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Herd WebMaster
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Posted - 05/04/2007 :  07:28:27 AM  Show Profile  Visit Herd WebMaster's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Impala Wheel Alert
By Scott Mueller.

ATTENTION, ATTENTION... IMPALA WHEEL ALERT!!

OK people, listen up! Get your pens and pencils ready, turn on your tape recorders and all of that jazz, I am about to post a revelation, a discovery that will absolutely BLOW THE LID off of the Impala wheel market! If you were thinking of getting a set of Impala wheels but have been hesitating due to the high price, you will be VERY thankful after reading this post. If on the other hand you just purchased Impala wheels either new or used you will be p*ssed because you just spent well over TWICE as much as you had to. Also if you were planning on selling any used Impala wheels, they have just become MUCH less valuable due to the information I am about to divulge. For this I am sorry (hey, it's not my fault) but I can't keep this a secret any longer.

The bottom line: I have discovered a new way to get Impala SS OEM wheels from GM using a new part number for LESS THAN HALF of what you would have had to pay in the past. For many of you thinking of an extra set of wheels, now is your chance. For those of you with 9C1 Caprices or other cars for which you would have liked to install a set of Impala wheels, but the price has kept you away, now is your chance as well.

Frankly I am surprised nobody else has discovered this, I guess nobody else READS the parts manuals for recreation like I do. <g> Actually I can't even take the credit for initially discovering this, as my friend Barry, GM parts guru extraordinare, first brought it to my attention a couple of weeks ago. He is another like me who READS
the parts books as if they were the latest Michael Crichton NOVEL. Let me tell you that this information is not secret, and has been available to anybody as it is printed PLAIN AS DAY right in the standard GM B-car parts book, IF you know where to look.

The details: Basically the deal is that there are two different part numbers you can use to order Impala wheels through GM. These different numbers both get you essentially the same thing, but one costs about half of the other.

Here is the standard old-fashioned way to get an Impala wheel from GM:

P/N Item List Cost Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------
12360496 OEM Impala wheel $427.00 $277.55
10180895 Impala wheel center cap $31.75 $19.05
12337955 Lugnuts $3.05 $1.83 5 reqd.
274288 Valve stem $1.80 $1.08
---------------------------------------------------
Total: $475.80 $306.83


The previous table shows the standard list and dealer cost pricing if you look up the Impala wheel through the normal means. If you get good pricing from your dealer, you might get these parts for dealer cost plus 10% ($306.83 + $30.68) or about $337.51 total. That means a set of 4 wheels complete would list for $1,903.20 and have a cost
plus 10% price out the door of $1,350.04.

Well, there just happens to be another part number in the GM parts book which gets you EXACTLY the same OEM wheel as above, plus all of the other parts listed above, all in a nice neat kit. The OEM Impala wheel kit is available as follows:

P/N Item List Cost Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------------
12495438 OEM Impala wheel KIT $189.00 $132.00 Must order 4


Yes, you read this right, this is NOT a typo! This kit is a little known part number out of the Accessory (group 21) portion of the B-car catalog. The Impala wheel KIT includes a BRAND NEW OEM Impala wheel, a NEW Impala center cap, 5 NEW lugnuts, and even a new valve stem, all for a price at most good dealers of only $145.20 each! (good pricing is dealer cost plus 10%) Prior to the existence of this kit, it would cost you $337.51 for the same parts, so the savings is 57%! This means that a set of 4 wheels would cost only $580.80 total!! Not bad for the real thing.

The only restriction on this deal is that you must order them in quantities of 4, as they come on a pallet direct from Superior, the Impala wheel manufacturer. Of course you could split up an order among individuals but they must be ordered by the dealer in pallets of 4.

BTW, I have kept this a secret for a couple weeks so I could test this part number to be sure it was for real. I can assure you it is, as can a few others I have shared this information with, and already have a pallet of 4 brand new Impala wheel kits in my possession for the grand total sum of $580.80. They are going on my Caprice 9C1.
Actually the new wheels will go on my Impala, and my Impala's existing used wheels and tires will be transferred over to the 9C1. I was originally going to use the steel 9C1 style truck wheels on the 9C1, but I just can't pass up this killer Impala wheel deal.

The one worry I have with this deal is that I believe this is Superior's way of BLOWING OFF their Impala wheel inventory. In other words, when they are gone, this special number will be REMOVED from the catalog, and the standard number will again be the only way to get these wheels. Even worse, they may just sell off ALL of their
inventory and then there will be NO MORE Impala wheels left AT ANY PRICE. If you were thinking of getting any of these wheels on this deal, you had better DO IT NOW, as I am guessing the supply is limited. Remember, GM no longer makes these cars, nor any similar platform car which uses this type of wheel. Impala parts are already
being discontinued in the GM parts catalog (and that will be getting rapidly worse as time goes on), and deals like this don't come too often.

I predict a RUN on these wheel kits starting immediately after I post this message so don't wait too long or you might not get any! I am thinking of picking up another set just for posterity, at this price you can't go wrong. BTW, if one can get NEW wheels/caps/nuts etc. for $145 each, then I think think USED wheels will now have to sell for
$100 or less.

Let the Impala Wheel feeding frenzy begin...

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