Capt Van

Jim, I've had very good luck with Luke at Tire Rack for tires. Check my thread on wheels and tires on this forum.

Black 03 Z06

I am thinking it was a good thing you took the car for a drive. This would have eventually happened but maybe in a worse place that Florida!

Good luck getting it fixed. Don't risk your car with old tires, don't risk yourself either.

Let us know how it all turns out.

SLO VETTE

Got 'er home and in one piece today with new axle and some other do-dad's.

Thanks a ton to fellow CF'ers here and to Joe at Powertech Performance in St. Petersburg. He got me back up & running.

pewter99

Capt Van

SLO VETTE

Update: Joe at Powertech Performance in St. Petersburg got my baby back up & running with a replacement axle and, at long last (~ a month wait) I now have perhaps the only full set of Bridgestone performance tires (Potenza?) for C5 Z06 in the country....

If anyone has a C5 Z06 and will need tires, you're duly advised to put in the order now (@ Tire Rack or your local tire shop/distributor) and hope for the best!

Anyway, want to thank all members here and Joe at Powertech for the advice and answering the call to help. Literally could not have done it without you guys. THANK YOU!!!!

IMXCITD

Glad your vette is on the road again...esp w new tires. On a side note....you may want to consider AAA. It is a great service and between my wife and myself usually have at least one tow per year...that covers the membership. Invaluable...esp if out on the road somewhere and you have a breakdown.

edram454

Hey slo vette, i recently bought a 2003 z06 and they had michelin pilot sports in the fronts with plenty of tread left but also noticed cracking around the sides of the tires. they are no more than 4 years old. I understand they are very expensive and just thought it was odd they were cracking but left them alone. Now that I hear they you also have cracking on relatively low mileage expensive michelin tires make me worry that they will blow. I will start looking for bridgestone potenza for the fronts. I have nitto 555r in rear which hook good in the dry but are bad in the rain so will eventually get rid of those when I use then up some more. edramos.

Dave concrete

The tires could be 4 years old since you bought them but look for the date code on the sidewall. I purchased tires from Tire Rack that were already 2 years old when I received them. Letting High performance tires sit and age causes cracking. Maybe the best all around tire you can buy for these cars are the Michelin Super Sports.

SLO VETTE

That's what i had, they were awesome when new. The GY OEM tires when car was new were just horrible, hydroplaning all over the place (my Z used to be my daily driver the first couple of years, up to around 30k miles). Replaced the GY's as soon as they wore down...and towards the end of their life I was judicious in helping that process along....

My Pilot Sports only had 4k or so miles on 'em, but were about 9 years old. Grand Canyon cracks in the channels, I never noticed before until things went wrong with my axle and I started looking everywhere including the tires, and Powertech guys said they were rot rot rotten....

Dave concrete

9 years old for hi- performance tires is a lot plus who knows what the manufacture date was.

SLO VETTE

if i recall it was about the same age (tires were fresh).

fyi i don't think michelin's making oem size pilot sport tires anymore. that was the conversation i had with a couple of places. tirerack no longer carries them for whatever that's worth. it's bridgestone potenza and goodyear f1 only. both are limited stock or completely out, depending on front vs. rear.

like i said, if you need tires now or will soon, best bet is to put an order in and get in line.

fwiw, the potenza's ride very nicely in city & highway. it's been so long since i've had nice supple tires on my z i forgot what it's like!