Are you the car's original owner since new? How many miles on the car now? Do you have photos of the crack and scratch to share with us for evaluation? It would be helpful to know their exact locations on the wheel...

Truthfully, given that the OEM wheels are cast and run very low profile tires, I'm surprised we don't hear more of these stories.

 

I've seen a whole set of very nice used wheels for around $600 so that's what I would opt for IF you have no luck with warranty coverage...I know you don't need a whole set, but for the price it would give you some back ups, if further issues were to occur.

 

As Z06TOAMGGT noted above, these our tires are very low profile, providing little cushioning margin when encountering a pothole. Hitting one pothole wrong can easily crack a rim. And why some who live in a part of the country where every major city is in the running for "worst potholes in American" (the cities of the Northeast), buy wheel and tire insurance. Know of one Porsche owner who blew two wheels and tires last year alone, again for hitting just two different potholes, so not just Corvettes, but all who have low profile tires, are much more suspectible to blown tires, cracked wheels and even suspension damage.

Here is a little known fact and a major travesty. About a decade ago when New York City was besieged by citizens clamoring for pothole repairs, as they then had a formal pothole repair program (do not know if they still do), NYC re-defined a pothole to having to be at least 10" in diameter and at least 8" deep, and anything smaller than that would no longer be declared a pothole, but a road irregularity no longer subject to the pothole repair program. Are you blanking kidding me, if a hole in a road is only 9" wide and only 7" deep, it is not a pothole there.

Fortuna, hope your appeal to GM, using sections 13.1 through 13.3 of your Owners Manual gets you a new wheel under warranty, but candidly, think that would be unlikely. (Hope I am wrong.)

 

No note of whether the car is a Z51 and mag ride. Folks need to be particularly careful of track setting in this configuration, as the combination of very hard suspension reaction and very low profile tires can cause issues with the wheels becoming cracked. Even on track, non-friendly corner curbing can cause an issue on the track.

 

He commented Stingray with Stock wheels then quoted $550 replacement from the dealer. This is obviously not a Z51 and does not have MRSC as that necessitates the Z51 wheels which go for a lot more then $550 from a dealer.

 

Adding to JCar's comment, we were informed at Spring Mountain that GM recommends against using track setting for street usage due to potential damage caused by road bumps and potholes.

 

Same thing happened to my 2014 Z51. Car had less than 3000 miles on it and never hit
any chug holes etc. Just started loosing air in the tire. Small crack about an inch long. Dealer replaced wheel under warranty

 

I discovered exactly the same thing on my 2014 vette with less than 6000 miles on it. The front left wheel (inside rim)had a small crack in it along with a scratch on the lip of the rim. I am extremely careful when out driving and have not hit or run over anything that I am aware of. I have owned 5 vettes and never had a problem with a wheel cracking or even getting damaged for that mater. A lot of cars have low profile tires now days and are used as a daily driver. If normal driving on paved roads with occasional pot holes in them causes wheels to crack, that could become a major safety concern for a lot of drivers. Unfortunately It takes more than a few complaints before GM would ever raise an eyebrow to such an issue, much less repair or replace something like a defective wheel on a vehicle that can go 180 mph.

 

As we look at C5's to the present, and also look at not just other sports cars, but including every day cars, their tire profiles have been getting markedly less. Better fuel mileage, better handling, and most liking the lower tire profile "looks," are three reasons for this.

Consequently, and this is far from a GM unique issue, more and more folks are cracking their wheels and/or blowing their tires, and of course road surfaces have been deteriorating rapidly all over this country during this same time period.

Wheel and tire damage insurance was pretty much unheard of when C5's first appeared, yet now many folks are buying it. The percentage of buyers buying it in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC and many other areas has climbed exponentially the last five years.

The expression, "you got to pay to play" is unfortunately one of the prices we all get to pay, sooner or later, with our extremely low profile tires. And again, this is not even remotely a GM issue. Know one person who owns a Subaru in New York City and who has had four cracked wheels in just the last 18 months. Thankfully he learned on his last Subaru, and bought wheel and tire insurance the day he left the dealership with his new 2014.

