There are so many interesting facts about the new Camaro Z/28 that Chevy decided to make a media campaign out of it, revealing and boasting about them one at a time. The latest episode is about a good feature that turned into a problem for the engineers and forced them to think outside the box.

The engineers had done such a superb job with the Z/28’s traction and stopping power, fitting it with Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires and Brembo for carbon-ceramic, that is could achieve up to 1.5 g in deceleration force. While that is a cause for celebration, it also brought along an unexpected problem.

The development team noticed this immense grip is causing the wheels to rotate inside the tires. They marked tires at the beginning of a lap with a chalk line relative to the valve stem on the wheel. At the end of the lap, they recorded where the chalk line ended up and noticed the tire had rotated at least a full 360 degrees from where they started.

To solve the issue they turned to the world of racing and used the abrasive paint solution which covers the bead of the wheel, where the tire meets the rim, to prevent the slip. But it simply wasn’t strong enough to be of any use in the Camaro Z/28. The engineers kept at it and found the solution in media blasting.

Media blasting involves shooting a gritty material through an air gun at the wheel’s surface, adding texture to the paint for the tire to grip. This way the bound between the tires and the rims is strong enough to withstands the attacks of the car’s 505 horsepower output and its helical-gear limited-slip rear differential.