This is unheard of! I washed the car just yesterday -Sunday- and everything was fine. Took the car for a short drive afterwards visiting some friends. No probs either.

This morning I look around and the Front Right rim has a huge crack on one of the spokes which runs clear though the spoke!!! :mad I can run a piece of string through the crack! The whole wheel seems to be a bit out of shape too. WTF happened? :cuss :cuss :cuss I did not hit any bumps on speed or anything, so I am really puzzled. This are the QF5 high polished wheels and they are supposed to be damn strong. All I did was drive around town.

I am just not driving the car anywhere and I am having it towed it to the shop tomorrow :cry where they need to evaluate what happened and if it's covered under the warranty.

Has this happened to anyone else? I have never heard any such story anywhere. Could it be that the difference in temperature between the water I washed it with and the atmosphairic caused a stress fracture? It was a bit cold here yesterday but still this sounds ridiculous. I am just glad it did not happen when I was doing 90m down a highway or even worse doing 140m down a racing track. I cannot even begin to imagine the outcome :blueangel:

I am taking it to Team Chevy where hopefully they will not give me too much grief :nonod:

:sad: :sad: :sad: Hellraiser :sad: :sad: :sad:

 

:confused: ...NEVER heard of this happening! All I can think of is the wheel had a flaw in it from day one. GM should replace it for you.

 

Wow...that's not cool!

I put my Q45's through hell and they are still pretty much like new.

Hope they get you back on the road quickly.

Neill

 

Yep, not cool at all :sad:

Just the thought of the car on the flatbed makes me sick :U I am still in a bit of a shock. throughout the years I have abused many a car on and off the track (not the Vette though) and have never had anything like that happen.

I wonder what the quality control for these rims is. Do they do an ultra-sonic looking for flaws or as long as it is round looks shiny it's good?

:sad: :sad: Hellraiser :sad: :sad:

 

Where the wheels hot when you washed them?

 

No they were not. The car was not driven before it got washed. And it's not like I used boiling water either, just lookewarm.

But now I am getting very nervous about the other wheels too. They were probably part of the same production run, so I wonder if there's anything else with the remaining 3 wheels I need to know about before I go out on the highway again.

Any ideas on how they can be tested or something?

:sad: :sad: Hellraiser :sad: :sad:

 

Had the same problem happen to me before I changed my rims out, sometimes it pays to be a little **** when your cleaning

 

Wow! How did it happen to you? Was it a stress crack? Did the dealer replace it under warranty? Did they replace all 4 wheels? (highly unlikely).

Did your wheel had any scuffs before the crack? Man, I am telling you it really sucks waking up one day and seeing your wheel cracked open like an eggshell!

Hellraiser

 

Hellraiser, Do you remember what happened the night before? :D

j/k. hope it gets replaced soon.. :cheers:

 

Thanks C5j :cheers:

Well, I made it to the dealer today. They discovered a tiny scuff on the same wheel -it's about 1.5' long on the outer rim only!- so they said that it created too much stress on the wheel, hence the crack. But they offered me another OEM wheel for $502.50+Tax+installation+balancing :rolleyes: Whatever!

I called :bs :mad :mad and had a long conversation about it. The scuff is tiny on the outer rim only and had not affected the rest of the wheel. How the heck could such a small scuff put stress on the wheel? I have not gone over any curbs or something, it's probably from driving around on public roads -and they do suck around this part of Illinois-. But so what, are the wheels made only to be used in smooth as silk roads?

I am annoyed as hell about this. I did not abuse the car but the wheel got cracked. I am prety sure this is a manufacturing fault but they will not acknowledge it. Problem is, I can not be driving around the car. If the wheel goes off completely I could cause a Big accident.

I am thinking about getting a used wheel and making a formal complaint to GM. But have never done that and I don't know the procedure. Any help on how to go about this? Anyone?

:sad: :sad: Hellraiser :sad: :sad:

 

I'm afraid that you're going to have to eat this one. Sometimes you get the elevator, other times you get the shaft.

 

CP,

maybe I will ge shafted. But I am always one to return favours. So, if it's shaft I get...... :reddevil

Hey, I don't get to be Hellraiser for nothing :D

Hellraiser

 

im sure that you wont have a problem getting it replaced. im sure that if it was bent then they might say you did it but cracked. no way.

 

A surface defect that can cause a metal part to crack is called a "stress riser". If the stress riser were the cause, the crack would start at the stress riser. It's like the line they score into a piece of glass; the glass breaks along the line. Since your crack was in a spoke, and the scratch was in the rim, I am assuming the crack did not propagate from the scratch. If so, the only HONEST conclusion a PROPERLY INFORMED dealer could come to is that the scratch did not cause the crack.

Also these wheels have a clear coat. Maybe the scratch only involved the clear coat and not the metal.

Metal can react very unpredictably to being formed. I am sure a certain percentage of these wheels fail and that GM is well aware of this fact. I don't understand why your dealer is giving you such a hard time. I don't see what he has to gain by screwing you so I suspect he is ill informed, not dishonest. Perhaps you could get a local automotive machine shop to give you an opinion to take to the dealer.

If all else fails, check with some of the tuners for take off parts.


[Modified by TCSF, 12:28 AM 10/10/2001]

 

Call the Chevrolet Customer Assistance Center. Maybe they can help you. The number is; 1-800-222-1020.

 

Get your owner's manuel out and follow the grievance proceedure outlined in it. The process works better if you call and follow up with a letter to the person you are dealing with. Take it all the way up the chain of command. Take a picture of the wheel and include it in the letter.
Good luck

 

Everybody,

thanks for your support and suggestions on this. I was about to start the process for a formal complaint, when out of the blue, GM came through impressing the hell out of me: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=165702

VERY :cool:

:D :D Hellraiser :D :D