Tires, tires, tires!

A stock C5 with new run craps will still pull .95 G on the skidpad, much higher than a honda econobox with coil-overs. I dont want to offend you but it is somewhat naive to attribute your cars aged handling to its suspension components or design, it is definetely your tires.

I have an 02 Z and with 18k miles I too spin all through first, 2nd, and chirp third pretty good. And its not because of my mighty 360 rwhp, its because the tires have 18k miles and 3 yrs on them.

I have nitto 555 R2 road race tires (305/35/18 back, 275/40/17 front) on the way and should be on the car next week.

There is no hype with the C5 or C6, they are world class sports cars, With near 50/50 weight distribution.

Im not sure about the Kumho's, but I can vouch for the Nitto's...At $300. a piece for the rear's they do the trick.

Corvette garage sells chrome ZO6 repro's for a grand, I would definetely upsize to Z06 rims and if the new rubber doesnt satisfy you I would upgrade to ZO6 shocks, springs, and swaybars. GM also has a T1 suspension kit, with stronger Sachs shocks, thicker bars, and stronger sprigns than the OE ZO6 set up.

You should be fine with just new rubber. Do not replace your run craps with run craps....

 

Not knocking your post at all and tires will probably help but there's a huge difference between your Z06 and the original author's C5. And the skidpad isn't everything. Most people enjoy good handling in real world conditions where there's a lot of left turns, right turns, dips, bumps, pot holes, etc. Transitioning from turn to turn is different. See this article:
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/fe...403scc_uscc08/

 

So much is tied up in driving style it's hard to say what's going on. Sliding and loosing traction at 25mph? Sounds like driving style to me...no personal knock on you I promise but unless you've got an alignment or suspension problem (or if you're WOT on a right hand turn on the street) this sounds very strange.

All that said, the stock suspension (FE1) is a bit of a joke, but you have to understand it does offer decent performance for what the majority of people do with their vettes. I bet if you polled people on this forum the vast majority go to tracks with no turns, as opposed to tracks with turns, and many never see a track at all. Note there are many that complain that addition of Bilstein sports is too rough...

The runflats are very stiff, and to accomodate and still give a comfortable ride they softened the suspension. If you go to non-runflats and still run FE1 it will be VERY soft.

The bottom line is if you are looking for a track car, FE3 (Z06) components are best, with Z51 obviously right behind (keeping to all GM components). This is why the Z51 option was offered to begin with. IMHO GM did a great job giving the people what they want. Want the track version? buy the track version.

 

Bottom line is you need some new tires. Non-runflats will make your car handle completely different.

 

Not sure what you mean with it loses control and starts to slide. If you are entering a turn and pushing it hard you can get some pretty bad understeer and the front tires will slide. The solution here is to slow the corner entry so the tires can bite on turn in. If you are in the turn and and off throttle the car will tend to rotate (bring the back around). The C5 is more tail happy than a C4 and can be a little unnerving to drive until you realize what is happening. Whether or not you are runing run flats is not an issue since you will get the same reaction with any of the stock size tires. If you go to 315s in the rear it will tame down some. The main solution to this problem is to add some gas to transition weight to the rear tires and the car will literally squirt through the turn. Don't practice this on a public road or street. Get yourself to a driving school or autocross to play around a little and you will see how well the car can corner. When I first bought my 97 I took it to the track on the run flats and had a lot of problems in the turns compared to the previous years with my 86 running on DOT RR tires. I was running through corners 20 to 30 mph slower than I did with the 86 with the car feeling like it was going to spin. Then I started adding throttle in the turns and pretty soon I was cornering as fast with the run flats as I did with the 86 on track tires.

Bill

 

maybe for you, but the first thing i would do is replace the EMT's with a good non-emt (they are ok when new, but really suck as they age and in the last 1/3 to 1/4 of there life, are a hazzard to your life, JMO)

More Than Zero

 

Changing the tire to a better handling tire may raise the speed in a corner but will not correct the handling I think he is describing. As for the handling on the run flats I have whipped them around the track at Watkins Glen (both old and new) a few times and though they slide sooner the car still handles the same way just at a lower speed. This is why a lot of the schools prefer you run normal street tires at a school so you can find out what the limit feels like at a slower speed.
Bill

 

Yeah............what he said!
The early version of run-craps (which your car has) are notorious for having an excessively choppy ride and very little grip compared to a good quality non-run flat tire, even more so if their old!
A good quality/brand non-run flat tire will "transform" your car in both ride quality and grip.
I suggest running Z06 sized rims/tires if you really want to get the maximum potential from your car.

I guarantee a huge improvement over stock.

Good luck, Rick

 

If you're sliding the car at 35mph then something is seriously wrong. I wouldn't drive it till I figured it out.

Unless you're talking about power-on oversteer. Then you just need to use less gas, or compensate more.

6 year old runflats can't be helping much. Performance tires harden over time and at 6 years they are pretty much round bricks now. I'd replace them, regardless of wear.

If it's not the tires, and you're not power sliding the car, get the suspension and alignment checked out, you've got a big problem on your hands.

Dope

 

 

Start with new tires first.

 

Lived in Austin and San Antonio for 8 years - Texas is "a large open area!"

 

I would normally agree with this statement - but I still remember the shock of having to counter-steer out of a slide while taking a simple right-hand-turn, at 35 mph, with no extra throttle added, on a perfectly smooth and dry surface street. Tire inflation was correct.. Tires had 20K miles, but still had decent tread remaining. After that I went to a parking lot and confirmed that these things were slicker than grease.

I replaced the runcraps 1 week later. Like some of the above posters, I have been unable to find the limit on the car with the Kumho MX tires.

 

I appreciate all the adivse you have have given, and most of you suggested that I need to change my run-flats, since they don't stick well and spin/slide easily. SO, my next question is - would you be kind enough to guide me as to what tires I should get (if not runflats). Just to let you know, I do spirited driving (like you didn't know). But I mean, I'm a serious driver and would take car to its limits at times. So, I want the BEST tires.

Now if we were taking in terms of priorities - here's how I'd list my priorities (1=Low, 10 High priority).

Performance Wet - 9.5
Performance Dry - 9.5
Comfort in driving - 7
Noise - 7
Price - 7
Long lasting milage - 7
Looks - 5

(THIS IS HOW I RATE IMPORTANCE IN TERMS OF PRIORITY)




Thanks in advance................

 

GS-D3's get my vote. Fabulous in wet and just about fabulous in dry. I only say "just about" because they are a bit squirmy when you first get them with full tread depth, but are fabulous after a couple of track days.

 

What wheels are you running? That will affect your tire selection.

To start, I'd consider:

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2
Goodyear F1 GS D3
Kumho MX

All are pretty excellent dry/wet tires. I'm running the last 2 on 2 different cars.

Dope

 

Hey guys, keep the replies coming...

Let us know what are your favorite tires (that you may, or may not be using right now, doesn't matter....as long as its your favorite).. And why?

Thanks in advance...

 

Michelin Pilot PS2s hands down. Of course, PS2s cost as much as the Vette. Small trade off.

 

I've been running BFG KDW's, they handle great when it's dry and in the rain. I just replaced the shocks with Bilstein sports and set the alignment to Z06 specs, now the car feels more stable in fast sweepers than it did with the stock setup.