ShockwaveGT

So, some of you may have noticed from my past few threads, that I have been having some issues with my new wheels.

I got a set of DPE wheels, which I just love, but it seems the shops here in NC are completely clueless how to deal with aftermarket/custom wheels.

It all started when the local Chevy dealer told me the wheels were the wrong size because they didn't know how to measure aftermarket wheels. I called around a bunch of different shops until I found one that seems to know what was going on and seemed confident they could handle the job.

So I took the car to them and they managed to get the wheels on without too much trouble, however they said that the TPS wouldn't fit. DPE said to simply use tire bands and epoxy, but the shop said that the TPS would be destroyed in the process of putting the tire on doing that and wouldn't do it. The shop said they had a set of aftermarket TPS that would work so I said fine. I then sold my original TPS to a user here. I've also sold my original wheels here too.

The other issue was the clearance of the front valve stem due to its placement in the middle of the wheel as it was hitting the calipur. So the shop ordered a set of half stems that fit but had "questionable" clearance. Still, they didn't hit and seemed fine to me. So they installed a set of hide-away stems, which required twisting in a removable stem.

Then they told me that they had talked to DPE and thought they came up with an alternative to the tire bands that would allow me to use my original TPS (which I had already sold by then becuase they originally told me their aftermarket TPS would work). So the shop went ahead and ordered a set of TPS that were basically identical to the factory ones, but this time they used different valves/stems and some kind of bracket that they thought would work. It didn't.

So now they basically left me with the car without the TPS, using regular valve/stems in the rear and the hide-aways in the front. So as they are pulling the car out of their shop, they notice the front passenger tire looks a bit low. They said hold on, as they filled it with air before I left. I watched them screw the removable stem on, which was twice as long as the shorter half-stem they had on before. So even tho the clearance was less of an issue with the hide-away, actually filling it with air was even harder because of how long the removable stem was, making it difficult to get the thing on it to fill it with air. So they eventually contort themselves in a way that allows them to fill it with air and I drive home.

Soon as I get home, I get out and take a closer look as these hide away stems they have and I'm thinking to myself that the half stems seemed a lot easier, and didn't seem to have any clearance issues. As I'm doing this, I notice the sound of air from the front passenger tire...the one that they noticed looked low before I left. I should have realized something wasn't right before I left the shop, but I just figured they didn't fill it enough and just had to top it off.

As it turns out, according to them after I called and told them I heard the air, apparently it could have been an "installation error" and the seal of the hide-away might be "cracked." Fantastic!

He asks me if I could drive it back to them. I said no way! I'm not going to drive it back and risk having something go wrong on their account. So he gives me the number for a towing company who is sending a flatbed out because I'm not going to let them try to tow this the usual way. He said they would put the half-stems back on and be done with it.

However, the only issue remaning is the TPS. At first I figured I would just live without them and ignore the Service TPS message, but then I realized that because the car thinks my TPS is either failing or I'm driving flat tires, my Active-Handling is disabled. Normally when you push the button on the center console, you get the different settings such as Active-Handling/Traction Control On, Everything off and Competitive Mode. Now it only gives me "Traction Control On" or "Traction Control Off". Double fantastic!

So after the past few hours of trying to search a shop that specializes in custom/aftermarket wheels, I found a place in Durham called Digital Chassis. I told them everything I've mentioned above and he seemed to be on the same page right away. He said there shouldn't be a problem using tire bands, and that the other shops just wouldn't risk trying them because they didn't know how to take the tires on and off without breaking things. According to him, it shouldn't be a problem and he should be able to get a set of TPS in there without too much trouble. This is also what DPE told me a number of times, even tho every other local shop told me otherwise. The new shop told me that they will call DPE and talk to them directly first, but that once the other shop takes my car back, puts the half-stems back on and fixes their screw up, that he will take care of things next week.

So hopefully there will be light at the end of this dark, long tunnel. If I hadn't already sold my factory wheels/TPS I'd probably have just told this other shop to just put everything back on as it was. What a headache! I am keeping my fingers crossed that this shop in Durham actually has a freaking clue and can reattach some TPS that will have everything back to normal and I can be on my merry way.

Sorry for the extraordinarily long post, but I'm at my wits end here. But, in the end, if it works out I will breath a sigh of relief. But man, oh man, what a nightmare to this point. I don't know how so many of you have aftermarket wheels with no trouble. Maybe I just live somewhere they aren't used to doing this kinda thing or DPE makes their wheels unlike any others on the planet.

TrackNoob

I appreciate your posting, and if nothing else, it is a cautionary tale for others.

I guess I'll take a moment to share some hopefully On Topic thoughts as well:

i recently took a long trip, and I saw a lot of aftermarket wheels on the road. In particular, I saw a lot of trucks, with a lot of the huge custom rims. What really struck me was how often those wheels were running noticeably out of round, so much so that I would do whatever I needed to do to keep away from the vehicle they were attached to, since I had no confidence they were in control, or were remain so if an evasive maneuver was needed. I also noticed lots of CF members complaining about after market chrome wheels being or particularly poor quality, flaking, pitting, or not being fully plated. Also, there have been horror stories about size mismatch, and other order issues. Finally, as you ran into, many of these options require a cheesy kludge to make disable or remount the TPM sensors.

Guys, when I was a kid, we all loved the idea of getting wheels for our cars.

But the reason was: higher quality than the factory steel wheels (mag and aluminum wheels), better fitment for needed larger tires for handling or performance, and also, lower unsprung weight.

I see people taking the C6 wheels off, and putting on LOWER quality, HEAVIER, even DANGEROUS wheels that are poorly fitted, hacked up to make the sensors work, and all for the sake of a hoped for appearance improvement (and that result is highly debatable in many instances)

I am all for modding a vehicle to make it personal, improve handling, reduce weight, adapt to special purpose, or whatever.

