My 2004 C5 has the original Gray or silver five spoke wheels. Its a Black car and I would like to change to original chrome wheels. Should I have these polished, sent out and chromed or is the a repop chrome identical to the factory wheels that is equal qualilty. I don`t like non factory items usually but don`t know which way to go. I didn`t find any original polished wheels on E-Bay. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
-
-
Re: C5 Polished or Chrome Wheels
There's a guy in Long Beach that exchanges all kinds of popular chrome wheels, he has a lot of stuff on ebabe. I did it on my wife's G35 Infiniti. He sent me a set and I returned my originals in the same boxes. They are very nice and very reasonable. I can't remember exactly as it's been a couple of years but it seems like everything including shipping was around 6 Benjamins, or about a 1/3 of what the dealer wanted.
BL -
Re: C5 Polished or Chrome Wheels
Mike, The original C5 wheels are not chrome. They are polished aluminum with a clear coat. I can't comment on your other questions but chrome won't be original. RickRick WeltzinComment
-
Re: C5 Polished or Chrome Wheels
Thanks Guys, I have been emailing someone calling themselves Wheel Concepts in Ca. The mans name is Phil. He does exchange original wheels for rechromed original wheels. They run a grand plus 1200.00 core until he gets the others back. They state that they are triple plated with Halivant[i know I misspelled this]chrome. Has anyone had good or bad experence with him? Polished or chrome doesn`t bother me a whole lot as at my age the C5 won`t be any more or less valuable. I`m in North Carolina.Thanks Again, MikeComment
-
Re: C5 Polished or Chrome Wheels
Is this what you are looking for?
http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/c-4...-exchange.aspxComment
-
Re: C5 Polished or Chrome Wheels
Buy the repo's and install new tires on the repo wheels. You will still have the original wheels/tires should you choose to re-install on the car when the time comes to sell the car. You will also be able to sell the repo's with tires to recover part of their cost if you choose to install the original wheels/tires when you sell the car.
If you do not desire to do this, go to a Corvette swap meet and buy a set of new C5 polished takes-offs or low mileage polished take-off wheels/tire combination. They are ALWAYS available at the big Corvette swap meets from mulitple vendors that part out late model cars.
You will spend MORE money dismounting your tires, chroming your originhal wheels, mounting tires, balancinig tires and shipping your wheels to the "chromer" and back to you than you will purchasing a set of chrome repo C5 wheels with NEW tires or a set of nice polished take-off wheels/tires at a swap meet. Remember, you will also STILL have YOUR original wheels/tires sitting in your garage to keep or sell as you see fit!
The chrome repo wheels are nice and the chrome holds up as well or better than re-chromed original wheels. To me, this decision is a No Brainer!Comment
-
Re: C5 Polished or Chrome Wheels
Thanks! I have never been to a large Corvette meet or show. Sounds like I need to. I would like to keep my original wheels. I appreciate all the responces. MikeComment
Comment