2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500’s Broken Carbon Fiber Wheel is a Chilling Mystery

Normally we’d say you’re right, but in light of two successive incidents involving Ford’s most powerful production car, we think you should probably wait a little longer if you’re considering pulling the trigger on a , especially if you are the superstitious type.

Here’s what happened: First, there’s the burnt-out engine case. Granted, this did not happen to a 760 horsepower GT500, but rather to a 1000+ horsepower GT500. These additional ponies could be quite relevant as the blackout could be hooked up to mods designed to increase power output. Either way, it’s still a Shelby GT500, and it always ended up on a tow truck, which contributes to Model Horror Week.

Information regarding the second incident involving a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is also quite scarce, but the pictures alone are enough to get the hairs on your hand. This is a car fitted with the optional $ 18,500 Carbon Fiber Track Pack, which among other things also includes a set of exposed 20-inch carbon fiber wheels.

The benefits of reduced wheel weight are huge for a performance-oriented vehicle like the top-of-the-line Mustang. Despite its size, the GT500 is a very powerful track tool, which this clip of the beast over Hockenheim clearly demonstrates.

Manufacturers are always interested in reducing the unsprung mass of a vehicle, and there is no more efficient way to do this than to fit the lightest wheels possible. This is also why in-wheel motors are not necessarily a good idea for electric vehicles, even though they eliminate the need for any type of transmission.

However, having carbon fiber wheels is not without its dangers. Indeed, as hard as composite material is (five times as strong as steel and twice as stiff, they say) when it finally breaks, it does so dramatically. An alloy wheel will warp, bend and, if pushed too hard, will snap in half, but a carbon fiber wheel will crack and break into hundreds of pieces. This rigidity comes at a price, and it’s a complete lack of flexibility.

A Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 was involved in some sort of accident which resulted in the complete annihilation of its left front wheel. The rest of the vehicle does not appear to have been damaged, meaning the car must simply have run over something big enough and hard enough to warp the low profile tire and break the wheel.

It’s another thing with performance vehicles that don’t bode well for carbon fiber wheels – they tend to use those low profile tires that don’t protect the wheels very well. So, considering their cost and how fragile they are, is it worth installing them on a car, or is it more complicated than worth it?

Well it makes a lot more sense to use them exclusively on the track where you know there isn’t a pothole waiting around the corner and you don’t have to climb a sidewalk if you don’t want it. Plus, that’s only where you can feel the difference they make. On the road, carbon fiber wheels are more about vanity than anything else.

Watch the video below to see for yourself the consequences of the accident. Skip to the 3:25 mark for that particular section, or watch the entire clip to hear thoughts from another Mustang Shelby GT owner (except in this case it’s the 350R variety) and another user of carbon fiber wheels on it.