[elegant]

A word of caution before you decide to order "machine faced wheels" on your non Z-51 StingRay.

As we all know, it was a struggle last Spring through early Fall, to find a good picture of the machine faced wheels on a non Z-51. Before posting pictures of how similar the standard, $ 0 wheels, are to the $1,500 machine faced wheels on a non Z-51 StingRay, below is a customer experience when his StingRay, with its machine faced wheels arrived, and how his dealer "totally stepped up" and made his whole. We also have the dealer's and the customer's thoughts, when they saw for the first time, a set of the $1,500 machine faced wheels not far from another StingRay which had the standard silver wheels. Here's the details of the experience, with thanks to "StevenM10" for sharing it:
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"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."
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The first picture below is a standard, no-cost, silver-painted non Z-51 wheel; the last three are the StingRay's $1,500, optional, machined faced wheels.

Notice in the following close-zip picture, that it is just the facing of the wheel and the rim that is machined. And, of course, only you can determine whether this is worth $1,500 to you.

 

[Crawler]

I agree that the difference in wheels is not dramatic enough. We ordered two cars with the option initially. Once we received them, we changed all pending cars to either the standard wheel or the Chrome wheels.

They look good, but not $1500 worth of good.

If the painted part of the wheel were a grey instead of silver, it would be more obvious that they are machined.

 

[telephony]

If you change the base wheels, the RPO codes will not match and that will effect the resale value.

 

[Redc7]

Not so much when it comes to wheels. Maybe in 20 or 30 years but I know wheels are one those cosmetic choices that people swap all the time. In this case as people have said would anyone even know the difference when and if he trades it in or sells it?

 

[Crawler]

I love a machine faced wheel in general. It's a subtle but elegant touch.

As I said before, it is just a bit too subtle here. Ha ha

I don't see the wheels being swapped(for other factory wheels) making a difference in the resale of the car. Unless we're talking decades from now. Then it could make a significant difference. The collector looking for such small details will most likely also be looking for the original purchase paperwork, manuals, window stickers, and transport cover. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Splitter]

Glad your dealership stepped up.

I can tell the difference, but someone else may not, and they definitely aren't worth the $1500 bump in price..

 

[elegant]

GM changed the original, 2014 C7 machined face wheels (they felt the heat of customer AND dealer complaints). Starting in 2015, the machined faced wheels were/are dramatically different from the '14's, and, IMO, quite beautiful.