Should You Skip Run Flats When Buying New Corvette Tires?
For all their inherent convenience, run flat Corvette tires have multiple downsides that are worth highlighting.
Run flat, or zero pressure tires – as they’re also known – have long been a staple on a variety of vehicles, particularly sports cars, for a number of reasons. Run flats allow you to keep driving even when you have a puncture, so you don’t have to get out and change your tire in the middle of wherever. This is obviously a boon for not only owners, but also automakers, who can save the extra weight and space required for carrying around a spare – which, in a sports car, is a big deal. However, more than one person shopping for new Corvette tires recently has eschewed this sort of rubber for something else, with excellent results.
The first is Michael Brink of the YouTube channel Brink of Speed, who was recently looking for new Corvette tires to replace the Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4s that came on it from the factory. However, he wasn’t just looking for more grip – Brink wanted to smooth out the ride of his C8, particularly since the car isn’t equipped with Mag Ride. Thus, he went with the Michelin Pilot 4S, and also explains how run flats actually hurt ride quality due to the stiff sidewalls they have – which is obviously necessary for a tire to hold up after losing pressure. Brink also notes that run flats are noisier and wear faster than a comparable regular tire, too.
That convenience in the event of a puncture comes at a price, it seems, and it’s one that some folks aren’t willing to pay. Brink isn’t alone in that regard, either – in fact, fellow YouTuber Emelia Hartford also ditched the run flat Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs that came on her Z07-equipped 2023 Corvette Z06, but for a very different reason. Turns out, those stock Corvette tires proved quite difficult to mount on her new aftermarket wheel of choice, as the shop had a hard time locking the bead thanks to the super thick sidewalls.
Thus, it seems as if there are many reasons to ditch run flats in favor of regular, old fashioned tires, even in spite of their benefits. But with people getting, on average, two or three flat tires in their entire lifetimes, does it really makes sense to trade things like ride quality, smoothness, noise, and aftermarket wheel options in favor of not having to change a tire once or twice in our lifetimes?
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