An interesting fact with old 17" OEM chrome wheels

[gdouaire]

I run two sets of 17" OEM chrome wheels on my 2003 Aurora -- one nice set for summer, and a worn out set for winter.

Today was very cold at -24C (-12F). I came to a red light and noticed a strange vibration; and then when the light turned green, I noticed my left front wheel was COMPLETELY deflated.

I put the lifesaver on (very cold, let me tell you!) and that one was deflated as well... fortunately, I had an electric tire pump and that was fixed in a few minutes.

And then... noticed the lifesaver was not happy with the oversize Lucerne calipers I had fit on the car. The caliper was grinding a bit, but not enough to keep me from going to the garage. I had completely overlooked to check the clearance of the lifesaver tire...! I guess not much would be required to get a good fit -- maybe a few minutes worth of grinding.

At the garage, they did a cleanup & re-seat job on the wheel. The chrome had peeled and that caused the tire to completely come lose over the rim. The guy told me he saw that often with these older GM chrome  wheels...

[Oldsnut]

I had that happen with 2ses of Chrome wheels.

[sall]

Yes, quite the common occurrence.

These vehicles should have came with a full size spare... thanks GM.

[human]

Sounds like I did good day's work putting the original silver wheels back on my '95. The plating was coming off the Chrome wheels I'd gotten at the junk yard almost three years ago and two of the silver wheels were wrapped in practically new Goodyears. Just for fun, I did put the chrome centers on them. Actually looks pretty cool.

Daily Driver: 2011 Impala LT
Weekend Toy: 1995 Aurora

[tigger]

Oh, I remember it well; LOW TIRE PRESSURE... LOW TIRE PRESSURE... LOW TIRE PRESSURE... Geez!

Tire place did mine, resurface and seal inside rim lip, problem solved...

Feb 14, 2016 17:05:35 GMT -6 sall said:

...These vehicles should have came with a full size spare... thanks GM.

I thought so as well, so I got one from the Pull-A-Part ...for $22! Mrs. Tigger hates it, I love it, go figure, lol!

[RCA1186]

I always thought it was funny that my '93 Taurus came with a full size spare but this near 40K luxury car came with a donut haha.

[01rubyrora]

This post is a bit old now, but would you recommend owners of the chrome 2G wheels to get them resurfaced/replaced if they notice them peeling? Looks like a nightmare waiting to happen...

[RCA1186]

Maybe just on the inner lip where the tire seats. I think I have the same problem with my 1G chrome wheels as well.

[Cold Summer]

I dont have the chromed, but I have the other OEM set. My tire went flat after driving it for a day. Possibly rim?

[gdouaire]

There you go. Even with my summer-only wheels, I get slowleaks by the rim

Used handsoap to spot the leak.

I used my gf's nail polish to mark the X