help with tires
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 391
Likes: 67
From: Oak Point Texas formerly okc
St. Jude Donor '16
help with tires
I am new to corvette owning even though they have been my dream car for 40 years. I have bought a 97 that have sumitomo htrzii tires on it. Cheap tires I know, but maybe they will last a couple of miles. 2 questions. They are 51 psi on the sidewalls. What should they really be inflated to? Second, what tires do you all recommend. Street driving basically. Thanks for your knowledge and advice.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 3,181
Likes: 286
From: Puyallup Washington
The 51 PSI on the sidewalls is a maximum inflation pressure. Open the door and look for the sticker that shows tire pressure inflation. It probably says 30 PSI or somewhere close to that.
To answer the brand question many people like Michelin. Others run Sumitomo, BFG, Kumho, Firestone, etc. There are many brands and types to choose from. If you are where it gets cold in the winter I would suggest all season tires. It you are in So. Cal, Miami or other areas where it is warm in the winter then I would say go with the ultra high performance summer tires. Just be aware they start to lose traction when the temps go below 40. Many do not like run flat tires. Others say they are great. Go with your personal choice.
To answer the brand question many people like Michelin. Others run Sumitomo, BFG, Kumho, Firestone, etc. There are many brands and types to choose from. If you are where it gets cold in the winter I would suggest all season tires. It you are in So. Cal, Miami or other areas where it is warm in the winter then I would say go with the ultra high performance summer tires. Just be aware they start to lose traction when the temps go below 40. Many do not like run flat tires. Others say they are great. Go with your personal choice.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,253
Likes: 9
From: Northwest CT
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 391
Likes: 67
From: Oak Point Texas formerly okc
St. Jude Donor '16
You folks are great. I have always gone by the door placard but was not sure on high performance tires, if they are high performance? At any rate, thanks for all the reply's.
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Factory specs call for 30 psi cold in the tires. Some good tire choices are Michelin PS2, Hankook Ventus V12, General Exclaim UHP, Firestone Wide Ovals, etc. (All these are non-runflats).
If you want runflats, the Firestone Firehawk and Michelin runflats are good choices.
If you want runflats, the Firestone Firehawk and Michelin runflats are good choices.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 1
From: North Topsail Beach NC
I ordered a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus from TireRack today. Total cost with shipping was $821.42. There is also currently a $70 mail in rebate on them, good on tires purchased through Sept 4. Discount tire has the tires listed for a little less (only because the have free shipping), but their website indicated that they didn't have the rears in stock. I've already got an e-mail from TireRack stating that they've shipped my order. I ordered them online at 2:00 pm and they were shipped within two hours. Can't beat that. By purchasing the tires through Tirerack, and having them mounted and road force balanced at my favorite local tire shop I'm saving roughly $200 over what I would have spent to purchase them locally, and that is before we factor in the rebate. I did find a shop that quoted me very close to the same price as I'll end up paying by going the Tirerack route, but they didn't have a road force balancer or a low clearance lift that would accommodate the Corvette.