AdventurePoser

Okay guys, newbie question here. Be kind. LOL

Yesterday I had to have flat repaired on my 2015 Z51 Vert. The technician mentioned that the center of the tires seemed to be wearing faster than the overall "band" across the tire. He said this was indicative of too much air pressure.

I keep my tires inflated to 30 lbs psi. Tires are the original Michelin RFs. They have 15,500 miles on them now.

So, my question is this....should the tires be at 30 lbs cold, or at operating temp? Should I be filling them to say, 27 lbs to they GET to 30 lbs when they are warm? Or is it okay to start 'em at 30 lbs, knowing they'll be at 33-34 lbs within a few minutes?

What am I missing here, or am I overthinking this? Many thanks!

Flame Red

Fill them at 30 PSI Cold.

AdventurePoser

Thanks, that is what I've been doing-I'll keep it up.

obxchartercaptain

Michelin's are the ONLY OEM tires on the C7 Corvette. If you have Bridgstone's.... someone changed them.....Ok I see you edited your post to show the tire change....

Vetteman Jack

It should give you the cold tire pressure recommendation on the sticker inside the door.

AdventurePoser

My bad. Michelins, they are.

Thanks for responding...

obxchartercaptain

No problem....30 LBS seems to be the consensus on the air pressure when the tires are cold...

Kracka

Z51 has been 30 psi (cold) for all model years.
Base Stingray was 30 in 2014, then raised to 35 in either 2015 or 2016.

Power Hawk

The sticker on my base model 2016 states 30 PSI cold.

Walt White Coupe

If you want to get even wear across the entire tire believe what your tires and your technician are telling you. 30 cold will result in 33 to 34 hot. With 50,000 miles of experience on my C6 that had basically the same tires and weight, I found the exact same thing as you with 30 lbs cold. The centers were wearing faster than the edges. I've gone to 28 lbs cold and my tires wear now evenly. BELIEVE YOUR EYES. As far as performance goes, 2 lbs is nothing and you'll get a slightly softer ride.

Supersonic 427

My '16 Non Z51 say's "30PSI". Although the car has Mag Ride which includes the Z51 Wheels and Tires.

Patches

I check and adjust all my vehicles tires frequently and keep them at the manufacturers' recommended cold pressures and my tires always wear evenly across the width unless there is an alignment or worn suspension problem which has been rare. The last cars I had an uneven wear issue with were my other C5 that ran an aggressive negative camber up front and my '86 Trans Am which did the same.

I've been dd'ing my C7 for the past year and the tires on it have worn very evenly. I keep cold pressure at 30 psi. I went through 4 sets of tires on my last dd, a Mini Cooper S and they all wore evenly - kept those at the recommended 37 psi cold pressure.

DickieDoo

I agree with Walt White... keeping air pressure a touch lower results in a smoother ride... even with runflats.
You also have to remember that air pressure can fluctuate quite a bit with the outside temperatures, so if you fill the tires to 30PSI in the spring... at say 50F, your air pressure will be signifcantly higher when it is 80F ourtside.... you can use your tire pressure monitor on startup throughout the summer to verify you cold air pressure... you might be surprised that you have to let a bit of air out.

rmorin1249

Interesting that GM raised the recommended tire pressure for the base Stingray to 35 psi for the 2016 models. This is what my door sticker says. Seems that this would increase the wear on the center of the tread. I have dropped my psi to 32 psi(cold) but I am running Conti DWS06 AS non runflat tires. So far my treadwear seems to be pretty even. I have 8500 miles on them. 35 psi with Michelin RFs would definitely result in a rough ride.

Kracka

The directed air pressure is determined by which wheels/tires you have. When you get the MRC or appearance packages that include Z51 wheels/tires, you then follow Z51 tire pressure guidelines, as you noticed.

Corvette-Master

I keep mine at 33 psi cold always have on all my Corvettes that say 30, never an issue.

JoesC5

I know...I know...I have a C6 Z06 and not a C7 Z51, but my WIDER tires have 36,000 miles on them and are not wearing in the center more than at the edges(or the edges more than in the center).

I run 30 psi cold in the summer(=~34psi when up to operating temp) and 32psi cold in the cooler months(=~34psi when up to operating temps).

JoesC5

I heard(from one of my "connections", LOL) that owners of base C7 Stingrays were complaining to GM that the ride was too soft and they thought they were riding in a Cadillac instead of a Corvette.

GM moved the problem to the front burner and increased to tire pressure to 35 psi cold to shut up the complainers, but that has caused the release of the mid engine C8 to be delayed as the engineers were all tied up on the soft ride problem.

Skidplate

I suspect the pressure was increased to raise the MPG.

Walt White Coupe

You think?