Vellum Venom Vignette: Ridin' Spinners

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Here’s the funny thing about being a failed designer-turned-blogger in today’s world of information overload: designers make mistakes and we get to discuss them. The autoblogosphere is buzzing about the upcoming C7 Stingray softtop, but as my mangled merging of GM’s PR photos show, someone forgot to sweat the details before hitting the news wires.

Perhaps you’ve never considered the Left-to-Right concerns of designing a directional wheel, a fad that really took off in the late 1980s ’till the mid-1990s. If so, the above photo of Honda (Prelude?) wheels proves the point. You always want directional wheels that visually move to emulate the forward momentum of the vehicle…unless you’re a Porsche 928 owner that drives in reverse all the time.

Ahem! So looking at GM’s original photos:

That’s pretty cool. With all the thrusting planes in the C7 Corvette, directional wheels keep the flow going for all the right reasons. If anything, the dynamic hoops help explain the rest of the body.

Forget about DLO FAIL, how about DW FAIL?

Since it’s a safe bet this problem stops at a computer rendering error, let’s assume GM made a set of right-hand directional wheels for production. Because these might be the coolest wheels seen on the C7 to date. And while this, combined with directional tires, makes tire rotation no fun (possibly impossible considering staggered sizes front-to-back) it is totally worth it to the ADHD among us…or design fans in general. This body is made for directional wheels.

And while the C7 Stingray is leaps and bounds ahead of the C4 Corvette, I can’t resist showing off the masterpieces from one of my favorite vehicles. But let’s slap them on one of my other favorite vehicles; the MK IV Jetta… previously studied here.

Damn son…who cares if that’s the wrong emblem! Just add another inch or two to the stance –since most of us live in the world outside of the Stance Nationand we have proof of why directional wheels are so cool when done right.

Your thoughts on directional wheels is greatly appreciated.

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • 300zx_guy 300zx_guy on Mar 07, 2013

    I do like directional wheels done the right way. Directional wheels look more dynamic that a symmetrical design, but they do tend to look backwards on one side of the car when the same wheel is used all around. I suspect Sajeev is annoyed by DW fail for the same reason he hates DLO fail - because it is a sure sign of bean counters winning out over designers.

  • Hanesj75 Hanesj75 on Apr 04, 2013

    I had a '95 BMW 540i with aftermarket M5 "throwing star" rims that were only made in one pattern (unlike the original M5 rims from BMW), so on the driver side they looked awesome, and on the passenger side they were facing the wrong way. I tried to not let it bother me too much, but it WAS pretty annoying.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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