important rims question...respnd asap

[gectek]

ok i have the PY0 rims on my Grand am GT, the painted torqued 5 spoke that were new for the 02 year. I bought a set of 4 rims off ebay, they were the PY2 rims i think like mine only chromed. so i got them in and noticed that they arent really chome, but that they have plastic chrome covers over them and instead of having the triangular hole in the middle of the spoke, it just has painted black gap, no hole. so i need to know if these are the right rims, or if they are some cheap knock offs.

[grandprixgtp_91]

nope those are factory, i am a gm tech at a gm dealership and the rims up until 2005 grand am gt's used a plastic crome cover on them and was painted black underneath that you could see through little triangle cutouts, dont be upset, ive seen alot or vehicles come back with the rims corroding and having to be machined and re-painted, but those paticular rims never had a problem, the plastic chrome held out really well, never faded or bubbled , they never reacted negative to our very strong rim acid either, dont worry they are good, and come like that out of the factory, the only part that would corrode on those rims was the outside lip where the wheights would go, but thats not part of the plastic thats part of the aluminum and you can barely see that.

Jake

[gectek]

ok thanks just wanted to make sure i didnt get screwed. and also, do you know of a company that might fix a broken rim, on my old rims the smaller side of the spoke on the little triangle is broken all the way through front to back. this particular rim is also bent pretty bad and i was wondering if there was any way that a shop could also clean that up.

[prophiseer]

yeah, there are shops that can correct aluminum and alloy wheels, but it's not worth it really. I had a hairline crack on the inside lip of one of my wheels on my GA, and the few shops around here that "would" do that work didn't want to touch them 'cause of the chrome cover on 'em (5-spoke, similar to yours). Supposedly if damaged, it's hard to replace.


Your best bet would be to try and hunt one down in the scrapyards or through ebay for cheap. Those wheels are ~$360 new. You might find a shop you can ship it to, but who knows . . .

[gectek]

yah i know of a shop, but id have to ship it to dallas, and them i prob wouldnt trust it as much. oh well so now i need to sell 2 rims and the dust covers, cuz im keepin one for a spare. they are the PYO painted 5 spoke, fairly good rims, small dents in them, thats it.