napacruzerc5

Wasn't sure where to post this - C5 General, C5 Tech or here on Aucrossing/Road Racing. So here it is. I have a 2001 M6 Coupe (non-Z06) which a bought used on 9/01 (yes a few days after 9/11) a year-old lease return. It had the OEM polished thin spokes with the original Goodyear EMTs which I replaced with Goodyear GS-D3s and finally with Kumho MXs. I have autocrossed the vette, running Western States Corvette Council events, about 5 weekends each year. Coming home from work on Friday I felt as if the car was very "tender" which I attributed to heavy crosswinds on my way home. The DIC didn't show any low pressures although I think the orginal TPMS sensors have been dying or already dead so I just took it easy and got home. The r/rear looked a little low and was definitely flat the next day. I pumped the tire up to 35psi and headed towards my favorite tire shop 4 miles away. I made it safely to the shop but they could not find a nail or any blemish on the sidewall. They finally put it in a big tub of water and the guy said "your wheel is cracked". Sure enough air was coming out of a crack right between the outer rim and one of the spokes. While I have never curbed a wheel, my commute has some really bad potholes and a couple of realy rough railroad crossing. Anyone else crack an OEM wheel? Now that I have Nitto NT-01s on another set of OEM thin spokes, this cracked wheel is worrying me since I can't tell whether the wheel cracked from autocross stresses or from everyday use or maybe a combination of both. Thoughts?

UstaB-GS549

Do a search. C5 section? I think I have read about several thin spoke failures on this forum somewhere. I thought they were all chrome wheels, but could be mistaken.

MySR71

Yup. I happens.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-p...thinspoke.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...im-victim.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...hin-spoke.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...rear-rims.html

etc.....

96CollectorSport

I've replaced 3 of them on two different cars for people.
On one car both of his rears were cracked and one wheel had 3 cracked spokes.

travisnd

Thinspokes crack... that's why I have one in my shed waiting to make it into a sweet clock for my garage.

C5ZEE06

Z06 speedline....

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/albu...ictureid=80336

geerookie

I've now cracked 3 of these wheels. Same exact spot as the picture.
Speedline 18x10.5 rears.
I have decided to only use them with rain tires.

travisnd

Dang... can't say I've ever seen a Z06 wheel crack. Guess I'm glad all of mine are Alcoas.

C5ZEE06

same here..after the speedline failure, I switched to the alcoas.

larryfs

I have a set of GM C4 GS wheels, with 10,000 track miles on R rubber. Never have I seen that on C4 GM wheels.

that is SCARY.

I have seen it on CCW centers, the older ones. Which were replaced promptly.

Goes to show if you TRACK, you must Inspect often.

froggy47

Seen a few thin spokes crack.

All my c5z rims are good to go, have not seen problems with them.

varkwso

I have not cracked a speedline ZO6 wheel. I have cracked other cast/forged wheels though.

ptindall

With the thin spokes known to crack just delivering old fat guys to Hooters, I would not trust then pushed hard with a sticky tire.

froggy47

I am surprised there was never a recall on those.

travisnd

No official recall, but GM did re-design the wheel in late '03 or '04 and if you had a warranty issue you got the "thinspokes" with the fatter spokes.... "fatspokes" if you will

geerookie

They are not exempt from cracking either! This one cracked about 3 weeks ago at NJMP while out warming up the tires and seeing if there were any bugs in the car. Not running hard at all.

Bill Dearborn

I ran into this 7 years ago when a friend with an 01 found one of his thin spokes cracked. Although out of warranty the local dealer did replace the wheel at cost and since the replacement cast wheels didn't match the forged thin spokes they replaced the other 3 wheels at cost as well. A couple of weeks later another friend had the same thing happen with a wheel on his 02. This car was under warranty and GM replaced all 4 wheels. It seems the thin spoke forged wheels have this issue and are no longer available from GM. You can only get the thin spoke cast wheels.

Bill

vettehardt

My dad has an original GM A-mold ZR-1 wheel with a crack in it.