My original Goodyears lasted 26,000. At that point The rears needed to be replaced. Having decided to stick with runflats, but hating the Goodyears, I went with Michelin Pilot Sport RFs.

Left the tire shop, and the car was almost undrivable, wandering all over, etc. Went back and decided the problem was Michelins on the back and worn GYs on the front, so I replaced the fronts with Michelins also altho the GYs still had miles left on them.

That cured it. I was very pleased. Way quieter and better handling then the GYs. I fully recommend them.

The rears lasted 32,000 and I replaced them today. I had been running these tires at 30 psi hot. The tire shop said that was too low, and they put them all up to 37. On the way home, the handling was weird again ( not as bad as with the mixed brands). When I got back to my shop, I lowered them to 32. The trip home was better, so I am thinking I will take them back down 30.

Don't know if the strange handling is the pressure or the fact that it has new rears and used fronts.

Anyone with the Michelins replaced the rears only and noticed strange "driving feel"? What pressure do you guys with the Michelins run?

I will let you know how 30 psi feels.

Jay

 

That's good information. I look forward to changing out the GYs. However, I can't say that I notice any dramatic changes in handling or tracking based on small changes in tire pressure. I think GM calls for 30psi cold and that's pretty much what I stick with. If anything I will go up a little, say 32-34 psi for long road trips. When increasing PSI, I notice a little more responsiveness to steering inputs, although I'm sure you lose a little traction at the limit...something I wouldn't know about But using as much as 34 psi cold has never resulted in any unusual driveability issues for me. I would think 30 psi hot is too little psi and would result in less mpg, performace and tire longevity...

 

If I understand your post correctly, you're back in the position of having brand new tires on one end of the car, and fairly well worn tires on the other. If so, yes, the car will handle a little "weirdly", as compared to before the tire replacement.

The new tires have a greater tread depth, which allows the tire to "wiggle" a little more than before, and one end is wiggling more that the other. If you replace the other two tires, you'll be back in balance.

 

I bought my car with 34K on the ODO. The tires were original. I asked the guy to replace all 4 tires before I bought it, but he only agreed to replace the fronts. The first 13K I drove the car, it had new GY runflats on the front and rock-hard 75% worn GY runflats on the back. It was tricky, since it wanted to kick out all the time. I got used to it.

When the rears got scary in wet weather, I decided to replace them before a trip to the Tail of the Dragon. I also decided to go with the Michelins, due to availability, better tire wear, and a lot of good reports from other Corvette owners.

I put Michelin Pilot Zero Pressure tires on the back, and had 90% new GY runflats on the front. My wife drove the car home, and called me to complain. She said she could barely drive the car. It was like driving my 1962 GMC truck. I never got a chance to experience it myself.

I immediately called the tire store and ordered new Michelins for the front. They put them on the day before I left for Deals Gap. My wife called, and said all is well, and it was handling better than ever. The ride was awesome, and quiet.

I guess the tire compounds, sidewall stiffness, and constriction of the tires are so different, it was messing up the active handling control, or maybe it just made the car feel strange to her.

I know it took me a while to get used to the softer ride on the Michelins, but now I like it better than the harsh ride of the GoodYears. I have a better feel for when the tires will loose traction.

The tire store put 37 Psi in them at first, but I lowered it to 30 in the front and 29 in the rear, cold. They warm up to about 33 or 34 all the way around once they get hot, depending on the ambient temperature.

The other great advantage of teh Michelins, is the sidewall protection they offer for the rims. There is about a 1/4" more rubber outside the rim, than the GoodYears. A little added curb protection.

 

30 cold is right............

30 hot is too low of pressure

 

I have Michelin Pilot Sport AS ZP with Nitrogen

I never tried the mixed fit but with the different specs I can imagine that handling would be affected. The OEM tires are spec'd for 200 miles flat whereas the Michelins are only required to cope with 50 miles. That makes for a much stiffer sidewall on the OEM. Thats bound to make a difference to the handling.

On the pressure side, 30 psi cold makes for about 34-35 hot in Vegas in Summer. 27 cold makes about 31-32 hot which seems good to me. In Winter the variation is less; maybe 2-3 psi. I think when I get back to England with the lower temperatures I can probably raise that by a couple of psi.

This question always raises debate. Seems logical to me that you should look for a constant warm temp of about 32 psi. With variations across the continent thats bound to be slightly different cold figure. Have to say though, I don't see much difference between 27 and 30. Suspect it would be just wear on the tire. JMHO.

 

try running nitrogen in your tires and 30 psi cold they will only heat up by 1-2 in the hot weather, i ran goodyears on the front and michilins on the back for a short while and yes it does run wierd, however i went through 2 rear sets and only 1 front set so when i changed rears i still had 50% life on the fronts and it handled fine on the michilins
cheers

 

I went the opposite direction. I put on a set of Michelin Pilot Sport AS, non runflat, and got about 40K miles out of them, then replaced them with a set of Goodyear GS D3, non runflat. The Michelin's were great but the Goodyears seem to track better, faster turn in and better traction (wet or dry). I know that this is quite a fair comparsion since the Michelin's were all season tires and have a much higher treadwear rating (400 vs 220).

I ran around 36 psi cold in the Michelins and wore out the centers of the rears, the fronts still had 30% tread left.

 

I agree-Michelin is my choice on the tires also. I try to do it so all 4 get replaced at the same time. To me it just makes better sense.

 

I'm running the Piolt Sport AS love them over the Goodyears.
28 cold works for me

 

Before I left the shop tonight I let the rears down to 30 cold. Much better. It just must be that my car likes the lower pressurew with the Michleins.

Jay

 

I generally check and set my tire pressure to 30 psi when cold. I found it way too difficult to check them hot while driving..

I think the Michelin Pilot Sport AS ZP are the tires that will replace the Goodyear F1 Supercars on my Z06 when the time is right.

Thanks for the information.

 

I have GY with about 60% tread on the front and new Mich. on the back I am runing about 27 cold (will probably up that to 30 on the next low humidity day). Yes the car is quite twichy, mostly on rutted roads (I-95 by the wilson bridge) but I am getting used to it. Before I put the Mich on I had GY non-runflats on the rear, same problem but not as bad as with the Mich. I think the GY have much stiffer sidewalls, and since the tires are so wide, on a road that has been rutted by trucks, the tire does not make good contact with the road. (like a square peg (tire) in a round bowl). It is good to know that putting Mich. on the front solved the problem, Cosco is having the $60 off sale on 4-Mich. maybe I'll get new fronts for the vet and two new tires for my DD.