VAColorito

I have an opportunity to purchase chrome wheels for a base model C6 coupe, and am wondering if there is any risk on purchasing aftermarket wheels versus the GM OEM Chrome C6 Corvette Hertz 7 Spoke Wheel. Personally I prefer the ZR1 style, but I can get the original GM Hertz for a good price from a local dealer.
I realize the wheels are an important item for performance and don't want to purchase aftermarket "ZR1 style" wheels if there will be quality problems like dimensional, structural integrity, or chrome finish durability.
Any advice?

chaver450

I wanted HREs but they are far too expensive so I went with OEM black centennial wheels. OEM equals perfect fit and no worries for me and I love the look. I was worried about repro quality as well.

Boomer111

Depends on whose aftermarket rims your thinking of. THIS IS ONE AREA THAT YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

I think it would take $ 1,000 per rim to get quality. Otherwise I recommended staying with OEM.

JW Motorsports

The ZR1 repros we sell are very high quality. Go with what you really want

haljensen

OEM wheels are way overpriced whether new or from the Dealer's Parts Dept. Chrome is $1,895 + the trade value of the stock base wheels that list for $400-$500 each? $4,000 Wheels??!! Lots of people making profit $$ before the GM parts dept. sells them to you. Look at the list of profit takers before you get a wheel.

1. The wheel manufacturer.
2. The Co that transports the wheels to the US. (Bowling Green or Warehouse).
3. GM.
4. Dealers parts dept.

Look at used prices instead, it's a better way of finding quality.

SLAZ06

Repo rims are usually thicker and heavier beause they are gravity casting and possibly inferior materials to the higher quality casting and materials in OEM rims. Not that the rims will fail that's why they are usaully heavier to compensate for the materials and construction process. All the OEMs have to much to lose by going cheaper on any product. There are many very good repo but you pay for that quality. IMO used OEMs on the forum, Craigs List etc are often the best deals.

JJPonzini

I went with OEM instead of repros. Repros that I could afford are good, not unsafe or poor quality, but OEMs are better. This was told to me by the guy who sell wheels.

Thunder8

{Removed Non-supporting Vendor Link}

Unless you're buying really cheap wheels, you know the ones priced too good to be true, $70-$150 each, OEM quality isn't that hard to come by anymore. With manufacturing techniques coming a long way in the past ten, even five years, you can get OEM quality for ~$350 per wheel on up. Sometimes OEM wheels aren't going to fit a particular year/model of Vette, so you have no choice but to go repro, if you want the proper offset and fitment. Example: Z06 Spyders on a C6 Coupe. OEMs wont fit properly on the C6. The company above is very reputable and produce wheels just as good as the OEM's for about half the cost.

VAColorito

I found a Chevy dealer with a used (they have 200 miles on them) set of the GM 7 spoke chrome wheels sold as a $3735 option on a new build car. I can buy them for $2000 and they include the tires, Michelin PS2s. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Except that I really prefer the "ZR1 style" wheels.

Gering

OP: I bought a chrome set of ZR1 style repos from http://corvettesofhouston.com/240-corvette-zr1-wheels and never had a problem with them.

Thunder8

Good find! Like I said in my thread earlier, but the link got deleted from my post because it wasn't a curent "sponsor", there are some good mfgs., you just have to do some looking and research the company a little. OE are great, if you can fid some used ones, for the same model, but when I looked just a few months ago, a lot had curb rash that wasn't mentioned, out of round, etc., not all, but quite a few unfortunately, or were from a different model.

Also a good majority of folks like the wheels from the higher end models and unfortunately they don't fit a standard C6, so you really do need to go with a reputable repo mfg to get them to fit correctly. i.e. with the offset/back-spacing, etc. Which is different on the Z06's, ZR1's and GS models vs. a C6 Coupe if you will.

Keith Tedford

If I had any thought of track time or one of those Texas Mile runs, I would want a forged wheel. Forged wheels, as with forged pistons, are the stronger way to go. I've already seen pictures of C6 five spoke wheels with the centres broken out of them at the track. Years ago, the same thing happened on the local oval tracks when guys were using the old 15X8 Corvette steel rally wheels. They weren't up to the lateral forces and were taking the centres out. Somehow, I just wouldn't feel comfortable at the track on wheels from Taiwan or China. They might be fine but I wouldn't chance it.

Gering

If I were doing one of those events, then I would want the very best as well. Also if I had $5,000.00 just sitting around I would have bought a different set then the one I have now, but for now I just use my Vette as a DD "HWY & Backroads".

Thunder8

I hear ya. AN ISO 9001 Cert is a great way to judge the quality of work a particular company churns out. It's an international standard. This is sad but true: Out of the top 10 countries that have this certification of quality standards, guess what, CHINA is number ONE! I know, unfriken believeable! The good old US comes in at number 9 it makes me sick!

What's happened here is that China, while certainly making some cheap sh!it, they've also dumped a ton of money into new facilities and high tech manufacturing plants in the past 5-10 years. The US hasn't, and has lost ground in this arena. We just haven't kept up. This is what has happened by offshoring all the things we used to make so well.

I'm not saying China makes all better, but what was true a decade ago about their quality, just cannot be said anymore. Check it out on Google if you don't believe me. That's why we need to take back and stop giving away everything that we used to make so well!! It's now possible to get as good or a better product for the same or less from China. Check the facts and you'll be disgusted.

VAColorito

what is the name of the company

JoesC5

Are you aware that the original GM OEM C6 Z06 wheels(2006 and part of 2007) were cast in China and machined in Ohio.

Thunder8

My link was removed as a non-supporting vendor. Check your private messages.

Thunder8

YEP, I don't think many do though. This is one of the points I was trying to make in my post earlier.

tgcounts

Hi, I was searching for info about track quality of OEM wheels and came across this thread. I felt I just had to comment. I've been involved in a few ISO certifications in my time and you need to understand that the system in no way "guarantees" quality. ISO9001 simply means you have a documented repeatable process. You could literally make an inferior product but as long as you consistently made it, you'd pass ISO. Now wisdom says that a company consistently making inferior products would not stay in business so it is a self-fulfilling prophesy of quality. Kind of Darwinian in nature, but in the end, as long as the company has a long history AND is ISO9001 certified, then you can expect it to be a quality product. You also should look at who certified them and make sure it's not ACME ISO Certification. Lots of ways to scam a customer these days unfortunately. Sorry for the diatribe ...but I need wheels for my track car and am still investigating myself.

BadAV

And to add another comment along those lines - China is one of the biggest "fakers" around. Certainly some of their ISO certification companies likely do the same thing - rubber stamp the ISO certification. I personally don't trust much of anything coming out of China because of my personal experience with China suppliers in the automotive supply base for about 15 years now. If you don't keep them honest, you absolutely will not get what you are paying for.

One thing I've found from personal experience is that OEM chrome plating (real chrome plating, not PVD) tends to hold up much better than run-of-the-mill aftermarket chrome plating.