A Camaro fanatic friend of mine purchased an 02' SS. His third Camaro over the years. Now he's not Internet savvy and knows nothing of Forums such as these so I thought I'd help him out. I'd guess that he has never touched a wrench either, but he sure loves his Camaros and pays to have hsi dealer maintain it.

He recently took the car to his dealer to have a tire looked as is appeared to have a slow leak. He was already considering putting new tires all around anyway. Then he received a call back from the dealer informing him that the right front, where the small leak in the tire appeared to be, had a cracked wheel. Well, he said go ahead and replace the wheel and put 4 new tires on it. He received a call the next day from the dealer. They informed him that all four wheels had cracks in them. They confessed that they have never seen anything like it before and sugested that he contact GM Customer Care (I know, I know, what a misnomer that is!). He contacted GM CC and after a few days received a call back from. The young lady told him that they couldn't do anything about his tires because they had too many miles on them, the treads are pro-rated. He corrected her and said that the issue is cracked wheels, not tires. She insisted that that her investigation with the dealership indicated that GM had no responsibility because the tires had too many miles.

GM CC added insult to injury by not even knowing the diffrence between tires and wheels. He seems to be stuck and is PO'd enough that he is actually looking at a Nissan. In his heart he truly wants to order the new 09' Camaro, but this wheel problem and GM's approach to him has left him with no sympathy for the demise of GM.

Does anyone know of such wheel probs? Any suggestions how to remedy the situation?

Thanks....

RT

 

Was he shown where the cracks were, and were they real cracks or just some scratches? I never saw a car with all 4 wheels cracked unless it was in a really bad accident or some gorilla wrenched the lug nuts. To me this sounds like a ruse to sell your buddy a new set of wheels, as the dealer should have interceded with GM if the wheels were still under warranty. Was this a GM dealer or a tire dealer? Tell your bud to contact the NHTSA and report this as a safety item.

Also to be considered is the fact that cast alloy wheels are not the strongest thing around and should be treated with care.

 

i work at discount tire and have never seen any car with all 4 wheels cracked, they don't just crack by themselves, you have to hit something pretty dammed hard to really crack a wheel, they bend first

 

I hate it when people that don't even know what your talking about is takeing your info they don't ever get it rite. If all four wheels are craked that car wouldn't be worth puting tires on. If I was your friend I would be calling the better buisness ?????? (BBB).

 

how about some pics of the rims that are cracked

 

Sounds like the dealer pulled a fast one to me. Did he go inspect the wheels himself , has he actually seen the cracks? Something fishy here...

 

been away for awhile.... snowmobile season and all.. a

anyway. thanks to those who responded.

He ended up paying 100% for new wheels and tires. Every wheel had a crack.. not a bend ro a scatch. Like I said, he doesn't know a wrench from a screwdriver but he loves camaros and has his GM dealer maintain everything, on time and in accordance with the maintenance book. He is a one of the best lawyers in teh county and the dealer knows it so I don't think the dealer was pulling a fast one.

So I take it that this is indeed a special situation. Noone here has heard of such a circumstance?