I am about to get a new set of wheels for my 99 c5 and wanted to know if there is a special way to remove and replace the wheels. It is winter here in Ohio and I do not want to drive the car to the tire place. I figure I will remove the tires and wheels off the car and take the new wheels to the tire shop for the swap. I am a little confused about the sensors. Are the internal or external, and what will I have to do when I remove the wheels? Also I am probably getting a set of y2k wheels for my 99. Will the lugnuts be the same for a 99 stock painted wheel as a polished y2k wheel? If not where do I purchase the new lugs? :confused:

 

From the looks of things, it would appear that your best course of action would be to take your C5 to a quality tire store and have them do the work. They will know what and how to do it. And, you might ask Santa for an Owner's Manual. It has a lot of excellent information in it about your C5. Best of luck with your C5 and new wheels. :D

 

Jim, I understand where you're coming from but I also still remember bringing my C5 home and watching the video to learn about my 1st Corvette.

For those of us that have no reservations about yanking the brakes, exhaust, clutch or engine out to do something, I'm sure there are a lot of folks that have never turned many wrenches.

I remember when my car was brand new and I wanted to pull the air filter out. I was afraid to touch it. Then I put a ram air kit on and the rest is history.

Anyway, Gianni get that sucker on jack stands and pull the wheels off. 19mm socket & a bracker bar will do the trick. If you are putting on chrome rims than check with who you are buying them from for the appropriate lugs for appearance. Your old lugs will work fine but you may want some chormes to match the wheels.

Just dig in and do it. Any questions, just make another post, we are here to help. 24-7!

 

:iagree:
Just take the wheels off. A corvette is no different than any other car, IMO. The sensors are internal. I do agree about taking the entire car to the tire shop and having them do all the work. I have done many repairs on my car myself, but I think something so minor as swaping wheels should be done by someone else. You have better things to do with your time.

 

First of all guys I am quite mechanicaly inclined, as I own a small construction company and do much of my own service work. The reason I asked this question is because it seems this car is not like a normal car in many ways. Also the reason I dont take the car to a tire place is that I live in Ohio and the roads are covered with salt. Well thanks anyways and I guess I will go fire up the air compressor and zip theese wheels off like any ordinary car. :cuss

 

Yikes! Put the air compressor down and use some elbow grease!

 

Make sure you mark the wheels or otherwise keep track of which wheel the sensors are from. If you put them back in the same position you won't have to re-train .

 

Good Point.

Also I don't like to take my car anywhere I don't have to. Last time it went to the alingment shop (without my supervision) it came back with massive scratches under the nose and the right spoiler skirt was ripped.

outside shop also needs to have lifting pucks and properly lift a C5, or lift with a floor jack from the front or rear subframe.

 

Thank you gentlemen, thats what I needed to know. :thumbs:

 

To lift your car to remove the wheels, you’ll need lifting pucks and/or a low profile jack. Driving you car up on pieces of wood that are an inch or two thick might help you with clearance for the jack. And use jack stands, of course.

It’s cool to remove the wheels with an impact wrench. However when you install the wheels the lugnuts need to be tightened to 100 ft. lbs. The two acceptable ways of accomplishing this is to use a torque wrench or a 100 ft. lb. torque stick with an impact gun. Always follow a star pattern and tighten the lugnuts in three steps: snug, half torque, and full torque. Improper torquing of the lugnuts is the most common cause of rotor pulsation.

Keeping track of the tire sensors by marking the tire or the wheel is a good idea, but don’t be surprised if the computer loses track of them anyway as the longer the sensors are out of transmitting range of the computer the more likely they will need to be retrained. Tire training is a simple procedure utilizing a magnet that is no big deal.

The lugnuts on the ’97-’99 cars are different from the 2000 up lugnuts. Your lugnuts will work on the later wheels but won’t look as nice as the later styles which utilize either individual lugnut covers (dark gray plastic I think) or (since mid 2002) are stainless steel capped lugnuts.

 

Just pop off the center cap and use your impact wrench to take the lug nuts off. Then mark the wheels as to which one goes where so the tech can install the valve stem (pressure sensor) in the correct new wheel. You may want to get a new set of O Rings for the valve stem to avoid any sealing problems. When you install the new wheels you will need a new center cap and a complete set of lug nuts. If you are going to be taking the wheels on and off quite a bit then stay away from the new GM stainless steel covered nut and go with the older nut that has a plastic cover. The SS nuts are made for looks not durability. After several wrenchings the SS cover falls off and you have a non-standard nut that no wrench will fit. When you install the new wheels make sure there is no corrosion build up around the part of the hub where the wheel fits. Then hold the wheel in place and use the impact wrench to tighten the nuts in a star pattern until you get each nut just hitting the wheel. While tightening the nuts make sure the wheel is pulling in to the hub and rotor properly. If not back off and find out why its being restricted. Once you are done doing that go back and finish tightening to 100 ft lbs with a torque wrench (usually a quarter to half a turn). Have been using this procedure on all my cars since the mid 80s and have never had a problem with rotor warping or any of the other problems people grumble about. some times I trade wheels on the C5 two or three times a day while at the track.
Bill