Tennis_pr0

I'm gonna purchase some aftermarket spyder wheels for me base c6. I know the stock wheels are forged and the aftermarket ones are cast aluminum. Just wondering if I will have any issues with bending or cracking from them being a less durable material. Also, anyone who has switched to aftermarket replica wheels, please give me some feedback of your overall satisfaction with them. Looks like I can get the black spyder wheels from west coast corvettes for a little under a grand...

wayback

Got mine from Bob at House of Wheels. Great service as I had one out of round and he overnighter me a new one and had the bad one picked up.

No problems balancing them using a road force machine.
They can be bent as I bent one hitting a big pothole (ruined the tire also) but OEM would have been ruined also.

Knob Jockey

Check the wheels thoroughly before mounting any tires as most vendors will not take them back once a tire has been put on.

WCC is a reputable vendor and will probably back up their products.

billyboy47

And what do you do if the wheel is out of round? I just went thru a big fiasco with corvette mods about that problem. My opinion is that the retailer should make sure every wheel they sell is 100% before shipping out. Now I have a set of black/chrome wheels sitting in my garage.

Knob Jockey

Many years ago when I bought aftermarket wheels for my C6 I talked to several vendors that were selling cast wheels made in China, and they were having major problems (50% failure rate) with the wheels being out of round.

They eventually turned to testing them in-house before selling to their customers.

I believe the quality of these wheels has improved significantly, but you are still better off by purchasing from a well regarded vendor, like House of Wheels mentioned above, even if it means spending a bit more.

If you don't determine whether your new wheels are 'good' or not before you mount a tire on them, I think you are pretty much SOL, even with the 'best' vendor.

This topic has been discussed at great length over the years and while it may seem that you have to exert an unreasonable amount of effort when searching for this info, it's up to the buyer to do his due diligence when making such an important purchase.

I found this info about cast wheels so unsettling that I paid quite a bit more for forged wheels from CCW.

Proceed with caution.

wera32

I bought mine from House of Wheels four years and 37K miles ago. I had the tire installer check them for straight and true before mounting the tires. All were round and one had the slightest bit of runout. The finish was really nice and they still look great. I am very pleased. Factory brand made in China.

LMB-Z

Mine were on the car when I bought it, 2012. Not one problem with them at all. I just simply replaced the plain jane center caps with Corvette center caps.

Tennis_pr0

So is there an advantage to buying the same wheel from lets say west coast corvettes as opposed to house of wheels?

09Z06pj

If it were me, to avoid any potential headaches, I'd find a set of OEM Spiders. They're out there if you look and you'd probably not pay a whole lot more for them.

Tennis_pr0

Problem is they won't fit my base model

djbrun

Key is as mentioned, check wheels for runout before mounting tires. Aftermarket wheel manufacturers have had this policy for many years. If you do not mount the tires then they will take it back, once you mount the tire most companies will leave you high and dry.

House of wheels have had pretty good customer service from what I have read on here.

Even if you pay thousands for your wheels ( like myself ) with so called fitment gaurantee, sometimes that doesn't mean squat. Still ended up paying almost an extra 2K to get my wheels to fit correct.

Just pay a little extra to have them checked without tires mounted and you should be go to go.

DJ

MikeERWNC

I remember your thread...

Corvette Mods is the worst. You can't choose a worse vendor to buy from.
It sucks that they stuck you with the wheels.
A hard lesson learned for the rest of us at your expense.
Just remember to bash Corvette Mods every chance you get until that business fails and no other Corvette owner gets scammed by them.

billyboy47

Actually, they got screwed because I won the charge back dispute against them. The wheels sit in my garage as I type. and you are 100% right about corvette mods.

billyboy47

And I still say that should be the retailers responsibility to make sure the wheels are perfect before being shipped. You pay asking price and then on top of that you have to pay extra to make sure they are problem free? Rediculous.

ICU2TV

I like the way mine look but only put on 45 miles as the snow shut me down. Parked again for a few months.

unclecookie

The replica ZR1 wheels on my car were on it when I bought it. They too are made in China. I have not experienced any problem with balance or run out, however one of my wheels had a small air leak from the time I bought the car. I finally found that the wheel itself had a small spot on it that was porous, and allowing air to escape. I had to have the tire dismounted, then I repaired the porous spot with JB Weld, and had the tire remounted and balanced. All is well since the repair. This wheel should have been fixed by the original owner, or replaced by whatever supplier he bought the set from. It is a problem that was impossible to detect without a tire being mounted and aired up.

djbrun

I 100% agree, it should be.

DJ

jrose7004

I've had them on both C5's that I had and on my current C6 and have zero issues on any of the cars. Quality is good and they look great. Good value for what you pay.

billyboy47

I guess it's who you deal with that makes the big difference. The retailer where I bought mine isn't that reputable. I have seen a lot of negative remarks about the place where I bought mine.

jdk541

Jockey is right about his advice on testing. But be careful about WCC. I can tell you firsthand that they will NOT stand behind their aftermarket wheels. When I bought a set from them and couldn't get them to balance. I had to pay the return shipping cost and they would not give me full credit because now some of the finish was bad.

I learned two lessons that week.
A. Only use factory wheels on my Corvettes
B. Never buy anything from WCC