 

Update: The dealer repaired my car by replacing the wheel. Not covered by warranty, $600 bill. I contacted the customer service line in the owner's manual to appeal. The rep told me she'd investigate and call me back in a few days. A few weeks later a rep called back, and unfortunately I couldn't understand her. She was offering me a tire and wheel road hazzard policy. I couldn't tell if she was trying to sell it to me, or if this is how they were resolving my warranty claim. I told her I wanted my $600 repair bill refunded. She told me she'd be back in touch. I received an e-mail describing my road hazzard warranty a week later. It stated it was valued at $900, and it doesn't look like it's costing me anything. Who knows if I'll be contacted again.

 

Fortuna, hopefully they will contact you again and take care of your situation, keep at it.

SF
Rick

 

Glad your warranty is paying for your replacement wheel!

 

The warranty did not pay according to what is written in post #11.

 

Just had my right rear replaced on a 17 GS at WIN Chevrolet in Carson CA due to a stress crack. Covered under warranty.

 

Wheel Crack

I just had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me on my 2017 Grand Sport C.E.!!! I started having a slow leak so I took it to my local tire store and they said the wheel had a small crack.

At their recommendation I took my car to the dealer since I only had 20,000 miles. They submitted it and it came back almost immediately from GM rejected! Same exact crap! Said "there was a small scratch therefore I must have hit a large pothole or something". No damn scratch and I have NOT hit anything ... I'm VERY careful with my "baby"!

I had the wheel repaired (welded and balanced) at a local wheel shop.

I just saw an article where there is a pending class action lawsuit against GM for these defective wheels. Anyone know how to get included in this action?

 

Wheel Crack

I just had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me on my 2017 Grand Sport C.E.!!! I started having a slow leak so I took it to my local tire store and they said the wheel had a small crack.

At their recommendation I took my car to the dealer since I only had 20,000 miles. They submitted it and it came back almost immediately from GM rejected! Same exact crap! Said "there was a small scratch therefore I must have hit a large pothole or something". No damn scratch and I have NOT hit anything ... I'm VERY careful with my "baby"!

I had the wheel repaired (welded and balanced) at a local wheel shop.

I just saw an article where there is a pending class action lawsuit against GM for these defective wheels. Anyone know how to get included in this action?

Just Google GM Corvette wheel lawsuit. It will take years to resolve and only the lawyers will make any money.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Last weekend I was admiring a new '19 Grand Sport in a parking lot when the owner returned to his car. We talked about our new rides. He told me that he drove his car from Raleigh, N.C. to W. Virginia to show family his new car. Along the way his tire pressure indicator showed alert. He stopped to have the tire repaired and learned it was a cracked wheel that was the problem. With no replacements available he had to buy a battery powered air compressor and stop every 20 min. to inflate his tire. Made it back to Raleigh and waited 2 weeks for a replacement. Didn't mention if it was under the warranty. I have since read many instances on the internet of both older C7 models and even the newer 2019 models having wheel failures. Some covered by dealers and others not covered. A class action suit won't help you on a local or extended ride. This is very concerning at the thought of going out for a Sunday afternoon drive and ending up with my car, 2019 1LT, on a rollback headed back to my house. Are there brands of custom wheels that are less prone to damage ?

 

Last weekend I was admiring a new '19 Grand Sport in a parking lot when the owner returned to his car. We talked about our new rides. He told me that he drove his car from Raleigh, N.C. to W. Virginia to show family his new car. Along the way his tire pressure indicator showed alert. He stopped to have the tire repaired and learned it was a cracked wheel that was the problem. With no replacements available he had to buy a battery powered air compressor and stop every 20 min. to inflate his tire. Made it back to Raleigh and waited 2 weeks for a replacement. Didn't mention if it was under the warranty. I have since read many instances on the internet of both older C7 models and even the newer 2019 models having wheel failures. Some covered by dealers and others not covered. A class action suit won't help you on a local or extended ride. This is very concerning at the thought of going out for a Sunday afternoon drive and ending up with my car, 2019 1LT, on a rollback headed back to my house. Are there brands of custom wheels that are less prone to damage ?

Forged wheels won’t have the bending and cracking issue. Expect to spend around $5k and up for a set


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I have a 15 with mag ride. I’ve not had any issues but I have heard of some when selecting track mode on less than pristine surfaces.

 

I have a 15 with mag ride. I’ve not had any issues but I have heard of some when selecting track mode on less than pristine surfaces.

Track mode is not recommended except on the Track. Tadge has discussed this and they talk it about it at Spring Mountain


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk