Time for new tires?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,157
Likes: 5
From: Eastern PA
Time for new tires?
I have Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS tires on my C5 coupe. The fronts are 7 yrs from manufacture and first use with with nearly 5/32ds remaining. The rears are 8 yrs from manufacture and 4 yrs from first use with 6/32ds remaining. No damage or patches. Normal street/hwy use with a smattering of past use as rain tires during cold or rainy HPDE roadcourse fun...averaging about 4K miles per year for the last few years. I have never intended the 'Vette to be a garage queen and potentially drive it all year round. But, snow and high torque don't mix very well so, I wouldn't drive it if I knew there was a forecast for accumulated white stuff. I have a Honda Accord for regular work and daily driving.
What do you think...replace the tires now, replace the tires at the 10 year mark (spring/fall 2018), or wait until I get one axle down to 2/32ds? Thanks in advance for your opinion and advice!
Other possible relevant/irrelevant points:
- I purchased A/S tires in 2008 for future cold weather and/or snow safety concerns after getting unexpectedly caught in a bad snow storm the previous winter on "summer" tires (it was ONLY supposed to flurry with no accumulation)...not fun at all; I actually ended up in a hotel for the night rather than continue to drive the next 40 miles home.
- The RE960s have been GREAT wet and normal dry driving tires; they get greasy on the track when it's warm and past one or two hard laps; it's unfortunate they don't make the non-runflat version anymore.
- Some track day and HPDE organizations will no longer allow my 960s on the track due to age from date of manufacture (older than 5 yrs).
- I have a set of stock C5Z06 rims with Nitto 555RII DOT-R tires for dry & warm fun time on a road course track; rears are down to the wear bars, fronts are well above the bars; for circumstantial reasons, I have not used them since fall 2012; thinking I might replace the tires with more regular street shoes, possibly Continental ExtremeContact DW tires so I can more regularly use my Z06 rims in warm weather on normal streets.
- My coupe has just south of 500 RWHP w/ 3.90s in the rear end rather than the stock 3.42s.
What do you think...replace the tires now, replace the tires at the 10 year mark (spring/fall 2018), or wait until I get one axle down to 2/32ds? Thanks in advance for your opinion and advice!
Other possible relevant/irrelevant points:
- I purchased A/S tires in 2008 for future cold weather and/or snow safety concerns after getting unexpectedly caught in a bad snow storm the previous winter on "summer" tires (it was ONLY supposed to flurry with no accumulation)...not fun at all; I actually ended up in a hotel for the night rather than continue to drive the next 40 miles home.
- The RE960s have been GREAT wet and normal dry driving tires; they get greasy on the track when it's warm and past one or two hard laps; it's unfortunate they don't make the non-runflat version anymore.
- Some track day and HPDE organizations will no longer allow my 960s on the track due to age from date of manufacture (older than 5 yrs).
- I have a set of stock C5Z06 rims with Nitto 555RII DOT-R tires for dry & warm fun time on a road course track; rears are down to the wear bars, fronts are well above the bars; for circumstantial reasons, I have not used them since fall 2012; thinking I might replace the tires with more regular street shoes, possibly Continental ExtremeContact DW tires so I can more regularly use my Z06 rims in warm weather on normal streets.
- My coupe has just south of 500 RWHP w/ 3.90s in the rear end rather than the stock 3.42s.