But this incessant preoccupation with bling at the cost of all of the other important factors - cost, weight, suspension travel, longevity, function (i.e. hitting caliper, or striking curbside, or contacting fender) maintainability, operation of active handling system, standardization, balancing, handling, resale, etc is just MADNESS!

I am not saying this is O/P's purpose, but it is certainly many folks.

rant OFF.

cfl70

well put

ShockwaveGT

Ya, I agree with you, but I'll say this.

Many of us here aren't going to some discount wheel shop online and buying $99 rims.

We are buying wheels that cost thousands of dollars and are generally considered high-end wheels.

You would think they have these kinds of issues in mind such as weight, stability, handling, compatibility and so on...

One thing can be said tho. I can definietly see the value in going for an aftermarket wheel that is designed specifically for your car. Such as CCW's that are designed to fit our TPS, or the wheels offered by WCC and so forth.

Still, this doesn't seem like rocket science. You would think there would be plenty of aftermarket solutions out there that didn't leave you feeling like your $50K car was being jerry-rigged just to get by...

TrackNoob

Idaho Mark

I changed my wheels but stayed with stock GM wheels. I did the wheel exchange with the show chrome with West Coast Corvettes. My car looks great! WCC has many different after market wheels and I'm sure from talking to them they sell what works.

Walt White Coupe

I have to agree that this group seems a little wheel happy. I also think that replacing the stock wheels with a $900 set of after market wheels raises all the quality issues you mentioned. I bought the polished wheels with the car and was a little disappointed with the luster but still liked them. Since I decided to go with non-runflats, I wanted a backup set of wheels incase I blow a tire that won't hold air. Took advantage of the "craze" and bought another set of polished wheels from a owner who had just changed his for aftermaket. These stock wheels are high quality wheels and people are giving them away used. This particular set has as good a finish as any polished wheel I've seen. I'm convinced that if GM had put a different stock wheel on the car, people would buy these wheels as a replacement.

SimpsonH

The factory wheel is not bad and fairly light.

I am always amazed to see people increasing unsprung weight by 2 to 4 pounds at every wheel when the same money could be used to lower unsprung weight.

60av8tor

NOTE TO SELF- cross DPE off upgrade list, stay w/ original wheels......

ShockwaveGT

Well I don't think it's really got too much to do with DPE. They just don't make the rim specifically for the Corvette.

It's more to do with the fact that probably 90% of shops don't have a clue what they are doing when it's not in the manual.

Indy-hp

The factory wheel is also very easy to keep clean, no nooks and crannies or tight spaces, just stick your wash mitt in there and presto, its clean. The factory wheels are well-made and very light for their size, and I won't add performance-robbing unsprung weight to my sportscar for uniqueness. I may change my GM silvers to a set of pre-owned GM polished someday, or lightweight CCW's or BBS racing wheels ($$$), but otherwise I'll stick with what I have.

Daniel Redfoot

Sir
Sorry to hear about this nightmare, hopefully its almost solved. If however you discover that the TPS issue can't be resolved with those particular wheels, there is a way to resolve the Cars computer reading tire pressure problems. It involves installing 4 TPS sensors into a small air tight, presurized pvc pipe; the pipe is then stowed in a cubby in the rear hatch area. The computer is then referencing the sensors from there. Personally I would not give up untill the TPS system was working properly but others on the Forum use this method. A simple search would explain in more detail.
Just a thought...

ShockwaveGT

Ya, I did see something about this method, but quite frankly, I didn't pay 50K for my car to have to jerry-rig some silly setup to trick the computer or whatever.

There definitely should be a solution that "completes" the setup the way it should be as it was designed to function rather than having to hamstring some goofy setup in the car.

But thanks for the tip...I suppose if all else fails I don't have much choice, but after talking to the people at this Digital Chassis shop, they seem to be more than confident they can take care of it once I get the car back and out of the hands of the lesser shop who doesn't really specialize in such jobs.

JohnE1000

What is wrong the stock wheel? I think they are beautiful..

KevinDavid

Absolutely true! People are changing wheels for the sake of "doing something" to their new toy. Am happy with the stock wheels and don't want to risk any problems with TPS or anything else by changing rims.

siffert

The factory wheel is also very easy to keep clean, no nooks and crannies or tight spaces, just stick your wash mitt in there and presto, its clean. The factory wheels are well-made and very light for their size, and I won't add performance-robbing unsprung weight to my sportscar for uniqueness. I may change my GM silvers to a set of pre-owned GM polished someday, or lightweight CCW's or BBS racing wheels ($$$), but otherwise I'll stick with what I have.

So happy with my stock silver painted wheels that I wound up buying another spare set for $400 shipped off of another forum member (who went with CCW's). At $750 retail each, I felt I got a steal! Oh, and I do think they look GREAT with my 2007 Machine Silver Coupe.

'06 Quicksilver Z06

I am considering buying a spare set, having them stripped and polished.

If I can get a set for what you paid, I'm on them like a ricer on a neon license plate frame.

07 Lemans Z51 Coupe

I know I overpaid for the chrome factory wheels, but I love the look, and they seem to be faultless.

siffert

I am considering buying a spare set, having them stripped and polished.

If I can get a set for what you paid, I'm on them like a ricer on a neon license plate frame

Keep your eye posted on the C6 Parts for Sale...usually there a few sets for around the same price I got...most guys switching to CCW's etc. are almost happy to get rid of them...cheap. At least you wont have competition from that guy with the white faux Z06 pimpmobile

'06 Quicksilver Z06

I wonder who bought his stock wheels.