After purchasing my NRB C7 a little over a month ago, the one thing that I could not get over was the machine faced wheels. I had gotten them as a $1500 option without seeing them based on what I previously had on one of my C6's.

To say that these wheels were a let down is an understatement. Even the dealership couldn't tell the difference between the base wheels and the machine faced wheels when they initially got the car in.

About two weeks ago I contacted GM customer support to voice my displeasure. After several attempts to explain the situation with 3 different reps, I was finally put in touch with a supervisor who understood what I was saying about the wheels. She contacted the dealership I bought the car though and had them contact me about the problem.

In no way is this a dealership problem, it is a GM/Chevrolet problem. They need to do something about these machine faced wheels. Make them look better or cut the cost down to about a $250 option, not a $1500 one.

That being said, the dealership was awesome. The new car sales manager contacted me personally and agreed 100% with me that the wheels were a bust. He even said that when my car came in they had several people look at it and compare it to a C7 with base wheels and no one could tell the difference.

Since they had a C7 in stock with a base set of wheels on it, he offered to refund the cost of the machine faced wheels and replace them with the base wheels off of the in stock car. He said they would then take the issue up with GM but that I should not be the one to have to deal with it.

I plan to replace the base wheels with some aftermarket wheels and now I have $1500 in which to do it. I want to say THANK YOU to Stingray Chevrolet in Plant City Fl. The buying experience I had was straight forward and easy. And now they have gone above and beyond to help me out with this issue. If anyone in the area is looking for a new C7 I highly recommend them.

Now to find my new wheels.... and PLEASE, if you are buying a new C7 no not get the machine faced wheels.

 

I have not seen the machine faced wheels on the C7 yet, only the chrome ones. Could you please post up a pic or two of them? And to your dealer for helping you out with this.

 

Here are some pics.

 

Should have used dark gray, smoked chrome, or black for the non machined portions.

 

I saw you photos earlier and thought they were the base wheels. My thought was they should have offered this wheel with a gunmetal gray or other dark color for contrast. I'm thinking about doing this with my base wheels but my quotes of $1000-$1200 are not reasonable to me.

 

Green2000- just tape your wheels off and use plastidip on them - easy, reversible and inexpensive.
SteveM10 - the wheels for the C7 are one area I have yet to be impressed - wheels where so high profile on the C6. No C7 wheel has grabbed my attention yet

 

machine or paint they do look nice to me. glad the dealer helped you out.

 

The optional chromed corvette accessories wheel seems to be the best looking one to me. The base wheel in any finish, or the tuning fork wheel in any finish just don't do it for me.

 

GM should offer the base wheels in Satin Black

 

Yup, they suck swamp water big time. Months ago one of our members posted pictures from B G. At that time the general reaction was the same. GM blew it by not using a dark color on the sides of the spikes and the barrel of the wheel.

 

Ford has the configurator up for the new Mustang. Their satin black wheel is killer. In fact, all their wheels look great. The base c7 wheel seems like an after thought along with its optional twin.

 

Oh, you mean the EVOStang?

Frankly, the idea that anyone would buy any wheel sight unseen and then try to blame GM for something they don't like is childish.

 

I agree with you to a point.

But this gentleman, as did many others, ordered this car probably before alot of the finer details were known. Looking at the pics, I would have to agree that the machined wheels are a bust, they are basically painted wheels that they simply machined the paint of the spokes. Threre's nothing really special about them, and definitely not worth $1,500.

Given the circumstance, I don't really see anything wrong with going to GM and voicing displeasure over this, as long it isn't done with an angry tyrade. Glad it all worked out, looks like GM agreed to buy the wheels back, and the dealer gave him the base wheels off another car in the meantime.

 

this is a good thing....some accessory/product planning manager was not thinking when he approved this...likley without seeing it. All would be fine if they grayed or blacked out between the spokes, like a true machine faced wheel....

However, I think GM knew they had a problem in that they never showed this wheel at at any of their pre launch events anywhere...(or maybe just one or two)

 

Don't get me wrong...I'm not a great fan of the wheels either (and I have seen them) but to come on here and BLAME GM for his bad decision is lame. He is lucky he got the dealership to do an exchange.

 

Funny, I didn't say anything about the car.

 

While I’m happy for the OP and think the dealership was very customer focused, I guess I don’t know how this happened.

When I bought my Pontiac G8GT in late 2008, I asked the dealer if he could swap the summer only tire/wheel combination that came with the car for the all season set that was the standard configuration. He said it was illegal for him to modify a car to a different configuration than that on the window sticker.

Made legal by GM corporate intervention? Don

 

Classic in Grapevine does this all the time. Ever notice the small supplemental window sticker showing dealer add on items like window tint and nitrogen?

 

I think the Machined Face wheels look fine, but no one in their right mind would pay more than $400 for them; but at $200, I think they would be ordered often.

 

Funny, But earlier this week I was looking at a new C7 in the Lime Rock Green. It was on a showroom floor. It ended up having these Machined Optional wheels for $1495. Next to it was a Yellow C7 with the standard painted wheels. I didnt notice any difference in the 2 Corvettes wheels, as a matter of fact I thought they were both the same standard wheels. Then one of my friends asked me what I thought of the Machined wheels. They had to actually point out to me where they were supposed to be Machined. I guess they are Machined on the spokes that Face us. I said maybe they look different in the Sun. So, I went out to my Equinox and brought in a High Powered spotlight. I shined the spotlight directly at the Machined Wheels. I still could not tell much of a difference. So, what I am saying is that I am in complete agreement with SteveM10 in that charging $1495 for these wheels is wrong. Hats off to the dealer for making things right. I thought maybe $495 would be much more in line. I really liked the Lime Rock Green but still am wondering what wheels go best with it. Just my 2 cents worth ...