bigterpsfan

I have noticed that since the mornings have been a bit cooler out here in MD, but not cold by any means, probably in the 50s, that all my tires on the Z are at 24 psi, causing the low pressure indicator to come on, but after driving for a bit they are all reading at 27psi. I believe they used to be at 27psi at a cold start and went up to 30-31psi after driving for a bit. Should I put a couple of pounds of air in there especially because it is going to get colder before it gets warmer, or am I fine? Thanks!

Keiffer

I'm in fl and mine are all 31 psi, came that way from the dealer

Weasel

I prefer to stay on the upper side of the limits rather than on the lower. So for me it's between 31-35psi. (All four the same of course). You really do have to wait for tires to equalize if the car has been in the shade on one side and sun on the other.

C5 Frank

For best tire wear you should run the front at around 35 psi IMO... I run the rears at 32....

rkvett

its that time of year already !! i had the same trouble too. every year have to pump up all my tires ,in the fall .. sometimes put them back down for the summer, and a little bit of a better ride ? I HAD TO DO THE SAME ON MY 2008 IMPALA SS V8, AND THE 2007 ZO6 ONLY 753 MILES ON THE VETTE... RKVETT

Carnac

Your tire pressure will change about 1 psi per 10 degrees of ambient temperature. So, here in Las Vegas where it can be 100 degrees at 4 pm and 70 degrees at 4 am the tire pressure changes by about 3 psi.

You should set your tire pressure to the GMs recommended 30 psi (+/- a psi or two) on cold tires (tires that haven't been driven on for a couple of hours). You can then expect to see a pressure increase of 2-3 psi at highway speeds due to tire heating. Do not deflate the tires back to 30 psi hot.

If your car is sitting outside with the sun hitting one side and not the other, you can see a 1-2 psi change due to heat.

As you drive you car, the tires heat up (they heat up more if they are less inflated due to side-wall flex heating of the tires). I find that running 31 psi on cold tires (tires that have not been driven on for the last couple of hours) works well for performance and even wear. I use a high quality calibrated pressure gage and find that when I set 31 psi, the TPMS shows 30 psi. This 1 psi difference between the TPMS and tire gages was also true with my 2005 C6.

For HDPE events, I usually start around 27 psi all around and find the front tires will heat up enough to get the pressures to 38-40 psi. SMMR tends to heat the left front tire the most (more right hand turns). If I am seeing more than 40 psi during a session, I let out a pound or two.

Cheers - Jim

Weasel

Our Corvettes sure are lucky. Can everybody imagine what the pressures are running at in common everyday non-enthusiast's vehicles? I would bet that our daily drivers, or salt car in my case, are looked after well too.

Carnac

Very true. I keep my Vette tire pressure within one psi of desired, having the TMPS is great (I've had three punctures to my run-flats, without TMPS it would be almost impossible to tell).

I think the lack of tire pressure awareness is why all new cars are required to have TMPS. I think most will just get an idiot light not the full pressure reporting system on the Vette. I'm sure they will generate a lot of questions and concerns with non-car enthusiasts.

allanlaw

Simple, yet entirely correct.

BEZ06

as well!!!

Additionally, check and set pressures with a good, accurate tire pressure gauge.

The TPMS is a great reference, but you can't use it to set pressure. It only reads to the nearest 1 psi, and when your car has been sitting still for more than 15 minutes the sensors only transmit once per hour. When you start driving faster than 20 mph the sensors wake up and transmit once per minute - still not a fast enough response to set your pressures.

If you live at altitude in the mountains the DIC will read low. Owners that live at 4,000 feet and above report the DIC reads 3 to 4 psi lower than their gauge pressure.

Bob

bigterpsfan

Thanks everyone, shounds like I need to add about 4psi to all my tires -- thanks!