electricfish

Greetings, I have read about the frequent issues with GS and Z06 wheels being bent but I thought the stingray and stingray Z51 wheels were stronger. Just put AS3+ ZPs on my 2014 and learned that both pass. side wheels were bent. I have had 3 C6s with stock chrome wheels and never a problem so...
Are stingray chrome wheels also weaker?
C6 base wheels should also fit the C7--correct?
Anyone gone back to the C6 wheels? I personally don't care about the different styles, I would rather have wheels less likely to bend.

Many thanks--E-fish

RWDonly

Given the lack of reports on base and Z51 wheels bending, the likely scenario is that you hit a pothole or something of the sort fairly hard at some point and bent the wheels. This can happen with any wheel on any car, but is more likely to happen with low profile tires such as those found on sports cars like the Corvette.

Vetteman Jack

Yours is the first report of the base car wheels being bent that I have seen - perhaps you did hit a pothole or something that would have bent the wheels. Also, you could get a second opinion from another shop as to whether or not the wheels are really damaged.

Gearhead Jim

We have a 2017 Z51 with Mag Ride that's usually in Tour.
Two sets of factory wheels with runflats- PSS for summer and AS3+ for winter
By the time we hit 30k miles, we had bent 5 out of the 8 wheels; but no cracks.
Had them straightened and so far good.
Of the five bends, two were potholes bad enough to destroy the tire (Illinois roads). A third was a protruding manhole that didn't hurt the tire but was a really hard impact, the bend was not a surprise.
That leaves two bent wheels that we can not explain.

Telepicker

Really depressing story, sorry that happened to you. I am a couple days away from delivery of a new 2019 with two sets of z51 chrome wheels......I’m nervous now!

Zjoe6

It doesn't happen to everybody so I wouldn't dwell on it. Enjoy your new vette.

Avanti

Anything CAN be damaged. But, playing the odds, such wheels (base and Z51) are MUCH less apt to be than the others mentioned so, so frequently here.

Gearhead Jim

Just do your best to avoid the potholes & frost heaves. As Avanti said, anything can be damaged. My biggest concern with your chrome wheels would be scratches or curb rash.
It's a car. Take care of it, but drive and enjoy.

If you are willing to lose some warm weather grip, you might trade the Z51 chrome wheels (19"-20") for the 2014-2017 base size (18"-19"). The outside diameter of the tire is virtually identical, but there is more sidewall height to absorb the big hits. Still bendable, but less likely.

RacerRik

C6 Base wheels do not fit on the C7. I tried that and the spokes hit the brake calipers. Brake calipers on C7 are much bigger than the C6 calipers plus they stick out farther due to the pistons on the outside. It was close - but the spokes hit by a few thousands of an inch. Even if they did not hit, they need some clearance because there will be some flex in the wheels during hard cornering so the C6 wheels are a no go.

need-for-speed

just in case, for my future reference, where did you have them straightened?

electricfish

Thanks for the input--I had the wheels straightened at Criswell Chevrolet ( a large corvette dealer in MD.) . They have a guy with a mobile service who just happened to be there when I was having the tires installed. The wheels were not badly bent and there was only a minor vibration at ~75 MPH. But I really dislike any vibration so I had them straightened and the car is perfect now, at least up to 90. Too bad about the C6 wheels not fitting and I really appreciate the warning about that.

Gearhead Jim

Alloy Wheel Repair in Barrington, IL.
Our local Chevy dealer uses them but I took them in myself. $125 per wheel. I think they are a chain.

They claim to heat the wheel in the area that’s being straightened but my tires had not been removed and no sign of tire damage. Perhaps they only heat up big bends.

GM says you should not straighten aluminum wheels, but my limited research has not found any C6/C7 wheels that cracked after straightening. All the cracked ones I found had not been straightened, but that’s no guarantee.

I would not use a wheel that needed to be welded, or was bent enough (usually the inside rim) that I could spot it just sitting on the floor.

FLY US

.https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1600433378

Dale Stevens

2016 Stingray 1LT both right side bent per dealer; 15,000 miles. Slight vibrat in manual shifter. Dale

Walt White Coupe

While you are correct for most C6 wheels, the "Gumby" chrome or polished aluminum wheels will fit the base non-Z51 C7 as was proven by a Forum member.

RacerRik

Those are the exact wheels i put on my 2018 base Stingray and they hit the calipers.

Gearhead Jim

It looks like those wheels are still on a C6, so the photo itself is interesting but doesn't "prove" anything.
OTOH, is RacerRik sure that his wheels are GM and not reproductions, reproductions tend to be heavier/thicker than factory?

Walt White Coupe

Yes the photo is my 2009 C6 with polished Gumby's. I kept asking here if they would fit my base C7 before I bought it because I liked those wheels better than any of C7 wheels except for the R86 wheel. People kept posting that they would not fit but they always were trying to fit the "Star" wheels and you could see from the design that they would not work. But the Gumby's are a totally different design. So finally back in 2016 just after I bought by current C7, a forum member posted with pictures that the Gumby's did in fact fit the base C7 without hitting. By that time I had already purchased the R86 wheels that liked even better.

The "Star" wheels on my 2005 C6:

RacerRik

The wheels I tried on my car are original GM wheels same as in the photo for the "Gumby" polished silver wheels. I borrowed them from a friend who has the C6 Vette that the wheels came from. I will say, I only tried the front wheel, since once that was a fail, I no longer cared if the rears fit or not. In the picture take note of the brake caliper. It is a C6 caliper which has pistons on the back side only. The C7 caliper has two pistons on the back and two pistons on the front, so the caliper sticks out way farther from the rotor than the C6 one.

By the way, the gumby wheel would bolt onto the C7 with the caliper aligned so that it was between the spokes. As soon as you tried to rotate the wheel, the spokes would hit the caliper.

RacerRik

That looks awesome! White with the R86 wheels is amazing. That was the combination I was going to buy until I fell in love with Watkins Glen Gray Metallic.