ZF Six

I did a search and about a thousand threads come up advertising aftermarket forged wheels so that was no help.

Thinking about putting a set of OEM C6Z wheels on my C5Z but if they are cast I may as well go with some replicas.

Thanks!

phipp85

OEM's are rotary forged I believe.

pkincy

I believe they are cast but GM uses a process that results in a much lighter and stronger wheel. The OEM split spokes you can look up in the C6 weights section but I recall something like 21-22 lb fronts and 26 lb rears. Aftermarket cast replicas are about 6 lbs each more than that and have less certain strength standards.

In fact to get lighter wheels you would need to get very expensive monoblock forgings from the aftermarket and that would cost easily 4-5 times the cost of OEM.

Your car had forged wheels in 2001 and cast in 2002-2004. The castings while not quite as strong were 1/2 lb lighter than the forged OEM to OEM.

tim414

The original Z06 wheels are cast. Their, or they were, cast in Italy by Speedline. They ended production in early '09. These are the "original" Z06 wheels (five split spoke).

In 2005 there was a company in Ohio that had the original contract to build C6 Z06 wheels and they went belly up. GM scrambled and found Speedline in Italy to build them. (again, the original wheels circa 2006- and last used in early 2010 Z06's).

ZF Six

Thanks for the replies. I'm surprised that such a performance oriented car came with cast wheels.

tim414

Unsprung weight....I use to think same until I started buying forged wheels. I learned the differences then....

Walt White Coupe

These are the Rotary Forged GM R86 wheels that were an $1995 option on 2018's and up. They were the standard wheel on the "Design Package" cars. Sitting in my living room and looking at and feeling every surface, I was amazed at the quality of these wheels. They are a work of art. So GM has been providing some quality wheels. Going 11 inches wide in the wide body C7 wheels apparently was a "stretch".

To me the C8 Trident wheels look like they would be a very strong but heavy wheel from the spoke design. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict we will find that they are a rotary forged wheel. Sure wish they'd make the R86 wheel to fit it.

NORTY

In the past, Speedline of Italy made the wheels.

Dunno if they're cast or forged, or turned from billet.

pkincy

Corvette has not used forged wheels since the 2001 C5Z06. However the C6Z's split spokes are a good high pressure casting. The C7Z's castings are junk and regularly crack and bend making them close to unusable. Supposedly the C8's have thicker barrels to resist the cracks and bends that have plagued the C7Z.

GettnBetter

The original stock C5 5 spoke polished wheel from Alcoa looks awesome. The color seems brighter than the cast Speedlines. Not exactly a C6 wheel but interesting conversation.

Dan_the_C5_Man

Neither, It's a cast wheel (GM penny pinching - same reason no Ti exhaust).

CamarosRus

GOLD72

Bingo!! The 2001 C5 Z06 was the only year model C5Z or C6Z to get forged wheels. None of the C7Z wheels are forged to my remembrance.

stingray87xx

Yes and yes.

There's also varying degrees of casting. Just because a wheel is cast doesn't mean it's bad or not durable. Pretty much all OEM level wheels are low pressure castings and undergo rigorous standards. Some are high pressure which does cost more but certainly happens.