Own a 04 C5 coupe that was driving perfectly, just needed rear tires due to wear. After going to the tire shop to have two rear tires put on, and being told that (after the work was done), that I have bent wheels on the rear, I have no clue what they’re talking about as they weren’t bent before I got there. Have you heard of tire shops accidentally bending wheels? These are 19” corvette style polished wheels that were fine before going there, and were dangerous from the time I paid, and drove away. Had to go back, and after having my old tires put back on, the vibration is still unbearable after 50mph. (Even the exhaust rattles now.) Could a tire balancer cause something like that? If so, the shop certainly won’t admit it, and I’m now wondering if there’s something that can be done to fix any issues they may have caused, such as a place that re-bends bent wheels? What a world we’re living in, when we take our cars to be repaired, and the "pros" either mess the job up, or simply don’t install all of the parts, but claim that they did. This is perplexing, as I’m now 53, raised three sons, divorced, and wanted to go back in years, and drive a car I’ve never owned. So far, it’s been interesting. I didn’t even think to check the tire date codes when purchasing the car three weeks ago, and when I arrived at a different tire shop that is known to install wheels and tires on Vettes, I was told, “We can’t even dismount these, because the front are made in 2011, and the rear tires were made in 2012. Fifteen year old tires, that I didn’t think to check… with that, I’m wondering if I’m needing to buy two rear wheels, and try to find a tire/wheel expert to send the current (bent) wheels to, in order to possibly straighten them. Again, none of this took place prior to going to the tire shop, then driving back, having to turn around due to massive out of balance, and a side swaying motion with the new tires. At least with putting my old tires back on, the side swaying motion is gone, but the car can’t go over 50 mph now, as it will rattle and shake badly. Any ideas? Thanks

 

I'm not in the tire changing industry, but I have never heard a statement like this. I have had to have many old tires dismounted so new tires could be installed. I just had the tires on my Dad's 1972 442 replaced ....all had dates codes from 2002. Now, I could certainly see why a shop would refuse to MOUNT out of date tires.

Back in the day, it was absoultely possible to bend rims with the old school tire machines. The modern machines I have seen are damn near touchless

Were the tires you purchased directional, and were they installed correctly?

 

If they were mounted on a 'modern' machine (like... anything newer than 1990...), the machine does most of the work, with very little pressure against the rim itself.
Doubt that a shop would even try a 19" rim on one of the old machines.

How bent is bent? Try a different tire shop, explain the situation, ask them to rebalance all 4, and to pay attention for rim runout.
There is a spec... I've seen rims that look bent to hell, but balance just fine, and don't shake the car. Also some that don't look that bad, balance OK, but do shake the car.

There are companies that repair bent wheels, but I'm skeptical. Aluminum likes to bend, but doesn't always care to be bent back again.
As for 'sorry, can't even demount these old ones', that's just pure bullsh*t.

 

Can't dismount old tires... you can't make this up! Are you sure you heard them correctly? Because that's crazy talk. Did you notice any meth pipes lying around the shop? 15 year old tires is the BEST REASON to remove them IMMEDIATELY.

 

Discount Tire was the shop that refused to dismount the old tires, nor even put them on the balancer. Instead, I was shown overpriced all season tires... my neighbor, and his friend (both C5 owners, and a C2), have been taking their cars to Discount Tire, but that all changed after they called to ask why they couldn't check the balance of tires, nor even take the wheels off the car - without the purchase of new tires first.

As for the tire shop that did this, all I know is, there was nothing wrong with the car before getting there, and now, it's all over the road - with the old tires put back on. I've got an appointment with a frame and resto shop tomorrow, but can imagine, this is going to get expensive. It's really getting disheartening to come back to hot rod cars after selling what I had when my first son was born, and now that three sons are grown, in professional jobs, etc., (I'm even a grandfather. Ouch! Lol!) I thought that repairs could be found readily easy. Wrong thought! After buying the car three weeks ago, I was driving out of Phoenix, and wound up in Casa Grande, AZ to get gas, went to put the car in park, and the shifter cable bushing came loose at the shifter, and it was 11:30 p.m. or so, stranded at the gas pump. Not the greatest part of town to be in, coming from out of town to pick up the car to begin with. Tow truck driver didn't get there until around 2 a.m. I went to a cheap motel, called the Chevy dealer the next day and was told they don't make parts for the C5 Corvette anymore, which blew me away, and left a bad taste for whatever GM is up to... with that, I had to have the car towed to a Corvette repair shop in Arizona, and that's where some more interesting things began when the $10 bushing wound up becoming a $615 repair bill - the shop owner telling me over and over again that they replaced the shifter cable and bushings, and the mechanic told me over and over again that no, he didn't replace the cable. They only replaced the shifter cable bushing, and that's apparently a $10 part. The work was done very quickly, but the owner of the shop, who was holding my keys, demanded cash, as he didn't accept debit cards, or credit cards. Ok, so I walked to a credit union, to use my Wells Fargo card. Thankfully, as this was unfolding, I realized something was up, and I recorded the entire incident. I also wish that I had done that yesterday, because I have been to two repair shops so far, and both experiences have been truly disturbing. Besides learning how to fix these cars myself, I really don't know who to trust these days. Never seen anything like it before, and I'm really hoping to find someone in my area that actually has integrity. If this continues, I'll sell the car, vs run around frustrated all the time over being taken advantage of every time a repair needs to be done.

