c7fasteddie

you should of got the stingray z, much better wheels, made in tuwacaa

village idiot

I've never bent a wheel on any car (except once when I hit something). I quickly bent one on my grand sport and then my dealer cracked one test driving it after an alignment

A previous poster said it best: Your field data doesn't indicate a problem because it's not being recorded as warranty claims.

btwicked

Same double talk BS from GM...

Gearhead Jim

We put over 200k miles total on a C5 and two C6's, all Z51. Hit a lot of nasty stuff but never bent a wheel.

At less than 5k miles on our 2017 Z51, suspension in Tour, I hit a protruding manhole and bent a rear wheel so badly it needs replacement.

Note to Tadge: The dealer laughed at me when I suggested a warranty replacement, so here's yet another one that won't show as a problem (for you).

AORoads

Maybe so, and that would mean one or two things: the wheels are not made properly, or someone is not really doing sporadic quality checks to see if they are made to GM-specified criteria. This assumes that the specs are sufficient for the wheels, road surfaces, tires, cars, etc.

Another way to look at this, which wasn't mentioned in the Chief's response is, just exactly how many wheels are cracking, bending, breaking, etc. AS A PERCENTAGE of wheels on the road? And what percentage would qualify to GM as "statistically significant"?

That might even take into account (which probably is not being done now) all reports beyond the dealers' actually replacing damaged wheels, such as Forums, Facebook, and other social media.

Round numbers: '14-'18---120,000 Corvettes sold x 4 wheels = 480,000 wheels.

Are there 10% complaints for all cars sold (48,000 wheels, affecting at least 12,000 Corvettes---very simplistic, I know)? And, is that the number that results in, "We, at GM, are now VERY aware and concerned, due to the numbers/percentage of damaged wheels."

Or, is it less than that number, both in incidents, and total number of problem Corvettes?

Whatever the answers, the real question now is, at what number does this become important to GM, and Corvette? It's certainly important already to those who have suffered one or more wheel failures.

I believe this might be called a "follow-on" question to the original.

village idiot

10% would be a catastrophic failure and no-doubt recall.

I'm not sure what the number is, but I bet its way higher than what GM thinks it is because most people probably treat it like a flat tire- go somewhere else and get it fixed or replaced. It's not a warranty thing.

Hemi Dave

Seriously surprised and disappointed the Z06 stock wheels are not forged....I just assumed they were.

I have a super slow leak in a rear tire and I think its a rim issue as I inspected the tire.

Thank goodness I purchased the rim and tire warranty from Kerbeck.

My85

Wow Guys--this is interesting on the Wheel issues. I got rid of my C4 a while ago and was looking to really Step up. But Crap wheels bending and cracking man. I thought the overheating issue was bad on a 90k car supposed to be track ready. But now the issue like this where folks are saying not to use the "Track Mode" option for fear of wheel failure. I know the Forums usually concentrate issues because its a place to report the issues and see if anyone else is having the same problem but at least for me, at the price range for stepping up to the new Z, I really don't want to have to search out new wheels from the start. And why would I go OEM if the originals had issues--unless there are no good aftermarket solutions. You have a good chance of the issue happening again if you drive the same roads daily. I need to do more research before I make any move here.
I love the new C7 Looks and performance and would really like to move forward but this causes me to pause. Man on something as basic as wheels on the ground issues and the safety issues that can cause .

dmaxx3500

you and everybody else needs to call GM CORP customer service,,its in the Renaissance center in Detroit,,and tell them about your bad dealer experience ,,this is the only way things will change

and start emailing GM direct

CaseyClements

Thanks.......

flenn

I tried to have a technical discussion here - https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ver-modes.html. It'd be great to have a GM rep chime in and lend us some expertise...

On my GS, the popular opinion is to drive in Tour and that Sport/Track increases the chances of bending/cracking a wheel. I think the opposite may be true. The question to GM is, as the suspension resists compression from a tire rolling over an irregular surface, can it generate enough force to bend a wheel? In other words, can a wheel bend/crack within the normal part of the suspension's stroke regardless of driver mode. Simple question. If it can not, the damage has to occur when the suspension totally bottoms out or hits the hard stop. And if that's the case, driving in Sport or Track will give you more resistance to bottoming and should be better than Tour for protecting wheels.

meadowz06

It’s a combination of a low profile tire, and a inferior quality rim. Period.

rb185afm

I found my driver Rear was cracked at 9k miles, in my 17 Grandsport. GM did not warrenty. On the bright side, my 35k 2014 Camaro 1LE came with amazing forged wheels. I drove 35k miles over the exact same roads, plus did years of track days running NT01 tires, and nary a problem. Can we have better wheels please? Maybe as an option for forged wheels, in the future?

Antranik Atamian

I felt a bad vibration in my steering wheel and seat from 10 mph to 65 mph. Dealer tells me 4 of my wheels are bent. Never tracked my car. At first I didn’t believe the dealer so I took it to another deal. They replaced the shocks. Reprogrammed the transmission and still shaking. I did speak with a rep from GM and he did tell me they are aware of the z06 wheels being defective and have bad casting from the factory. My car stayed at dealer number 2 for 2 months. The GM engineer came out and said for sure my wheels are bent. I am very disappointed as to why I was told gm is aware of the wheels being defective and the final decision from the engineer was they won’t cover it under warranty. I was told from customer service that they were covered under warranty and why did I pull my car out of dealer 1. but I guess the final decision GM said is no to warranty. Now I have the car back at shop 1 and thank god I have the tire and wheel package. I still don’t believe it’s the wheels but will keep you all posted once I get my car back. This will be my last GM product because I’ve had so many issues with my z. Between customer service, GM lying to me and the way dealerships have treated me and the car. I will never put myself or my money in a gm product again. Both dealers claim they’ve done a road force test with no proof given to me or shown to me. The wheels have no cracks or doesn’t show any bent areas. I’ve owned so many cars I can’t even count. If it’s my wheels shame on GM fro not standing behind there product and the most important on there word. Poor design on wheels shouldn’t be the consumers problem. No I haven’t hit any pot holes and even if I did it wouldn’t bend 4 wheels. I see on all these forums lots of people having this issue on the z06 and gs. I’m so pissed I can’t sleep.

pdiddy972

Lovely - so they admit it's a weak wheel design problem but won't cover their own mistake on an under warranty car?

bambihunter

To use a hackneyed quote: "You got THAT right, driver."

LimaCharlie

I bought a used 2011 C-6 Convertible. I had new tires installed and discovered three out of four wheels were bent. I had the car at the local dealer and asked the service manager about the issue. He said that it is a common problem and they have a company come to the dealership on a regular basis to straighten wheels. A local tire dealer has the equipment to straighten wheels and also tells me it is a common problem.

bambihunter

Doubtful....if you're old enough to remember the old "Saturday Night Live" skit with the sniveling lawyer who could keep a one+inch ash on his cigarette, that's how I feel about GM. They screwed the pooch with valve guides on the LS7 for the C6 and walked away clean; you think they're going to do better with Grand Sport wheels?? Mmmm, got a nice antique bridge in New York I can give you a fine price on....

Antranik Atamian

Bbacon

Seems obvious... run flat Michelin’s. He certainly alluded to that