I am waiting on delivery of my 2022 CFTP GT500. I do have a couple miles of gravel roads to get to my house. I was wondering if I should be worried about the carbon fiber wheels getting damaged on the roads? I am planning to drive under 10mph and will not need to make the trip very many times until I have a new safer location to store the car. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Jerrad
I live in a R1 unincorporated county area in Northern Arizona on a gravel owner maintained road, for about seven years currently. It is a bit less than half a mile to the paved road. Drive my Shelby in and out often, also have a couple of other 'nice' vehicles including a Concourse Porsche. If you drive it sanely, slowly, there is/has been no problems nor issues.
..."Safer Location", other than your Home ?
I have all of my vehicles 'at home', can't think of a "safer" location. (11 vehicles)
..."Safer Location", other than your Home ?
I have all of my vehicles 'at home', can't think of a "safer" location. (11 vehicles)
Welcome Aboard the Forum, Just drive slow there isn't much you can do to stop the rocks from being thrown by the sticky tires. Get the wheels PPF as soon as possible. We would love to see your Shelby please use the link below to post up a new member intro.
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Please click your upper right avatar/account settings/vehicle details and enter your car year. It then shows under your screen name, which helps in conversations here. We cover multiple years of the GT500 on this forum. Be sure to click SAVE at the bottom!
Also, we encourage everyone to put their first name in their signature to make this place more friendly (click your upper right avatar to get there)(You’ll need to save this as well) Let us know if you have any forum questions.
Forum picture tips:
You can use the rectangle icon to upload single full-size shots. Option 2 is the paper clip icon for multiple shots (up to 10). The paper clip icon will give you clickable thumbnails unless you select “Insert Full Images” before posting the thread
Agree with Ken. After I bought my car, I lived another 5 years in Kodiak, AK before moving to Idaho. My house up there was about 1/2 mile down a gravel road, and no problems if you just drive 10mph or slower. I've seen rock guards/flaps are available for your newer cars, and that would be smart. I put them on my 2010. I disliked the dust and dirt that would get on my car from the gravel road more than anything else. Wash the car at home, and I'd have some dust on the car by the time I got to the paved road.
I live 3 miles from the closest paved road. I drive my 2013 GT500 and 2002 Lightning on them frequently during the nicer months. I just go really slooooow. I have to wash them frequently to get all the dust off of them……very annoying.
Same as above, I have a 1/4 mile gravel driveway. Just take it slow and wait for tires to clean up once you hit pavement before speeding up. Worst problem so far is the damn dust that you pick up on the side skirts etc, especially after cleaning and detailing
I would really concerned about a rock getting between the caliper and ceramic coating and causing damage. That will happen to everyone at some time but may happen to you more frequently.
I agree, if you are driving real slow then there should not be any issues apart from feeling the rough ride. If you ever have to drive a little faster, the issue will be more with the tires throwing stones on to the car body chipping the paint. In that even, installing PPF to the side of the car all the way after the front wheel till the end of the rear bumper will help with preventing paint chips.
I have a long gravel driveway, as do virtually all of my rural neighbors. The gravel is a non issue if you drive slowly. Since everyone has a gravel driveway, there is always a lot washed onto the asphalt roads around me. Gravel gets kicked up as your tires hit it. I have zero dings or paint chips from the gravel, but I have PPF. The JLT rock blockers are awesome. Before I had them, I always had a ton of tiny rocks and dirt built up on the side splitters. I have never had issues with gravel trapped between the wheel and the caliper, but it’s always a possibility.
Welcome to the forum Jerrad! I recommend the deflectors below. However, Mr Fox hit the nail on the head. You will have issues with rocks getting between your wheel barrels and the calipers.
this is what you want to avoid, my buddy's brand new CFTP and not driving on gravel roads, worst i've seen...
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I live almost 2000 feet down a gravel road. I drive around 6-8 MPH on that road. I have driven with this car around 10-12 times on this road.
Around the 4th time I heard a noise come from the front passenger wheel. When I got to the hard ball, I got out and took a look and found the damage that you see in the attached pic.
I recommend the rock blocker and the flaps together. The flap will protect the paint, but rocks will still get past it. When you add the rock blocker it becomes about 98% effective in stopping rocks.
You might want to keep a cordless blower in your trunk to blow the dust off of the car when you get off of the dirt. The car will not shed all of the dust even at high speeds.
![Image]()
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Around the 4th time I heard a noise come from the front passenger wheel. When I got to the hard ball, I got out and took a look and found the damage that you see in the attached pic.
I recommend the rock blocker and the flaps together. The flap will protect the paint, but rocks will still get past it. When you add the rock blocker it becomes about 98% effective in stopping rocks.
You might want to keep a cordless blower in your trunk to blow the dust off of the car when you get off of the dirt. The car will not shed all of the dust even at high speeds.
Good and bad trade-offs living rural like that. I couldn't do it without paving the road to my house.
Welcome to the forum Jerrad. All good tips from the others posted here. Definitely PPF on the car, but you can also PPF the CFTP rims. Bemaro makes a PPF kit for these rims (GT500 Carbon Wheel PPF | Bemaro, Inc.). I'm just finishing up applying it to my spokes, and I may or may not do the wheel lips too. I'm on the fence on this. @Goose17 has a video on YouTube about installing this film. You can have it applied professionally, but it's actually not hard to do yourself. Congrats on the new ride.
My farm is on a 1/3 mile gravel road. When the Broncos first came out our dealer gave us a mannequin to try for a few days. They gave it to us with the doors off and the top down. When I got ready to return it, I cleaned it. It took me 3 hours to get most of the dust off. The dust was everywhere. At that time the Shelby was in Florida. I picked it up at the dealer in our toy hauler and went directly to Florida. Last Summer we brought the Shelby back to Indiana (much nicer roads than where we live in Florida) so we could use it. I refused to drive it on the gravel road because of the dust. I rented a garage with concrete floors and on a paved road 8 minutes from the farm. It worked out great. I'll probably rent it again next Summer. I'm not as worried about rocks as I'm with the dust.
Lou
Lou
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