Shifter6

Looking at a 05 C6 Z51 with 38K on it. As another forum member pointed out the front tires are dated 4404. I would assume this means they are original. The rears do not have a date in the same area. I am assuming the rears are replacements. They have a similar level of tread now (maybe the rears have slightly more). Is it typical for C6s to go through rears quicker or has this car been used for a few smoke shows?

C6NRED

Most of the time, you read here about the inside or outside edges of the front tires wearing prematurely........you don't hear about the rears wearing twice as fast as the fronts.
My guess would be that one of the sets of tires are either mis-dated, or you are right that there were a few burnouts done.
Is this on a used car lot or private owner? Sales people can sure have fun with a car like this on the lot.....don't ask me how I know.....

hawkgfr

My fronts have 30% more wear than the rears....and wear is even on all four tires. Right front is most worn though...I must do left hand turns harder...

edit for I am at 22k...Looking at replacing around 24k, the fronts will be slick by then.

MARSC6

My experience on rear wheel drive cars is that the rears always wear first.

My DD will go through 2 rears for each front.

chet b

My fronts are going faster then the rears. I had the car realigned.

RLSebring

Normal driving the fronts will wear out quicker unless you don't make any turns. Light on the gas and you may even out the wear. Heavy on the gas and the rears will wear out faster.

Cliffs:
Normal = no spinning of rear tires
Light = some spinning of tires
Heavy = Lots of spinning of tires

Sorry I though I was in OT.

KX

It is not only burnouts. Most of the additional non-hard mileage wear comes from the torque a decent engine has that adds greatly to this wear. You may never spin your wheels, but that does not mean the tires are not under excess wear due to high torque starts. Keep this in mind: Corvettes are not low powered 4 cylinder cars, and, most will always wear out a set of rears much much quicker than fronts. My ZR-1 went through 3 sets of rears to one set of fronts. My girlfriends Mercedes 280
gets only 15,000 on a set of rears....it has a bit of torque and she has a heavy right foot but never ever does a burn out.....and finally, the run craps are just that, crappy!!!!

Bill Suttie

Normal conservative driving will wear the fronts faster than the rears. Burn outs and drifting will wear the rears faster. If you can not find a four numeral date code on the outboard or inboard tire wall, then those tires are older that the year 2000. have the seller replace them as part of the sale.

Flat Broke

I have 17,000 on my 2006 and I will replace the fronts this month. The rears have about 4-5000 left on them. I have had 6 half ton trucks, (4x4 and 4x2) Ford and Chevy, and the fronts would wear out much faster than the rear because most of the weight was on the front.

Mike's LS3

When I replaced my tires, my rears had slightly more wear than the fronts. The amount of tire wear in the rear will depend how one utlilizes the gas pedal (rear tire spin) and the alignment. My tire pattern wear was even. However, I did have the tire shop perform a four wheel alignment prior to installation of the new tires. The alignment was within factory specs. The tire wear pattern will depend on alignment and tire pressure. Overinflated tires will wear the center of the tire and under inflated tires will wear both ends of the tire. Misalignment will show uneven wear patterns. If the rears are wearing even, but have more wear than the fronts, its a good indication of wheel spin. Now go have fun

JerryC5

You don't have to do burnout to use up the rear tires, normal aggressive acceleration will remove a lot of rubber. On my C5, I never "burned rubber" but still wore out the rears twice as fast as the fronts. I expect my C6 will be similar, or even tougher on the rears with the extra horsepower.

Vette_DD

Be aware that not all OEM tires have the same amount of tread when new.

The following information is for OEM GoodYear tires on 2005 and 2006 C6s. May also be true for more recent model years.

Non-Z51 equipped coupes and verts have 10/32" of tread on the front tires, 11/32" of tread on the rear tires.

Z51 equipped coupes and verts have 9/32" of tread on each of the tires, both front and back.

Also, the wear bars on the non-Z51 equipped tires are at 3/32" of tread. I thought they were at 2/32" because so many here talked about them like they were. But my chevy dealer said they were at 3/32" and when I measured them, I found that to be true.

EDinPA

wear on rears = fun at the lights / fun with the go pedal
wear on fronts = fun in the turns

Just depends on where you are having your fun!

Mike Campbell

I have 15K miles on my 06, which I bought brand new. I also do occasionally run the Corvette Challenge at Englishtown, N.J. with the street tires. They all look great! I would estimate I'll get at least 2 more years out of them. Go figure???

GOLD72

It has been my experience that the tread goes faster on the rears. However the last two Z06s I did get inside cord break-thru on the fronts before the middle of the tread was gone. The rears were already shot.

The first set of tires I ever bought for my 72 vette many years ago were Goodyear Polyglas bias ply tires. The fronts lasted 68k miles but I only got 50k on the rears. Try doing that with any modern day vette!!

9C1

The rear tires should have dates on them in the same kind of impressions that are on the front. They may not be in exactly the same location since the tires could have been produced in different plants, and were from different molds due to the different size(s). Look for those rear dates and you will know if they are the factory tires or replacement.

3L337 C6

mine are wearing on the front more for some reason, I drive mine pretty hard off the line consistantly - but I also tend to brake hard and take hard turns - so who knows.

Vette_DD

According to GM, in literature for the 2005 C6s, the weight distribution is 51% front, 49% rear.

vettedoogie

Faster than what? All tires wear at different rates and all cars are aligned differently. The original Z51 tires had a softer compound that caused faster wear than the base car's tires. 38k of wear seems pretty good and I would replace them.

Walkthedog

I have 05 mn6 z51 with 19,000. I don't think I am over aggressive in turns or anywhere. I have about 5k left on fronts and 10k left on rears. Wear has been very even on all four.

I think it is weird how this has varied among cf members