What Your Corvette’s Tires Say About You

Tires are more than rubber donuts that keep your wheels from scraping on the ground as your drive. In fact, they actually say a lot about you as a driver.

1. OEM Tires

The dealership has the best oil and the best tires. I enjoy paying a price premium for no obvious reason, because I am retired, and don’t want to think about the details. If they’re good enough for GM, they’re good enough for me.

2. Winter Tires

I am a Boss, full stop. All of you wusses that only drive your Corvettes on Sundays and don’t let it get rained on would lose your minds doing what I do, on the daily. My Z06 has 650 horsepower and I drive it in the snow. While you commute through the slush in your winter beater, I’m drifting around every corner ripping through the powder. That supercharger really likes the cold air.

3. Hoosiers

Track day, bro! I am here to win the track day. What, it’s not actually a race? It is to me, I’m here to win. FTD, lap record, bro! Hell yeah, I drove here on the Hoosiers. Yeah, it rained and I spent more time backward then forwards on the highway, but tire trailers are for chumps. Yeah, that Spec Miata is catching me in every corner, but I’m pulling hard in the straights.

4. Drag Radials

I took off my Hoosier R7’s and bolted up the Mickey Thompson’s. My ‘Vette makes 800 to the tire and I need these drag radials to keep it in one lane on the highway. Yeah, this beast is probably capable of low 9, probably even a high-8 second pass down the ‘ol 1320. What do I run at the quarter mile? Well yeah, I ran a 12.90, but I just got a bad launch, and my tires were cold, but this thing has definitely got a 9-second pass in it.

5. Stick-on Tire Letters

I bought adhesive tire letters for my factory tires. It looks like a race car now. Sure, I would never actually take my car on track, but I could if I wanted to, and I would look like what I think every other track car looks like. People ask what happens when the tires get dirty, but that’s a non-issue because nothing on my ‘Vette ever gets dirty under my watch. This is going to guarantee me that primo parking spot at Cars and Coffee.

For more information, How-to articles and diagnostic guides, visit https://www.corvetteforum.com/how-tos .

Jake Stumph

Jake Stumph is a lifelong car enthusiast and racer, and former content editor for Internet Brands Automotive which he joined in 2015. His work has been featured by several other prominent automotive outlets, including Jalopnik and Autobytel.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Political Science at the Ohio State University in 2013, then pivoted from covering politics and policy to writing about his automotive adventures, something that, he says, is a lot more fun. Since that time, he has established connections with most of the world's major automakers, as well as other key brands in the automotive industry.

He enjoys track days, drifting, and autocross, at least, when his cars are running right, which is uncommon.

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