# Spec-V wheels crack easily!



## Guest (Apr 12, 2003)

I cracked the wheel of my Spec-V in a slush-filled pothole earlier this week. A 3 1/2 longitudinal crack just inside the inner lip - and the damn tire was fine. Worst part is, the dealer wants $577 for a new rim! Plus $42 labor to remount and balance the tire, plus tax, comes to nearly $700! For one rim and the old tire! I searched the internet and contacted the largest local wheel warehouse I could find, but since the model is so new there is very little chance of getting a stock wheel for cheap, even second-hand. 
Anybody have any advice or ideas? I've got some- Don't drive on 17's in the snow in New York during pothole season!


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2003)

Does anybody know how the stock wheels are made? I remember reading somewhere that most OEM's use low-pressure casting, similar to how Axis makes their wheels. Is this true w/ Nissan?


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

All I know is that the stock 17's on the spec-v are very weak, most aftermarket 17's you find will not be like that. I say screw the stockers, get some nice aftermarket 17's to replace them, maybe some forged ones if you are worried about bending/breaking another one.


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2003)

Without a doubt my next wheels will be forged, and from a quality company. I'm currently looking at BBS, Velox, Ray's, & SSR.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

they're not weak, the problem is, you have low profile tires, you should be avoiding potholes and stuff...............if they were weak, Nissan would've made a recall.


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2003)

I tend to agree with this... those low tires bring the pavement that much closer to the rim... and if there was a real problem with the rims that would be an urgent safety issue and Nissan would recall...



chimmike said:


> *they're not weak, the problem is, you have low profile tires, you should be avoiding potholes and stuff...............if they were weak, Nissan would've made a recall. *


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2003)

You are right about low-profiles being to blame, but potholes are unavoidable. Yes, most can be seen and dodged, but in the dark, a pothole filled with slush looks exactly like asphalt. Even if it is not filled to the top, the slush hides the hole's true depth. The one I hit tured out to be about a foot deep. I't the ones you can't see that leave you changing a tire in a snowstorm at night. You learn this all too well in the colder states. 
Nissans are well-engineered cars, and this goes for the wheels too, but a recall will only be made if weak wheels are causing accidents and the cost of the recall is less than the cost of lawsuits and bad press.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

I still think the spec wheels are soft, I've never heard of a problem like this arising from any other stock 17" wheels on other cars. It seems like every other day i'm reading on a forum about someone else bending or breaking a stock spec rim, but you very rarely hear about anyone bending an aftermarket 17" rim even though they have the same profile tire. It isn't really a safety hazard, and there is nothing physically wrong with the wheel (hence no recall), it's just softer than most others that you find. Chances are if you get another stock wheel you will just bend another one if your roads are that bad. I would go aftermarket if I were you, it won't be that much more than just getting a new stock rim, and you will still have 3 others that you can pawn off to other people to make back a lot of your money.


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## ewraven (Jul 20, 2002)

I'd get a set of Rota wheels. They are very lightweight and you can get four of them for 500 bucks. I'd personnaly get either the Slipstream or the Subzero's due to them being so light. If you hit a lot of potholes; dropping down to 16" rims would be the best defense. That way you'll have more tire sidewall to protect the wheel from bending and the 16" tire/wheel combo will be lighter than going with 17's.


Unless you just have liability insurance; your insurance should pay for a new wheel. They'll give you the price the dealer is asking minus your deductible. That right there should be enough to buy a whole set of new wheels.


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## 7SPEED (Mar 24, 2003)

www.aaarims.com they have rims for $248 or Ebay


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## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

i have a friend who cracked his wheel when he was merging onto the freeway. almost broke that rim in half.......nissan didnt wanna replace it for him because they said he was racing..... :\


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## dwill9578 (Jan 13, 2003)

I'm yet another person who has a toaly shot rim, I sliped on some black ice at a snails crawl and screwed the wheel. I hate the rims the look nice but there crap! Quick1 I got the same price from my local stealership there asses look for one at vboard or maybe B15.


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## Guest (Apr 13, 2003)

dwill9578 - If I had more time, I probably could have bought a wheel from someone who has already upgraded or something, but I needed my car back pronto And I couldn't afford a full set of quality wheels, even if I kept the stock tires. I wound up going to the dealership, bending over, grabbing my ankles and taking it like a man. This summer, I'll buy a good set of wheels and sell the stockers.

Here are pictures of the hole and the damage it did. I'm sending them to some city offices to try and get some compensation. (Fat chance, but I'll try)







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## Guest (Apr 13, 2003)

Damn - how can you insert pics from your hard drive into a reply? The IMG key didn't do it.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

You can't put pics up from your hard drive, how are we supposed to see them? We don't have them on our hard drive so there's no way we can view them. You have to find a server to put the images on, then you can do the img tags on the web address of the image to post it in the thread.


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## Guest (Apr 13, 2003)

hey man i am sure you have already thought of this but try to find someone that has already upgraded rims and see if u can buy one off him, dunno who would want to sell 1 rim but hey its worth a try, maybe try going to all the SE-r, specv webpages and post that your looking for a stock spec rim or somthing? good luck man


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## ewraven (Jul 20, 2002)

Quick1 said:


> *Damn - how can you insert pics from your hard drive into a reply? The IMG key didn't do it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Try opening a free account at www.imagestation.com or www.cardomain.com. You can upload your pictures to that site and then link your pictures to your post.


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## dwill9578 (Jan 13, 2003)

I'm still driving on mine and the wheel is slighlty warped thus shakin at 70ish, which sux for several reasons. Yeah I have actually had a little luck finding people willing to part with one for decent cash, although I'm lacking any cash so gotta ride with a oblong rim for now.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2003)

> www.aaarims.com they have rims for $248 or Ebay


 Quote from 7SPEED

I checked out this website and 7SPEED was right; $248 for a Spec-V rim and another $15 for shipping. Wish I knew this sooner. Give them a try.


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## SpeedDemon (Sep 28, 2002)

Two bad rims later, I'm looking for AM stuff. Front passenger side got totally bent on a pothole this past winter, fortunately a fabrication place nearby could fix it but the tire was shot. Then two months later, driving down the road at 2am and something that resembled a black carpet was in the road that I didn't see until the last moment, hit that and the front driver side cracked. Unbelievable!!!! There was something folded up inside the carpet that was extremely HARD..  Ohwell, good excuse to buy something new 

Ohwell, just figured I'd throw my $.02 in. Anyone else have any good suggestions, besides what's been said already, on websites for fair priced AM rims and stuff?


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