of this writing, six wheel options are available for the 2021 Corvette Stingray, with diameters of 19 inches for the front and 20 inches for the rear, all of which are found on the Chevrolet configurator. Taking a closer look at the Stingray wheel choices reveals that they appear to be very similar. That’s because there are actually are two basic wheel designs, both of them featuring five spokes and both being available with three finishes.
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- Q8P Bright Silver painted
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- QEQ Carbon Flash-painted with machined edge
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- 5DG Performance Pewter
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- QES Machined-face and Sterling Silver-painted
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- QET Machined-face and Spectra Gray-painted
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- 5DF Black painted
For a car like the Corvette C8, this seems a little unambitious. GM Authority executive editor Alex Luft recently asked Chevy Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter to explain why this is the case.
“The five-spoke design is a very natural [wheel] design, since it’s where the load goes,” Juechter replied. “That’s what the wheel does – it takes the load from the hub and distributes it. So then it becomes a question of where you want to anchor it.”
“If you look at the long course of history, you’ll see the five-spoke wheels keep kind of coming back. You’ll see variations, like sometimes we hide it, you’ll see other spokes that are not so much load-bearing, but if we took those out, it’s back to a five-spoke,” Juechter continued. “And if you really think about the people that have to design wheels for a living – what wheel design hasn’t been done? It’s really hard to design something that’s new that doesn’t have a bunch of wasted aluminum on it.”
Chevy Corvette marketing director Harlan Charles, who was also present during the interview, chimed in. “Towards the end of the seventh generation [Corvette], we started bringing in more wheels. In the beginning, it was kind of like now [for the C8 Stingray]: we basically had two designs and little by little we started adding variants.”
All of this specifically applies to the Chevy Corvette Stingray, which is the only C8 variant currently on sale. In the next few years, the range is expected to expand with the Corvette C8 Z06, C8 E-Ray, C8 ZR1 and the range-topping Corvette C8 Zora, whose hybrid powertrain is expected to have a combined power output of around 1,000 horsepower. These new variants will likely expand the number of wheel and tire choices offered in the Corvette C8 range, which should – in turn – lead to new wheel designs, for technical as well as aesthetic reasons. As GM Authority reported back in 2020, the C8 Z06 is expected to be offered with a set of carbon fiber wheels that will feature a deep spoke design.
Juechter concluded: “It’s a lot to manage, since you have different finishes, and if you have different suspensions, different tires – just think of all the different combinations of tires, and they’re staggered front to rear, unlike many other cars that have the same wheel size front to rear. For [Corvette], everything is custom, so take all the different combinations and multiply them by how many models we have and you can see how it can get complex.”
The 2021 Corvette is built exclusively at the GM Bowling Green plant in Kentucky. The Corvette Stingray is powered exclusively by the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 LT2 engine, which makes 490 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque as standard, or 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque if fitted with the optional Performance Exhaust.
The 2022 Corvette will receive a few minor changes and updates, including the addition of an IMSA GTLM Championship Edition, mild tweaks to the LT2 engine and the deletion of one of the six current wheel choices, the 5-open-spoke Performance Pewter-painted aluminum wheel set which carries the RPO code 5DG.
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Not a fan of black wheels.
That all goes without saying, but an amazing ride like the Corvette deserves better looking wheels than these. Chevy fell down on this end…..
I agree that present stock wheels don’t do justice to the new Corvette. I like a stock wheel but maybe Chevrolet should offer more designs like Vossen wheels which look great on the new Vette.
Glad to see this.
From the C2 rallies up to C7 I rarely see aftermarket wheels that look better on Corvette than OEM but If I was in the market for a C8 I would be looking at the aftermarket for nicer looking wheels.
I got a set of these for my Rapid Blue convertible…
https://www.corvetteguys.com/products/c8-corvette-custom-wheels-sr1-883-monobloc-forged-series-set
Why no chrome
In general GM spend much time and effort in explaining why they DONT do things…
GM dropped the ball on the C7 Grandsport and Z06 wheels and having a class action civil suit still pending, it only makes sense why they shy away from rims.
The first time you see this car, wheels are the last thing you notice.
I think all Chevy had to do was to look a little bit closer at what “The Big Dogs” (Ferrari, Lamborghini, ect.) sort of a wheel design they’re running and maybe follow up with a similar pattern or maybe what most of the C8 Corvette owners that do change their wheels tend to go for. Not saying that they have to copy them exactly of course, being “original” has it’s good points if your design is popular, still…I do think that having the same exact wheel designs since it came out in 2020 (with a few variants in color and tint) that wasn’t popular in the first place shows a lack of enthusiasm or creativity on the wheel designers part or the “head dude” that has to “ok” such things for the Corvette Group.
I know it’s easy to say “if you don’t like the Factory wheels then go out and buy whatever you personally like”, and that would be a good point, but…I think they can do better than they’ve been doing in wheel design, after all it does help when you’ve got a very progressive, great looking Factory set of wheels on your exotic Sports Car.
Can you imagine the “Big Dogs” with a set of “so-so” looking wheels from the factory….I can’t and I don’t think most folks can either who’d be spending some big bucks for some exotic, expensive high peformance machinery.
They say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, so I suppose that I’ll catch some flack from C8 owners who are in love with the stock Factory wheel design (sic)….I changed the wheel design on my 2001 C5 Coupe and went with an expensive set of aftermarket wheels (and subsequently upgraded tires) and to me, it really changed the looks and the ride and handling of my Z-51 equipped car. Just one Corvette owners opinion. Other than that…I think the C8 designers did a pretty decent job on the car over all…except perhaps for the “too busy” ass end, “Butt” then again…..
Im a vette owner. Imho the factory wheels are somehow to small (visually) and negatively affect the stance. After market rims are a must and imho the large factory fin is perfect.