I've owned a C5 50th anniversary for about a year and a half. The car currently has 6000 original miles. It has always been garaged and it has the original tires which are ten years old. There is no weather cracking and they look like new. Should I replace them due to the age? If so, should I use the non-run flat tires? Which tire brand do most people buy for this year Corvette? The car currently has Goodyear Eagles non-run flat, P245ZR17 front and 275/40ZR18 rear.
Thanks!!

 

If its going to be a garage queen and only driven on sunny Sundays to the local car show keep the original tires. BUT if you plan on putting miles on her and drive it like a vette was made to be driven, buy new tires now. Most owners went to non-runflats for a better ride. The choice to up to you. To see which tires are made for your vette and correct sizes go to www.tirerack.com Once you find a good set of tires you can buy them online and have them installed at a location near you. or go to your local tire dealer and buy. G/L

 

Michelin Pilot Sports. You can still have run-flats and get a great ride along with better handling. It's like getting a new car.

 

I also have an 03 AE. I replaced the OE Goodyear runflats with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. They were non-runflats and were a great tire. Smooth riding, good handling and quiet. When they wore out (at 46,000+ miles) I decided to replace them with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3. I went with the Pilot Sport A/S 3 because based on what I read they seemed to be the replacement for the A/S Plus in the Michelin lineup. At the time they were also about $120 cheaper for a set of 4 than the A/S Plus. The first thing I noticed about them was they don't provide the same ride quality as the A/S Plus. They are quiet, and handle well (probably a bit better than the A/S Plus) but just don't ride as well. Right now the price difference between the two tires on Tirerack is less than $25 for a set of 4. After living with both of these tires if I had it to do over again I'd probably go with a set of the A/S Plus.
You'll read a lot here about the pros and cons of runflat vs. non-runflat. Many who opt to run non-runflats carry a patch kit, a small 12V inflator, and a can of TPMS safe Fix-a-Flat in case they have a problem.
If you decide to do tires you might also want to consider replacing your TMPS as well. I had one that was consistently throwing a low reading and a second one that would occasionally not communicate with the car, especially in cold weather.

 

I'd replace the tires if you do any kind of freeway driving or trips - - but I'd hang onto the originals if you can since they're original to the car.

I have Michelins on my car too- replaced a set of Nitto 555's that were non-runflats but good handling/good value at about half the cost of the Michelins.

You can use the search feature on the upper right of the landing page to query each brand of tire using the name as the search word and learn a bunch about peoples preferences . .

Good luck-

 

Even when they were new those OEM GYs were noisy - now at 10 years old, they are probably noisier . . . with the added benefit of dangerous. If you want to keep the run-flat security, the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus will be a significant upgrade. If you are willing to give up the run-flat capability, the Pilot Sport A/S 3 is the consensus choice. I just ordered the A/S 3s for my '99 convertible (to replace six year old Pilot Sport A/S with 28K miles) so will be able to comment on them in a few weeks.

K9Leader
Red cars are faster. They did a study on it.

 

I was in the same boat a year ago. I drove it awhile and even contacted Goodyear about them because they looked so good. I found they were very unpredictable, even going in a straight line. They had a tendency to jump sideways for no reason. I can't explain why, but problem solved with tires. ! I went with the Hankook v12's. They're non run flat but, for general driving they're very good, smooth and cheap. You're getting some very good feedback on here and there are older threads discussing this same issue. Good luck, put on some new rubber, drive and enjoy that ride!

 

If it were my car I would replace the tires due to age. I went with the Hankook Ventus V12 EVOs on my '03 and really like them. Good ride, good handling, very low road noise and best of all cost was around $600 for a set of four in stock sizes.

 

I'm on my second set of Michelin A/S ZP's and got more than 30k out of the last set. I also got about the same mileage from the original tires that came on the '03 AE.

 

I agree with Vettman Jack ! , I also went with 18/19 Handkook V-12s on my C-5 and really like them for handling and there quiet.

 

 

If your car currently has non run flats, then I don't think they are the original tires. They should be good year run flats.

 

Good point, I missed that for some reason.

 

Thanks for all the imput about all the different tires . It was a big help . Sorry about the post but the car has Goodyear run flat tires , made a mistake on the last sentence. Just purchased four new Michlin run flat tires . Thanks again for all your response .