quickie350

I took the car to Les Schwab and got a screw taken out of the front left tire.
No big deal, but WTF! The rears are wearing and have maybe 10 percent of the tread left. The middle is maybe 50 percent and the insides are like new............?
This thing only has 5400 miles on it and something aint right.

Can anyone explain this. I know Z06 tires are sticky but not that sticky.

mqqn

Hi quickie350 -

Sounds like an alignment problem to me, from what you have stated.

If it were wearing both outside edges (and the middle were ok) then I would say it was under inflation.

Have the alignment checked (camber).

best regards-

mqqn

quickie350

You are saying on the rear tires?

The fronts are fine. Its the rear tires that are not wearing correctly...

Outside edges on both rears.

MarkT 2002

Rear-end allignment time. Did you lower you car?

MarkT

quickie350

No. 5400 original miles.

Rear end alignment?

MarkT 2002

Yes, the Vette needs both the front and rear aligned. After I lowered mine, both the front and rear had to be re-alingned. The rear only has camber/caster alignment, no toe-in/out alignment.

MarkT

LTC Z06

The C5 suspension front and rear is fully adjustable. You need an alignment bad. It seems you have positive camber on the rear, you are going to love how she handles after you get this fixed.

Your GOAL is to be the MIDDLE of ALL parameters on all 4 wheels.
If this cannot be accomplished, try to get as close to middle number as possible while staying in the green (acceptable) zone.
LEFT & RIGHT FRONT:
Camber: Specified Range: -1.2 to -0.2 Optimal: -0.7
Caster: Specified Range: 6.4 to 7.4 Optimal 6.9
Toe: Specified Range: 0.15 to 0.25 Optimal 0.20
FRONT
Cross Camber: Specified Range: -0.5 to 0.5 Optimal: 0.0
Cross Caster: Specified Range: -0.5 to 0.5 Optimal: 0.0
Total Toe: Specified Range: 0.30 to 0.50 Optimal: 0.40
LEFT & RIGHT REAR
Camber: Specified Range: -1.2 to -0.2 Optimal: -0.7
Toe: Specified Range: -0.06 to 0.05 Optimal: -0.005
REAR
Total Toe: Specified Range: -0.11 to 0.09 Optimal: -0.01
Thrust Angle: Specified Range: -0.10 to 0.10 Optimal: 0.00

FUJITA Z06

Same thing happened to me. My 04 Z06's both rear tires (only rear) wore out on the outside at 3,400 miles. I took the car back to the dealer and had them checked out. The rear allignment was off . They re-allingned and geve me two new rear tires under warranty.

quickie350

Thanks everyone and especially CPT Z06 for your information. I got the info printed on a Word document and it will be helpful in the future.
Now I got to get with the dealer. It looks as though Chevrolet is buying two new tires and paying for an alignment job.

Fast Lane

Sounds like you are now ready to lay twin 10.5" rubber.

LTC Z06

Here's the other specs so you can see how the Z06 is different. Make sure the dealer uses Z06 specs.

Wheel Alignment Specifications
RPO
Operation
Service Preferred
Tolerance

Front Alignment Specifications

All
Front Individual Toe
+ 0.04
+/- 0.10

All
Front Sum Toe
+ 0.08
+/- 0.20

All
Steering Wheel Angle
0.0
+/- 1.0

FE1 & FE3
Front Individual Caster
+ 7.4
+/- 0.5

FE1 & FE3
Front Cross Caster
Within +/- 0.5
--

FE1 & FE3
Front Individual Camber
- 0.20
+/- 0.5

FE1 & FE3
Front Cross Camber
Within +/-0.5
--

FE4 (Z06)
Front Individual Caster
+ 6.9
+/- 0.5

FE4 (Z06)
Front Cross Caster
Within +/- 0.5
--

FE4 (Z06)
Front Individual Camber
- 0.70
+/- 0.5

FE4 (Z06)
Front Cross Camber
Within +/- 0.5
--

Rear Alignment Specifications

All
Rear Individual Toe
- 0.01
+/- 0.10

All
Rear Sum Toe
- 0.02
+/- 0.20

All
Rear Thrust Angle
0.0
+/- 0.10

FE1 & FE3
Rear Individual Camber
- 0.18
+/- 0.5

FE1 & FE3
Rear Cross Camber
Within +/- 0.5
--

FE4 (Z06)
Rear Individual Camber
- 0.68
+/- 0.5

FE4 (Z06)
Rear Cross Camber
Within +/- 0.5

Bill Dearborn

I had the same thing happen on my 97 at 4500 miles. The dealer corrected the problem and warrantied two rear tires.

Bill

AFVETTE

At 10,650 I'm showing big time wear on the insides of both front tires. All else good great. Is this normal?

Tom

LTC Z06

Yes, if you don't drive the car hard around corners the -.7 camber will wear the fronts inside fast. I ran -1.5 camber and wore my tires out evenly, but that takes a lot of track miles to do.

NavyVet

You evidently have a large amount of 'positive' rear camber - this is a big no-no (negative camber is essential front & rear for good cornering) - you must be very unhappy when sedans duck inside and pass you on corners when driving on twisty mountain roads

Someone said the rear toe can't be set - wrong. The rear is fully adjustable - including toe. Also, someone said they had this problem after lowering - I can't see how - lowering will increase negative camber!

On my 04 Z06 for street use, I run -1.5 front camber, -1.25 rear camber; 1/16" toe OUT front (advanced much more for AX though & returned to street settings afterward) and 1/4" toe IN rear. I don't expect fantastic tire mileage because handling is much, much more important to me. With these (and sometimes more drastic) settings, I still get over 10K miles to a set of Super Car F1s or KDs. I change them while they still have a fair amount of tread left - safety is paramount.

MarkT 2002

That be me that was wrong on the toe-in adjustment on the rear wheels. However, I did not say I had the same problem after I lowered my Z, what I said was after I lowered it I had all four wheels re-aligned.
Since lowering the car changes the alignment I had it realigned about a week after I had it lowered to avoid uneven tread wear.
After reading this thread though, I may have it re-aligned again to make sure I have it dialed in just the way I want it (before when I had it aligned I just had them align it without knowing what settings I want or what settings they aligned it to).

Thanks,
MarkT

Vettez16

Damm good advise gentlemen, The hat is off!

u luz

the guys at hpe set my car up ..and i know on a set of bfg drag radials my inside of my rear tires wear a little faster than the outside and it corners great ..

SPDKLZ

CPT ZO6....are the numbers above for a ZO6? I had the same problem prior to deploying and will need it fixed when I return to Hawaii next month.

way2phast

had mine in yesterday for 7000 mile service (oil change). The service rep noted that my front tires are wearing on the outside and the rear ones are wearing in the middle. He said it wasnt the aligment and suggested I dont waste money on getting one until I replace the tires. Doesnt look I will make it to 10,000 miles. Then, he had the nerve to accuse me of driving it hard ! Imagine...