I see a lot of posts about tires and folks that are hesitant to get rid of the run flats. Question: Does the Vette have more flat tires than the rest of our other cars? I haven't had a flat tire in many years so just wondering why the concern with compressors, patch kits, etc.
Snow in Indiana so guess it will be a couple more months before the Vert comes out

 

Just get AAA and dont worry about it.

 

The fear my good man is not of having a flat, it is having a flat, you are all alone, and no spare, in the dark, on a road with no cell phone coverage, and you hear from a short distance the hammer on the guns being drawn and someone mentioning the movie "Deliverance".

A flat tire is nothing..........on a Vette...............on a sunny day, on a road, not too far from home, and your cell phone battery is charged, and you can see the local tire store from your spot and the Police Station is across the road and your Daddy owns the tire store. Flat TIRE? WHAT FLAT TIRE???????????????????????????

 

I've been driving for over 32 years now and I've only had 2 flat tires which required me to change it with the spare, once when I was stupid and I didn't care that the steel cords were showing and the other time when the tire store installed an inner tube, inside my tubless tire. (The tire blew up due to heat)
Oh I've had MANY slow leaks, tires with nails in them (mostly the wife gets those) but I have always caught it in time to drive to ANY gas station to have it plugged.
I have actually gone months with a nail in a tire before I figured it out. (That was in the wifes car)
It's kinda like Jumper Cables, I do not carry jumper cables, never have. I have needed them, but since everyone else has them, I don't need to carry them. (Kinda like jumper cables, but not exactly)
So if you are aware of what your car is doing and keep watch of things like tire pressure and battery and alternator age, you should almost never need to carry a spare or jumper cables.

 

Glad I don't live in Arizona.

 

The best mod I did was to ditch the runflats...
Put one of these in the car just in case...

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/...tkit/index.jsp

 

I have been driving for close to 50 years now and haven't had a lot of flat tires but I had two of them on the same vehicle at the same time about 5 years ago.
Bill

 

I wonder if any forum members have had a flat tire in their vettes? I mean one while driving somewhere, not a slow leak or a flat caused by hitting something in the roadway. I wonder..

 

True blowouts, especially with good brands of V and Z rated tires, are very rare indeed, and usually only happen in competition or racing conditions, or from negligence.
Invest a small amount in a tire repair kit and small portable aircompressor to fit in the rear wells, along with slime(just in case real serious) and forget about it. Everyone carries a cell phone, and you obviously have enough money for a AAA roadside protection plan, or can get one through your cell phone carrier. You will NEVER go back to runflats after you have an excellent quality tire on the vette---less noise, far better ride, and excellent cornering. You will otherwise be paralyzed by unfounded fear. Best mod I have EVER done was ditch the runflats, and there are plenty of people here who will buy them.

 

I ran over a chisel blade on a well traveled suburban street with my nonrunflat shod C5, slashing both left side tires, and was only saved by the fact that I was two blocks from a friend's gas station. No amount of spray goo, plug kit, portable jack, or air pumps would have kept me from having to call a rollback had I been elsewhere. I felt that I had dodged a bullet, and immediately ordered 4 Kumho run-flats. In my opinion, they are quieter, perform better wet and dry, and are far less expensive than the original equipment. The only downside may be somewhat less treadwear due to the apparently softer compound. I too went through the "when have I ever had a flat" thought process when I installed the non-runflats, but will never take a chance again.

 

The goo kit is great unless u shred the tire. Not only that your local tire store frequently doesn't have a whole lot of tires in stock that will fit your C5.
I haven't had a lot of flats either but last year I had one with my non runflats. It was inconvenient to say the least.
I went back to the runflats. They do make more noise but for me that is a smaller price to pay. To each his own. As long as you buy knowing the plus or minus of each choice-the choice is yours.

 

Be careful with the tire goo (aka Fix-a-flat, etc.). Most of it will ruin your tire pressure sensors.

 

It does when my wife drives it.

 

For what it's Worth..........

 

I haven't had run-flats installed for years, but I know I'll have a flat, just like I know there's going to be earthquakes. All you can do is plan for them.

I've had a flat away from home in every car I've owned (except the Xterra I got last year, but I know it's going to happen). On two occassions the flats have happened at freeway speed.

My last flat was in the C5 at speed, and I'm glad I put TPMs in my aftermarket wheels. The TPM system gave me plenty of time to safely pull over. I was able to exit the freeway and find a parking lot - pulled into a parking spot with zero PSI. It was too dark to try to fix anything, so I called up AAA and had it flat-bedded home.

The other time I got a flat at speed was in my '94 Camaro, and that wasn't fun. As soon as I could tell something was amiss, I hit the hazards and made a beeline for the shoulder, but I didn't get over in time, and the tire completely blew out, just shredded to pieces. That was exciting, but not fun. Didn't have AAA at the time, had to put the tiny donut on, in the dark, and came home filthy.

In my C5 now, I carry a small scissors jack, tire plugs, compressor, and gloves. Better to have them, and not need them, that to need them and not have them, eh?

 

corvettes dont get more flats than other cars , other cars have spare tire ,thats why all the discussion!

 

This keeps coming up. Why are people concerned with it? The things cost $45. I'd pay $45 to not have to use a flatbed. And once I get through paying for a new tire, I probably wouldn't even notice $45.

 

Show me a 2000 model TPS for $45. I know yours are much cheaper than ours, but I've never seen any TPS for $45.

 

I think we seem to dwell on this much too much.
Although most of us have experienced Flat Tires they are nowhere near as common as they used to be. Thank Tubeless Tires and Circumferential belts for this as well as better materials and more careful Tire inspection.
Chevrolet did not do away with the Spare for the sake of Advanced Technology there was a problem that surfaced in the '90s regarding the Donut Spare and damage to Positraction Differentials. There was also the problem of where to carry the Flat Huge rim and tire. Anyone who has owned a C-4 and read the owners manual knows of the Adjustable Spare Carrier and how it could accomodate the Flat I am just glad I never had to use it. All Z06 owners are willing to take the "risk" of NO SPARE as well as NO RUNFLATS, why are the rest of us going Nuts over it?
Carry an inflator, inexpensive repair kit and go from there. If your'e totally paranoic buy the GTO donut and a small jack. Just make sure to keep the Tire Pressure Monitors.
Just my Opinion
Barrier

 

For those that bring out the slashed/shredded tire scenario, just remember that if you take a hit in the sidewall, runflat tires are just as dead as regular tires.

The original poster asked for personal experience. In the almost 60K miles on my vette, I've picked up exactly one nail. The TPWS told me I had a leaker, I took the next convenient exit (this happened on an interstate), pulled out my SafetySeal plug kit, pulled the nail out, plugged the tire, hooked up my $10 WalMart compressor (both of these kits fit in one side pocket in the rear storage area), and 10 minutes later I was done. Just for grins I left the plug in the tire (I don't go nuts on public roads, that fun is saved for the autox! ) to see how it would do. Just like they have for decades, the plug held air until the tire was dead and swapped out.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike