Magnesium wheels vs polished 2003

[Z51 Coupe]

What are the plusses and minuses of the magnesium wheel option versus the polished wheels on the 2003, etc?

Assumming they have the same options in 2004 I'm trying to decide which to order.

Need some opinions????

 

[NealKirk]

Polished Wheels

Polished are beautiful when clean, ugly when dirty. By the way, they get dirty real quickly with brake dust, etc. VERY expensive to replace if damaged. I find them easy to scratch - don't wipe the brake dust off because the dust is abrasive metal particles and it scratches - always use running water and car-wash designed soap or special approved polished wheel soap. All in all, I think they are worth it. If you are ever going to show the car, I think they add a lot. I have seen people use feather dusters on them at shows and that I wouldn't do unless it is just lint/dust on them.

 

[Stan The Man]

GM do not appear to have a policy of 'supporting' the magnesium wheels, do a search and read about the problems one of our number had trying to get replacement seals for his car These seals are only used with magnesium wheels to prevent corrosion problems. The seals can only be obtained via the original supplier based in Europe.

Read also about the problems with damage which can easily be done to the relatively soft magnesium wheels during tyre changes.

There is plenty of advice available regarding wheel cleaning, look under Forums/General Corvette Forums/Care & Detailing, a Search will assist your task or look under Tech Center/Knowledgebase/Care & Detailing which can be found at the top of the web pages.

Best regards,

 

[JOV]

Here is my $.02 worth. I had the polished wheels on my Y2K C5
and it was a pain in keeping them cleaned and polished. So I swaped them out for the chrome Y2K 5 spoke wheels so now all it takes is a little soap and water and maybe once in a while a coat of wax !!

 

[maxm]

Hi. I´m the one with the seal problem that Stan talked abaut.
The Mag-weels are very fragile, touch upp paint is not availabel in Sweden but after gettin used to the colur i think they look great.
Max