Jim__H

Hi guys,
First time on this forum, I am usually on the C3 board, I have a '77 project going. My 27 year old son zeroed in on a 2005 coupe that was at a Honda dealership, 45K miles, the car looked, sounded and ran great. Black, very cool car. The only think that popped out was the wheels and tires are not right. Looked like repro C5 wheels, so instead of the stock 245/40-18 (front) and 285/35-19 (rear) tires, the car had 245/45-17 (f) and 275/40-18 (r) and the finish on the inside of the chrome wheels was rough, Chevy logo so maybe counterfeit? How bad is this?

Anyway, we walked.

Grimlock13

They are most likely repros for a C5. They should be "fine" as long as the front to rear ratio is good (the rears need to be 1" larger diameter or the traction control gets flakey)

If the price is right I wouldn't walk away because of it. If it bothers you and you want stock C6 wheels they can be picked up as used take-offs since people sell them when they go aftermarket or they do a widebody conversion on a "base" C6. You would need tires as well since the ones they have on it are the wrong tires for OEM wheels.

That said, there are a lot of C6's for sale. If this one bugs you (or your son) then keep looking and a better one will come around. I looked for about a year before I bought mine and in the end I actually bought new vs. used (in 2013) due to being end of model with rebates and (forum) dealer mark downs It was about the same price for new (out of state) vs used (local) and the used ones were a few years old with almost no warranty left or none left.

enventr

There are many wheels OEM on eBay. Chrome as well. You should have posted a pic . This is a factory wheel for a standard base C6 in chrome

Ben101er

I ordered a new 77, back when I managed a Chevy Store. It was black, with smoke gray interior. I ordered an automatic (wife couldn't drive a std) and it was the first model with cruise control. It was a beauty. Good luck on your resto project.

jrose7004

I wouldn't take the car off of the list based on the wrong wheels. I just sold a set of OEM chrome 5 stars for $400.00. You can find the right wheels pretty cheap.

Kenny94945

Wrong size wheels is odd.
I'd agree that is was good you walked.
Many choices in used cars with no stories.
Good hunting to you and your son.

Jim__H

Thanks Ben, I'm having a lot of fun with this car, it has lot's of potential. The finer points are: original L48 upgraded to just under 400hp, 700R4 tranny, Borgeson steering and Vintage Air. The rest will be stock.

We would have bought the car but the negotiations went nowhere. They had it at high retail and then tried to pull some funny stuff with the price when we asked for the "out the door price". My son told the guy he would buy it for $22,500 and he turned it down. There was some anguish on our part as we drove away as it was such a good looking car but there are other fish in the sea. Here it is if anyone is interested:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ctd/5674821580.html

irok

looks like a nice clean car.I wouldn't be very concerned about the wheels on it.the wheels on it look great and the original wheels are available dirt cheap

dbielicke

Tell him there are always more fish in the sea! I walked on a very similar situation. The dealer wouldn't move at all on price, and it had 22" rims that I needed to get rid of. Good luck finding one!!

cclive

You would have to drive it fast in order to see if the traction control system is already having problems because of the different tire/wheel sizes. Usually this doesn't show up until 80mph or so.

Jim__H

Well I did get it up to 80, in fact almost 90 (and it was not on the freeway) but not for long because I was running out of road. As you guys probably know it did not take long to get there, damn impressive if you ask me >:-)

The car was rock solid, but for future reference, what would the symptoms be?

WA 2 FST

If that is the color your son wants, optioned out like he wants, and has been meticulously taken care of... as most others have said, I would not walk because of the wheels.

You could sell that wheel/tire package and get some mint OEM C6 ones if you want. My son sold his OEM chromies off his '07 awhile back. They are easy to find in great shape.

You would get a Service Active Handling message if the overall tire diameter was too far off from stock (front/rear differential is what often causes this). Given the combo you list that is on the car currently has basically the exact same diameter front/rear, I _doubt_ it will throw a code.

Jim__H

We just didn't feel the car was worth full retail. The sales guy was trying to BS us about how much they would lose on the car if they came down to our price. I think we have all heard that one before. I think I mentioned above, the wheels appeared to be low quality with a very poor surface finish on the inner diameter. There was a code showing but it was tire related, not the active handling message you refer to. That one for sure would have gotten our attention.

I appreciate all the input from you guys....

cclive

Don't buy a car that has a code showing from a dealer...that should be something they get fixed...

AL_Jazz

Base model with base options...I think you can get more car for that money. The tire code may very well be for missing TPMS sensors in those aftermarket wheels. My $0.02 YMMV

Tribaltalon

Not to mention the 2005 has some deficiencies related to the rear differential. Not a huge deal if he's not going to modify the car but personally I'd at least be looking at 06 and up. 08 with the more powerful ls3 would be even better...

Jim__H

Well, the story took a turnaround yesterday, the sales guy called my son and told him that they would accept our offer of $22.5K. So we went over and they agreed to fix the code. I also brought my code reader this time and verified no other codes. My son bought the car. We were aware of the differential issue up front there is no noise now but we will keep an eye on it.

Thanks again for all the input, now it's back to the C3 board for me.

Jim

tommykoz1998

Hi Jim H and Son. Wondered if you guys were able to find decent rims for the vert. I have 2 full sets....front and rear from my old 2004 and 2008. They are factory OEM and all are in excellent shape. Let me know if interested. Tom

Red Devil Z51

New wheels might be cheap used but remember this the tires are in no way cheap and u will need an entire new set so figure new wheels tires and mounting etc is gonna be at least another 2 grand

Jim__H

We had talked about buying a set of wheels if a good deal came up and not mounting tires on them until needed. He has not done anything yet. Thanks for the heads up Tommy, I will pass it on to my son Kyle.