2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse features carbon fiber wheels at the Chicago Auto Show

What kind of wheels do you buy when you're ponying up for a 500-horsepower 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse and you've even popped for some hand-painted stripes? If you're going to swallow a horse, don't choke on the tail, go all in — the Dark Horse will be available with these carbon fiber wheels. Ford offered a first look at them Wednesday on the floor of the Chicago Auto Show. Ford says they weigh in at 20.1 pounds, "37% lighter on average than Dark Horse aluminum wheels." (Doing the math, that puts the aluminum wheels at about 32 pounds, we think.) Ford also says it has put the wheels through over 200 tests for strength and rigidity. They are being built alongside carbon fiber wheel experts Carbon Revolution. Ford says these are its first-ever five-spoke single-piece carbon fiber wheel design, and they're a first for Carbon Revolution too, with lug nuts between the spokes. The two companies have worked together for a long time producing wheels for the Ford GT and Shelby GT350. And quoting from the press release: "For decades, the aerospace industry has treated turbine blade materials subject to extreme heat with ceramic coatings to help improve durability. Similar technology is used in top-tier open-wheel racing environments. A proprietary thermal barrier coating system has been developed by Carbon Revolution which tailors its plasma spray deposition technology to provide a thermal protection solution for carbon fiber wheels." So there's that. Plasma is involved. Oh, and we're told the wheels are blue, though they largely seem black in the photos. There are hints of blue there. No word on the cost. For now you'll have to use your imagination. Take a look. What do you think? For more visit www.autoblog.com #fordmustang #darkhorse #mustangdarkhorse #chicagoautoshow

Video Transcript

ZAC PALMER: Hey, guys Zac Palmer with Autoblog here at the Chicago Auto Show. And behind me we have the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. And we saw this back at the Detroit Auto Show last year, but Ford had a little surprise for us with some new wheels on this guy. We have carbon fiber wheels, which is a first for a Mustang other than the Shelby. It's the Shelby GT350R and the GT500 offered carbon fiber wheels in the previous generation. But now, Ford has them on the Dark Horse.

And they're a new design as well. Ford is still working with Carbon Revolutions on this wheel. But you can get it on it as an option on the Dark Horse. If you look really closely at it, it actually has a nice blue weave in it that matches this really cool color shift blue amber paint.

You notice the design is actually different from what you saw in the previous generation as well. We have a really cool five-spoke traditional wheel design on this one. The lugs are actually on the spokes as well. So a few things different with these wheels versus the previous generation Mustang.

But, yeah, they're still going to do the same thing, save a lot of weight. Ford says about 37% weight reduction. They're only about 20 pounds apiece. And they're huge, huge too. So, yeah, super excited about these wheels. I know that if I were expecting a Dark Horse, I would definitely get these.