Anyone remember the 24 hours of Nelson Ledges? In the early '80's it was where the factories would "unofficially" show up every year, with their newest stuff, to slug it out with each other. Z/28 beat all comers in '83 -- including Porsche (which won in '82).

In fact, Camaro Z/28 beat Porsche in SCCA showroom stock, (as in real cars), for two straight years, '83/'84. Porsche quietly withdrew after that, being fairly well bloodied by Camaro. Having no REAL competition, Camaro also withdrew. I used to follow that series pretty closely. For two years running it was essentially a Z/28 vs 944 series with back door factory support. All the other cars in class, Mustang, Mitsu turbo Starion, Alfa GTV6, etc., were nothing more than rolling chicanes for Camaro and Porsche.

If you followed that sort of thing, those were true glory days for Camaro - rivalled only by the Camaro's Trans Am history.

Maybe one day we'll get a Camaro which can fill those shoes.

 

You hit the nail on the head. It's the same reason why almost every car on the road today has dual exhaust pipes sticking out the back.

 

This.

You do not need 20" wheels to fit big brakes. Does it help? Yes (especially with cooling). Is it necessary? No.

And who upgrades brakes beyond the size of something like these brembos, and then runs stock wheels? I'd hope if you're spending thousands on brakes, you'd opt for something other than heavy stock wheels.

My Cobalt comes with 4 piston Brembos and 18" wheels. A 17" diameter wheel will fit with room to spare, but as mentioned earlier the Caliper is so wide that most times the spokes end up hitting the caliper. If spacers are used you could get a 17" wheel on no problem.

 

Summary:
http://www.mpt.org/motorweek/reviews/rt2850a.shtml

They picked Camaro V6, mainly do to its head turning looks.

 

My personal observation is that larger wheels "look" more agressive on a car which typically comes with smaller wheels. Like if a car is typically equipped with 17's and later the factory put's 19's on it, that to me makes a visual statement.

It's funny on the Camaro though. Design dictated 20" wheels. Not package protected mind you - dictated. And I think the mass of the car had design needing those wheels for the proportioned look they were after. When I look at a Camaro from some distance away, with no other cars around it for scale, I almost see an optical illusion. It almost looks like a smaller car with 18" wheels. Because such large wheels were so well integrated into the design, they almost lack that "overstuffed" or "over agressive" effect, if you guys know what I mean.

 

Having driven the new SS and the G8 GT, the G8 feels lighter than the Camaro. The driving feedback is much more connected. I dont know if this is due to the Zeta-II changes or if it is simply a bad "Americanization" cause everyone knows *most* Americans want a quiet and smooth ride. I think getting the driver feel back would make a huge difference.
I'd say more like 3/4 or 7/8 - but yeah - a little smaller would be nice.
I know exactly what you mean. You get another effect when you see one on a 2 post lift with no wheels on it at all.
Larger wheels give lower profile tires, which help the handling numbers. Traction aids these days help with straight line, but more help is needed with handling a 4000lb car than stopping it.

And your "engineering explanation" barely scratches the surface of brake system design. I do not design brakes, but I know guys that do - I'll try and get one of them in here to chime in.

 

Or with 16s.....

LINK

 

Those are 16s? They look like 12s!

 

Must be 12s because we all know the car isn't big, right?

 

When side by side with my '98 Camaro, what I noticed most was that it's tall. But so is my G8 next to my '70 Cutlass. And the new Challenger next to the old one. Probably the same thing with the 2010 Mustang next to an old one, though I've not checked it out. Thinking of Mustangs, the '71-'73 model was something of a monster. Quite modern!

 

I dare say the larger wheels are more about aiding braking than about improving handling and steering feedback...

The best brakes are the coolest brakes. There's various designs out there. I had twin piston, 330mm brakes under my 17" wheels, under a car that weighed 3600lbs. I'm sure the brakes would be better yet with 4 piston calipers... better yet with 6 piston calipers... but WHOA there, we're getting a bit too complex and expensive going down that route.

As my 'engineering explanation' put it, the bigger rotors don't heat up as much as smaller rotors and the brake pads under larger wheels get increased volumes of cooler air than for that under smaller wheels.

A cooler brake is a happy brake... due in no small part to larger diameter wheels.

 

16's and 02 Camaro brakes netted a weight reduction of 165lbs. Interesting. I bet a switch to 18's alone would net at least 50lbs.

 

With the right wheels and 225-245 tires, I'll be you're right. Interesting that these 16" wheels and brakes would get the base SS down to 3700 pounds. Do we think that GM would use that method of weight reduction on Charlie's Alpha Camaro, or will they stay with 20s?

On the other hand, every one of my F4 Camaros has suffered from warped brake rotors....

 

I can't remember, are the SS's 20's forged or cast?

 

Forged I think...let me see if I can find it somewhere...