C7 Cracked wheels club

[theboss]

Just joined the cracked wheel club with my 2019 GS with just 4000KM. The 2 on the right. My daugther went to the dealer this mornig with the car, they said it is not cover and they never heard about this issue. They took pictures and I have to call GM customer service. Any of you had this issue and had it fix under waranty? I am now looking for a new set of wheels (forged if possible) I called a few places in Montreal with no luck, I want the car to look close to OEM but with bether quality , any sugestion on brand and models? pictures? My OEM whells are gloss black cupwheels. On my 2012 ZR1, I have the same wheels, 41000KM and no cracked, same tire size.


BTW If a counter person at a Corvette dealer never heard about cracked wheels on a C7, this person was probably working at a Ford dealer before and never heard about a F150

 

[LE BARON]

Usual reply BOSS. Deny! Deny! Deny! even though there is a court case, I believe, in the USA.
You just about have to put the proof in front of them before anything will get done.
Beautiful car!

 

[Vanguard2001]

There is a lot of good info about the cracked wheel issue available by search on this forum and the US corvetteforum.com. I purchased a nice set of wheels for my winter tires from Corvette Depot in Windsor. FAST wheels in Montréal had nothing compatible at the time. So far very lucky with my 2019 GS wheels with 10,000 kms on the stock and 4000 on the winters.

Bonne fête de la St-Jean ! I am originally from Verdun and Laval and always enjoyed the double holiday of St-Jean and Canada Day.

 

[DavidWG]

Just joined the cracked wheel club with my 2019 GS with just 4000KM. The 2 on the right. My daugther went to the dealer this mornig with the car, they said it is not cover and they never heard about this issue. They took pictures and I have to call GM customer service. Any of you had this issue and had it fix under waranty? I am now looking for a new set of wheels (forged if possible) I called a few places in Montreal with no luck, I want the car to look close to OEM but with bether quality , any sugestion on brand and models? pictures? My OEM whells are gloss black cupwheels. On my 2012 ZR1, I have the same wheels, 41000KM and no cracked, same tire size.


BTW If a counter person at a Corvette dealer never heard about cracked wheels on a C7, this person was probably working at a Ford dealer before and never heard about a F150

View attachment 83392

Yep, join the club. I bent one of mine at 1500 km (2019 GS) in the first month. I knew when I did it as I hit a good size pot hole at highway speed - made a claim to the MTO but they of course denied it. The super low profile tires on the GS and Z06 plus the run flat tires make them very vulnerable to any form of sharp bump. My neighbour's son tells me that the young guys with the hot rod Hondas with the super low profile tires complain about the same thing. Took mine into my dealer (Gateway in Brampton) and they knew all about the issue but said that GM would not do anything and they again checked and it was a no go. I did begged and pleaded a bit and they eventually gave me the wheel at wholesale price (around $950 for the OEM chrome wheel) which was a substantial discount. Whenever anyone asks about getting the tire and wheel insurance when they purchase a Vette I highly recommend it especially on the GS and Z06.

 

[theboss]

T

There is a lot of good info about the cracked wheel issue available by search on this forum and the US corvetteforum.com. I purchased a nice set of wheels for my winter tires from Corvette Depot in Windsor. FAST wheels in Montréal had nothing compatible at the time. So far very lucky with my 2019 GS wheels with 10,000 kms on the stock and 4000 on the winters.

Bonne fête de la St-Jean ! I am originally from Verdun and Laval and always enjoyed the double holiday of St-Jean and Canada Day.

Thank's I was raised in Cote Saint Paul and Verdun to. I owne a tire and mechanic shop in Montreal but not much availble for corvette unless you go to speed shop.

 

[theboss]

To bad that a company who offer 6 digits price tag cars doesn't stand behind there products. Cup wheels for the C7 are made in Mexico, I will check on my ZR1, I think they are made in Italy, I will confirm. I will have to go in war zone with GM. Now I am looking to by forged wheels and keep the OEM set as spares as they fit both my cars.

 

[theboss]

Yep, join the club. I bent one of mine at 1500 km (2019 GS) in the first month. I knew when I did it as I hit a good size pot hole at highway speed - made a claim to the MTO but they of course denied it. The super low profile tires on the GS and Z06 plus the run flat tires make them very vulnerable to any form of sharp bump. My neighbour's son tells me that the young guys with the hot rod Hondas with the super low profile tires complain about the same thing. Took mine into my dealer (Gateway in Brampton) and they knew all about the issue but said that GM would not do anything and they again checked and it was a no go. I did begged and pleaded a bit and they eventually gave me the wheel at wholesale price (around $950 for the OEM chrome wheel) which was a substantial discount. Whenever anyone asks about getting the tire and wheel insurance when they purchase a Vette I highly recommend it especially on the GS and Z06.

I wish they could offer me wheels at half price. I would keep that set as spares, order new forged wheels, and install new tires, I already have a set of michelin in stock that i ordered for the ZR1, the one on the ZR1 are almost at 7/32 so they can do one more seasons for sure and still have a value for use tires

I bought the care 3 months ago, not sure I can buy the wheels and tire waranty now. Probably only available when the car is sold new to first owner, I have to ask, not much to loose

 

[QWKRIDE]

Hate to say it, but you are out of luck. I bent two on the drivers side (2019 ZR1) on the way to the big celebration at the Corvette Museum with 65 other Vettes from Ontario in August 2019. I had less than 3000km on the car. Luckily got new rims in Bowling Green within 2 days at a cost of just over $3k US. Didn’t matter what I did or who I spoke to there was no help even though there were 4 others in the dealership at the same time with the same issue. GM denied any issues with the rims - and yes there was plenty of noise about the lawsuit, even back then.

