General Motors has gone the extra mile to ensure the production 2009 Chevrolet Camaro is as close to the concept version as possible. Rather than using the exact same Zeta platform as the Holden Commodore and Pontiac G8, GM made the front axle centerline on the Camaro about 50mm further forward than on the two [...]


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Very good article.. Its good to see GM is putting in some blood,sweat,and tears to nail this thing on the head. Apparently, it will have 20 inch wheels and will not have a problem housing wheels up to 24 inches.

 

I hadn't heard anything official before on the V6 engine being the 3.9 -- has this been confirmed by other sources?

I hope they use the 3.6 instead.

 

i would think the 3.6 DI V6 would be used for the hi-po V6 model.

 

they will probably have both v6s available

 

The 3.6 is a lock in. The only question was if the 3.9 would be slotted below it. I guess this and Ed Peper's comments the other day answer that.

 

who really cares about the V6 anyway....

V8 is what the camaro is about.

 

Don't 20" wheels seem a little big? I'm not an expert on the subject, but I had a feeling something like 17"-19" inch wheels would look better and keep the car lower to the ground.

I don't know, help me out here...

 

Without the sales number from the V6 there would be no Camaro. GM has to make the V6 Camaros appealing to non-enthusiasts...there are a lot more of them than us.

 

Wheel size has nothing to do with tire size, unless you are talking 24s or something stupid like that. With the proper sized tires it should look great and not have the 4x4 look.

 

Depends how much rubber you put on them. Like 275/40 ZR20 is smaller than 275/50 ZR18.

Edit: whoops, slow typing

 

Still aren't 20" wheels generally big?

For example, the 2002 Camaro SS had 17" wheels, if I am not mistaken. They were the largest standard wheels for that car (again, if I am not mistaken).

We're talking about a three inch difference here. Again, I'm not a car pro, so I probably need more of an explanation...

 

Well at the time our 4th gens were designed the whole big wheel craze was not around and 17's were fairly "big" at the time, 18's were very "big" as well. So for today a 20" rim is a bit of a normal thing.

And for the Camaro the Concept's wheel fit perfect and if the production model is as close as they say it is smaller wheels would look horrible!

 

The factor (in this case) in determining whether the car sits lower or higher is not just wheel size - it is the actual diameter of the wheel/tire combination.
The wheel/tire combo works on the basis that you can "take away from one and make it up with the other".
For example... my 4th Gen SS came with 17" wheels and 275/40/17 tires. If I wanted to slap on a set of 18" Z06 wheels, I could maintain basically the same ride height by putting 275/35/18 tires on those wheels. If you make the wheel bigger and lower the aspect ratio at the same time, then the diameter is for all intents and purposes, maintained.
In this example, the 275/40/17 wheel/tire combo has a diameter of 25.66". the 275/35/18 wheel/tire combo has a diameter of 25.57". In fact, you would actually lower the ride height with this swap by about 0.09" (and that's by going to an 18" wheel from a 17" wheel).
Hope this helps.
TireRack has a more in-depth explanation here:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...&currentpage=7

Best regardSS,

Elie

 

Don't know if this has been brought up, but at the SD autoshow, next to the concept, they had a screen with features of the concept in bullet style notes. Among these notes I saw a quick flash of "240HP 3.9L V6". Although, I noticed they were given information on a few other cars in GM's current lineup, so what the "3.9L V6" was referring to was unclear ,but it's something to ponder on.