As I wrote previously, my Smoked Rims went bad, with the clear coming off of the rims. GM agreed to replace the rims and yesterday I took a closer look at my replacements and they are PLASTIC. The rims themselves are aluminum, but the outside is nothing more than a hubcap that is attached somehow under the center bowtie.

I wondered if any of you could take a look at yours - be it smoked or regular and tell me if yours are plastic. Maybe I'm nuts and mine were always like this, but I sure don't think so.

I reported it to one of the service people and he couldn't look at the time, but saw the invoice and told me GM had charged $1000 for the new wheels to them (warranty). Monday we will be getting together and I hope I my old wheels are around to compare.

You'll see the pictures the first one is from the backside and you can see the lip all around the rim - sort of shows how it is just a hubcap.

The best part of all is the fact that I began to have a shaking in the front end. Figured my brake pad had suddenly gone bad. Today at 60 mph the car shook so bad I jacked it up to check the brake - THEY HAD NEVER TIGHTENED UP THE LEFT FRONT LUG NUTS. I turned them off by hand with a 3/4" socket - no wrench required!
I think we will talk on Monday.

Can anyone confirm you have plastic wheels on your cars, other than those with steel wheels. (I know those are plastic)

 

That is the way GM makes them now. I think it sucks. Good luck with yours

 

Dodge did the same about five years ago with Ram rims, after having issues with the chrome peeling. I think there's a few Pontiac wheels with the same construction. Good chrome wheels are pricey, and high maintenance, GM has never had much luck with them, I avoided the $1000 (IIRC) chrome wheel option on my Camaro, judging by the number of blem (new but imperfect) wheels that used to be found on SLP online, I think I made the right choice.

 

I remember as a kid, in the early '70's when my dad first discovered that the new Impalas came with plastic grilles. He had a similar reaction.

Perhaps plastic wheel surfaces are simply the evolution of automotive of technology. Kind of like vinyl siding on homes. No maintenance.

In this case, the wheels won't rust or peel, so maybe there is a benefit to it?

 

Wow.... I would ask for some polished 17s instead of those.

 

mine are all aluminum, but not the smoked ones. i would moan and groan about that

 

Plastic looks like.......plastic. I wouldn't be happy either. A 2LT especially should have the real deal.

 

CHRYSLER has had these for years, when ordering them they were called CHROME CLAD. They actually wore very good for years if kept clean.

 

Mine are the plastic overlays too and it doesn't surprise (or bother) me at all.

Triple-chrome plating is very expensive, labor intensive and environmentally hazardous so it's inevitable that such evolution would be taking place. After all, look at everything else on your car that is simulated like woodgrain and the infamous hard plastic interior parts that are textured to look like (of all things) vinyl which was fake leather when it was first used. The plastic grille previously mentioned is a good example too, and when's the last time you saw a chrome bumper?

My '51 pickup may be noisy, drafty and slow but it's REAL so whenever I want to get nostalgic I take her out for a few laps around town. But when I want to ride in comfort and 3x farther on a gallon of gas I roll out the HHR.

Life goes on with or without chrome.

 

From the posted pics those look like my rims.

The thing that gets me mad is the 2 I had to replace are darker than the originals. When I rotate them next week I am going to put them both on the same side to get a consistent look. Hopefully my other 2 originals flake off, so I can have 4 that are the same shade.