 

[LE BARON]

Hate to say it, but you are out of luck. I bent two on the drivers side (2019 ZR1) on the way to the big celebration at the Corvette Museum with 65 other Vettes from Ontario in August 2019. I had less than 3000km on the car. Luckily got new rims in Bowling Green within 2 days at a cost of just over $3k US. Didn’t matter what I did or who I spoke to there was no help even though there were 4 others in the dealership at the same time with the same issue. GM denied any issues with the rims - and yes there was plenty of noise about the lawsuit, even back then.

We met at the Speedway and chatted for a while.
Lost track of you after that. Did you stay at the Drury Inn?

 

[Cariboocreek]

Judge Says The Corvette Cracked Wheels Lawsuit Can Proceed | Carscoops

Owners of C7 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and ZR1 models are suing over their cars' cracked cast aluminum wheels

www.carscoops.com

 

[WPGZ06]

Unfortunately forged is the way to go. It will set you back some the cost, but piece of mind and no bent rims is definitely worth it in the end

 

[theboss]

Unfortunately forged is the way to go. It will set you back some the cost, but piece of mind and no bent rims is definitely worth it in the end

I have to admit that you might be right, It is just very frustrating to have close to 250,000$ in my garage, comming from this company and I feel like I just bought a pack of chewing gum from them

 

[WPGZ06]

I have to admit that you might be right, It is just very frustrating to have close to 250,000$ in my garage, comming from this company and I feel like I just bought a pack of chewing gum from them

I never had a cracked rim, but still went the forge route. Cost is hefty, but peace of mind and weight difference was decent as well. In your situation the amount of $$ invested in car in garage vs. investment into wheels so you can use it without worry may justify the cost.

 

[theboss]

I never had a cracked rim, but still went the forge route. Cost is hefty, but peace of mind and weight difference was decent as well. In your situation the amount of $$ invested in car in garage vs. investment into wheels so you can use it without worthy may justify the cost.

Thank's for the reply, what brand did you buy? did you ordered them from Canada or from the states? I would like to see a pictures of yours if you have one. I am aware they will be more expensive but honestly, I dont realy have a clue of the price range and you are wright, I can use them on both cars so If I ever sell a car, I can keep the wheels for the other.

 

[WPGZ06]

Thank's for the reply, what brand did you buy? did you ordered them from Canada or from the states? I would like to see a pictures of yours if you have one. I am aware they will be more expensive but honestly, I dont realy have a clue of the price range and you are wright, I can use them on both cars so If I ever sell a car, I can keep the wheels for the other.

I debated between brands for a long time, so many options with so many different price tags. The good/bad thing about forged wheels are they are custom made, so you can make them exactly (well pretty damn close) to how you want, but downside is the price can become astronomical and wait times are anywhere from 8-12 weeks.
I got a set of forged Vossen's; other brands I looked into were Forgeline, Signature, BC Forged, HRE...If I remember the cost scale was BC Forged -> Signature -> Forgeline -> HRE (sticker shock here is very much real!). Prices in Cdn will vary on your specs, but expect to spend at least $4000-4500 and upwards to 10k+ wheels alone.
During my research everything comes from the states, there were some distributors here in Canada but then you are just paying more for the middle man. Oddly enough Vossen does its sales through a company in ONT if I remember correctly so it was a round about way of getting my wheels but I had no choice as they would not sell to me directly.
As for picture I will have to take one for you. They are currently off the the car while new tires are being mounted. Mine are finished in satin bronze with tint coat and unicolor, and I ceramic coated them. Dependent on who you go with you can customize so many aspects of the wheel (but again $$ goes up as you do)

I think the investment is worth it, only downside I can think of is they are very very specific wheels, so if you ever wish to get rid of them for any reason you will need to find another corvette owner wanting them and you will probably being eating some $$ on the sale.

 

[theboss]

Thank you so much for this great write up. These brands where also the ones I knew about, hard to find in Canada, I will go take a look at Vossen's web site. Next week, I will try my luck with GM, a friend of mine who also have a 2019 GS had one replace last fall at 30000km under waranty. Fingers cross. Thanks again

 

[Rendawg]

I'm curious of if any of the different styles of factory wheels are more prone to the cracking issue then others?

 

[C2-2-C7]

As previously mentioned fully forgers rims very expensive at $8g-$12g , myself I am looking into centre forged wheels as opposed to fully forged ( some companies offer 1 year warranty, some 5 year warranty and I saw one company offer lifetime warranty as long as you own the car) , just an option I wanted to share with others , although all the companies are in the USA , shipping is usually $500 to Canada, but it’s definitely worth trying when no one in Canada has anything.

 

[Seavette]

I own a C4 but have a BMW with Low profile and Run Flats. Went through 4 cracked wheels and three tires the first 2 months of ownership because of pot holes. I’ve driven standard cars for 40 years with out a single issue.
first thing I learned is get rid of Runflats and put on normal tires. This will help reduce the cracking issue substantially . Regardless Low profile = cracked wheels sooner or later.

 

[DavidWG]

I own a C4 but have a BMW with Low profile and Run Flats. Went through 4 cracked wheels and three tires the first 2 months of ownership because of pot holes. I’ve driven standard cars for 40 years with out a single issue.
first thing I learned is get rid of Runflats and put on normal tires. This will help reduce the cracking issue substantially . Regardless Low profile = cracked wheels sooner or later.

Yep I think you have hit the nail on the head, it is a combination of the super low profile tires, the super stiff runflat sidewalls and probably a fairly standard quality wheel. I hear the young guys who run the little hot rod Hondas and other rice rockets complaining of cracked and bent rims all the time.