BlackOps

Greetings,

While changing oil and prepping for a track day coming up at Willow Springs, I discovered one of my rims has a cracked spoke. It's broke all the way through. YIKES!

Anyone else had this experience?

Mine are chrome exchanges from West Coast Corvettes. They are OEMs.

I've calmed down after my trip to West Coast Corvettes, and here's a link to the updated posting on their forum.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zero...ost&id=3378622



[Modified by BlackOps, 6:28 PM 7/8/2002]

Mean Green

DAMN.....anyway you can take and post a pic of the area :)

BlackOps

Mean Green,

Sorry it's not a better picture. The crack runs all the way through the spoke. This is weird, huh?
http://home.socal.rr.com/redvette/im...BrokeSpoke.JPG

Mean Green

DAMN again.....I would be contacting WWC 1st thing in the am, hope they can warantee something like this :eek:

NassyVette

:eek: Good thing you found it before you went to the track :eek:

16Again

:eek: WOW :eek: Good thing you saw that.

Bob

JoeyG

Holy :eek: Looks kinda like a stress facture the way the sides and face have the pits missing. Good thing you weren't out having fun and found out the hard way!


[Modified by JoeyG, 12:57 PM 7/7/2002]

fins4284

let's hope it's warranteed...

SFVetteman

From the picture it appears that it is a cast wheel. Corvette Mike sells both cast and forged OEM chromies :confused: While it is quite possible that this was a fluke, the forged might be a better choice for the track.

BlackOps

I just can't figure out how it happened. I do attend track days from time to time, but hardly ever go "off roading". Last time I did was at Spring Mountain, when I spun the load was on the right side of the car, this is the left side front wheel. I'll wait and see what WCC says.

Thanks for the replies.

Patman36

There was someone on the forum who had this problem and the dealer covered it.

Patrick :cheers:

sandyg

Assuming there is no other damage to the wheel indicating an impact I have to believe that WCC will replace it . Ditto on the forged, although I can't tell from the picture whether it is forged or cast. I will surely keep an eye on my wheels though. Glad you saw it before you had an accident.

GoF4st

:eek: Wow sorry to hear. Hopefully it wont be a pain get the problem solved...

BlackOps

There's not a scratch on the wheel, just the crack. The only thing really upsetting about it is, it's a gorgeous day out here, and I'm stuck. Oh well, I guess bicycles aren't that bad after all.

:lol:

Straightpipes 1HD

I was thinking about chroming the wheels on my 02...and the reason I choose not to was because I was sure that chroming weakens the metal structure due to the process used. Having owned many Harley's and each one of them using lots of chrome gave me a clue to that...While the possibilty of cracking or breaking the wheels seems low, it's too much of a risk IMHO. Sorry to hear about your bad luck...

vetterdstr

Don, I am beginning to think that the stock wheels are not very good for what we are doing with our cars. Hopefully, WCC will take care of it for you.

vetterdstr :cheers:

RedC5

Chrome plating always will always have small microcracks in the plating. These cracks may propagate if the stresses are high. It is almost like having cracks in the base aluminum at the surface since the bond is so tenacious. Usually the chrome is triple plated with nickel and copper which will help slow the propagation and help in corrosion resistance.

Cricket

Don
Dr Z (he has a black Z06) with stock Z06 rims. He cracked 3 spokes on his right front wheels at Thunderhill. SCARY ... glad you found it now rather than at the track. :cheers:

AP

Nasty ... how do you plan to fix that???

BlackOps

I don't think there is a fix for it. I'm really surprised it happened to begin with. I'll be talking to WCC tomorrow, and we'll see how it goes. I'm optimistic that they'll replace the rim.

I don't think I'll be able to do a factory warranty on it, since the rims were chromed.