(Speaking of the Corvette shop in Arizona, I do think that it's in the interest of this forum, and the interest of the public to be aware of the shop owner in Arizona, as if I post the transcribed recording of the incident at his shop, the spoken words will tell clearly show what happened. Further, after I sent him a transcript of the recorded interaction, the shop owner told me, "Drive back to Arizona, and I'll replace the cable." He wants me to drive 30 hours for an automatic transmission shift cable, vs simply refunding what I was charged for, which was not installed? That's the "resolve" that he offered. We've been told that our politicians are all about "progress." Well, in the 25yrs that I've been out of the hot rod car world, and for the short time back in that world, the "progress" among repair shops and big auto makers seems to have left the building.)

Two repair shops. Two bad experiences. And most likely going to amount to well over $1,000 spent ($615 in Arizona + whatever the tire shop caused in damages, which I'll know this week), to get what in return? Frustrating. So glad this community exists, as without it, the C5 (which I LOVE!) would be fixed, and sold by the weekend. Thank you all very much for all of your recommendations, and having such a great community here. There's absolutely no doubt, that this board is what's helping keep these great cars on the road. Again, thank you all!

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the wheels are bent... but that generally comes from curb impacts and such. Some aftermarket wheels - especially clones of OEM wheels are really poorly built and are out of round 'new'. It's why an OEM wheel costs 2X an aftermarket clone.

A tire machine could scratch or chip a wheel both of which you would see. But a mounting machine doesn't have the power to bend a wheel, that's thousands of pounds of force.
It sounds like they weren't able to balance the assembly. If the wheels are bent or out of round, it could be impossible to balance the assembly. I'm betting they just threw your old tires back on the wheels without balancing them so you could get home.

There are places that can repair wheels - Wheel Techniques is one I am familiar with. But if these are as I suspect cheap OEM clones, it's probably better to just replace them. It will cost more to true the wheels than they are worth. House of Wheels is a great source if you want replacements.

I'd call the original shop and ask them to better explain why they couldn't balance the new wheel/tire combo. Have them elaborate... but I'm pretty sure you're buying a pair of wheels.

 

YES! Can't believe that I didn't check the date codes 3 weeks ago, at purchase. I thought, "These look like they were put on last week," and when I realized that I drove from AZ to TX on 15yr old tires, WOW! I'm lucky to be here, no doubt! What a surprise to find 15 year old tires! I bought a 95 Chevy c1500 recently with 304k miles, and it had been sitting for a year. Just checked the date codes on those tires. They're 2023. Wow! The old pickup truck is safer to drive, even though the red paint is turning pink. I'm still shocked at myself for not looking at the date codes on the tires, but no kidding, they looked brand new. That car apparently sat garaged, as it had 53K miles on it at purchase. Now, with 55k miles on it, I'm realizing that I'm 2k miles lucky to be in one piece. Lol!

 

Sounds like I'll be buying a pair of wheels as well. The 5 spoke 19" chrome knockoffs probably are bent. I'm thinking about going looking for four chrome, 18" C5 Z06 wheels. The rear are 10.5" and I believe the front is 9.5"

Do you think that would be a good alternative to the knockoff style wheels that may bend easily?

 

"why they couldn't check the balance of tires, nor even take the wheels off the car - without the purchase of new tires first."

That information would've been helpful from the get go. Be clear up front when smearing businesses.

Good luck.

 

I'm not sure which business you're referring. Discount Tire refused to check the balance after I left the tire shop that the problems occurred at. Instead, they attempted to sell me new tires, vs check the balance of the tires, nor do anything for the car. My neighbor, and another Vette owner overheard what happened, and they told me no more Discount Tire for them. I'm not "smearing" any business, and am curious as to where that comment came from. If you'd like, I can go through a full chronology of the events, if that would help clear things up for you.

 

All of those Chrome wheels are aftermarket knockoffs, some are probably better than others - I'm not an expert, but that's where House of Wheels comes in. Bob is on here pretty often and is an honest guy, Make sure you look at the weight of the wheels - lighter = better in general.

On my car, I did OEM 18x10.5 "rears" on all four corners. I run factory 295 in the back and 275 on the front. Works great, looks great and they are lightweight (which matters to me) If you want the polished/chrome look, you might consider going outside the OEM realm. There's a million aftermarket wheels for these cars that look great and are better quality than the clones.
But I can't tell you what you want.

I did notice that WCC is running a Memorial Day sale this weekend which might be useful
--Memorial Day Sale: Members Only!

​5-Days Only! Offer ends Monday 5/25/26. We are offering up to $50 in instant savings. Plus FREE US Ground Shipping Over $99! *Some restrictions apply on select oversize items.

$10 Off Orders Over $99: Coupon Code Save10
$25 Off Orders Over $250: Coupon Code Save25
$50 Off Orders Over $500: Coupon Code Save50
--
https://www.westcoastcorvette.com/co...orvette-wheels

 

Speaking for Discount Tire -
You need to understand, racking a vehicle, removing all 4 wheels and checking for balance takes ~ 1 hour of shop time. That's an hour they need to bill for.
If you're just a guy off the street who wants them to burn a hour of shop time for free, I understand why they refused. They are in the business of selling tires.

 

Dude, in your first post you neglected to give the reason why they wouldn't remove your old tires, you just said they wouldn't remove them. Then later on in post #5 you say that the reason they wouldn't remove them is because you had to buy new tires from them! What's unclear about that?

Good luck.

 

That's a deal! You're the greatest! Found what I was looking for there. Also, I like the setup that you're running. Since this happened, I'm going with the 18's for the rear. I'm being told that the 285/35/19's that are on there now can be swapped with 295/35/18, without a problem. Do you agree? Thanks again for your recommendation! I owe you one for sure!

 

Yes. Discount Tire said they wouldn't remove the tires, nor dismount them to put on their balancer (to check the balance that the other shop put on the wheels), due to the tires age. Instead, I was whisked into the showroom to be shown expensive all-season tires. So, I have no idea how the wheels were bent, as the car drove perfectly when I bought it, and until the first tire shop began installing new tires yesterday, the car drove perfectly right up to that point. All hell broke loose when I drove away with the new tires - on now-bent rear wheels. From there, I drove back to the shop, was very nice, but had my old tires put back on, and balanced (this is the point where they showed me bent rear wheels as the wheel and mounted tire rolled on their balancer.) Driving back, the very extreme vibration continued, so I called Discount Tire - the place where a few Vette guys I know WERE (out of convenience) having tires replaced - and that's when Discount Tire looked at the date codes (something that I FAILED to do upon purchase, as the tires looked brand new), and refused to dismount the wheel, and check the current balance from the tire shop that I had just left. So, no businesses have been "smeared," and no malice, nor bad intent on my part in pointing this out. Hopefully, that clears it up.

 

Happy to help.
You need to look at the Outside diameter (OD) of the wheel tire combo. If you go to a larger/smaller OD diameter - they speedo will be off unless you do custom programming to correct it (which isn't the end of the world but needs to be done). a half an inch will matter - a tenth of an inch won't.
Great comparison engine here
https://tiresize.com/comparison/

A 295/35/18 is functionally the same diameter as a 295/30/19 26.1" vs 26" there's some variation from one tire manufacturer to the next.
The middle number is gives you the height of the sidewall as a percentage of the width of the tire. 295/35 means that the height of the side wall is 35% of 295mm.

 

I always offer to pay. They said it would be $50, and I agreed to pay that.

 

That's great advice. Thank you! What about these sizes? 245/40ZR18 which is 25.7" tall in the front, and 295/35/18 which is 26.1" tall in the rear. Decent way to go?

 

I'm going to point you here. There's more info than I could provide along with lots of photos to give you a functional idea of what works
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...your-info.html

 

Great thread! Thank you again!