GM freeze on all chrome wheel sales?

gdnelis · May 11, 2016

Yeah it stinks, I literally bought that truck because the very near match to the paint color looked so good to me. Chrome will be OK, and I decided in the long run the pain of not enduring the hunt for a matching wheel when something occurs in the future is worth giving up what I purchased originally. The wife has an amazing ability to ruin everything I enjoy taking care of in terms of vehicles and unfortunately needs to drive the truck from time to time, so replacement parts being available are unfortunately something I need to consider with her driving record...

I skip the free service visits personally. Those are just another opportunity for someone who doesn't care as much about my vehicles as I do to damage them. For the cost of a DIY oil change and the peace of mind from knowing the filter was put on tight enough and the drain plug wasn't torqued to 300 ft/lbs. the decision is a no-brainer for me. The free tire rotations only result in me coming home and putting it back in the air so I can torque the wheels down properly since they all believe torque sticks on an impact gun are "close enough" and I tend to disagree. Just a matter of preference and peace of mind for me I guess, but I realize not everyone has the tools, time, and space to DIY.

BOOMER119 · May 11, 2016

I have a question, probably more of a general question, for what's its worth, but does have some bearing on this particular situation:

If one switches out the original wheels / tires that came with the truck for a "custom" set of wheels, albeit GM wheels, through the dealer at time of sale, what happens to the original wheels / tires that were on the truck? Does the buyer get to keep those wheels? If not, given that they are part of the selling price, does the buyer get a credit?

Just curious here, but it might be further argument towards a "free" set of wheels or perhaps provide an alternate set of wheels until the "correct" ones become available.

tallspawn · May 11, 2016

I have a question, probably more of a general question, for what's its worth, but does have some bearing on this particular situation:

If one switches out the original wheels / tires that came with the truck for a "custom" set of wheels, albeit GM wheels, through the dealer at time of sale, what happens to the original wheels / tires that were on the truck? Does the buyer get to keep those wheels? If not, given that they are part of the selling price, does the buyer get a credit?

Just curious here, but it might be further argument towards a "free" set of wheels or perhaps provide an alternate set of wheels until the "correct" ones become available.

They sell them as take offs for a discount...can usually find at least one set in the parts dept.

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camcamaro1991 · May 11, 2016

Yeah it stinks, I literally bought that truck because the very near match to the paint color looked so good to me. Chrome will be OK, and I decided in the long run the pain of not enduring the hunt for a matching wheel when something occurs in the future is worth giving up what I purchased originally. The wife has an amazing ability to ruin everything I enjoy taking care of in terms of vehicles and unfortunately needs to drive the truck from time to time, so replacement parts being available are unfortunately something I need to consider with her driving record...

I skip the free service visits personally. Those are just another opportunity for someone who doesn't care as much about my vehicles as I do to damage them. For the cost of a DIY oil change and the peace of mind from knowing the filter was put on tight enough and the drain plug wasn't torqued to 300 ft/lbs. the decision is a no-brainer for me. The free tire rotations only result in me coming home and putting it back in the air so I can torque the wheels down properly since they all believe torque sticks on an impact gun are "close enough" and I tend to disagree. Just a matter of preference and peace of mind for me I guess, but I realize not everyone has the tools, time, and space to DIY.

Geech,

while I agree with you on most the points there are good techs, few. But still some do exist normally they are the ones who take their time, they run on limited time at the dealer like mine was 6 years, management push's out the good techs for the techs than can run more hours, i.e. push the limits of mediocre work, I told my management "F" off and well I am not longer a tech as I work on my own terms and nobody else's. I worked next to the so called best in the bis..... let me tell you, they were best at stealing and in reality they couldn't diag... anything the shop foreman's lived in their stalls.

On to rims and tires, when I showed up I was the only one capable of mounting rims without scratching them, sad but its true. 99% of all techs can't operate a tire machine, let alone use the balancer and keep them in calibration . Took less than 1 year being at the dealer and all wheels and tires came to me, even take offs as the parts department wanted top dollar for wheels. It pissed off a lot of local techs in the dealer, but parts department and service director got tired of paying for mistakes and getting low CSI scores as customers would be pissed. Even our President/CEO's cars came to me me and then have someone drive it back. I would get all the local DFW celebrities, Sports teams, and all their wife's cars..... I can tell you I worked on tons of high end stuff $10,000+ rims & tires, like Mercedes Benz SLR, SLS stuff not a single issue, skills really do pay for them self's. By the time I left I was getting 5 tech hours for low-pro 30/25 series (aka rubber bands) tires with TPMS and about 4.1 hours for stock TPMS, go ask any dealer how much a tech gets for wheels and tires, they will crap themselves at 4+ hours for wheels and tires.

I am truly sorry your wheel doesn't not match I can understand the pain. I learned early the premium dealers will go further to make it right they do have a reputation to hold to. My advice keep pressing the issue, make the parts department replace all 4 wheels do not settle.

you seem like your like me in the ways that we want something done right, btw I still go to my local GMC dealer for work and when they make a mistake I rip them, low grade work and I hold them to it. You should see how much free stuff I get or in some cases cash! LOL they have paid me to come to the dealer.