My new Corvette is sitting at the dealer for the last week because GM has not shipped the GCA Ultimate Package yet. Which will get me totally off-topic because I see no sense in shipping the car with one set of wheels and making the dealer swap the tires to the 15-spoke wheels. If you ordered it with the options, the factory should ship it that way. Okay, I'll stop ranting, even 'though I don't want to.

My real question is about the 500 mile break-in period. How many of you kept your new Corvette at 55 mph or less for the first 500 miles?

I don't want to push the limits during this period. No wide open throttle, no high speeds. But most of the highways near me have a 65 mph speed limit. Trying to drive on them at 55 would be ugly, if not downright dangerous.

Please tell me how you broke in your new Corvettes.

Thanks,
Bill

 

The main key is to just not do anything violent and over rev the engine. The break in is really more for the tranny and other items on the car other than the engine. I did alot of back road driving. I did have it up to 65-70mph several times but was careful to keep the revs low. Just drive it like a normal car and not a Corvette for that first 500 miles and your breakin will go just fine.

 

Its a CORVETTE...Go on and have FUN! Your not going to break or damage anything if you go faster...
Just dont go out and DRAG RACE anybody...........................YET!

Congrats man, you have no idea what kinda fun your in for and God forbid if your a single man! (wink)

 

As much as it is killing me I am following the break-in guidelines. I am avoiding the expressways as much as possible as I can not stand the people passing me and looking at me like something is wrong with me. My thoughts are it is one hell of a machine so for 500 miles make the sacrifice and then it is all mine.

 

and I'll add to not use cruise. Back roads are ideal in that your constantly varying the speed and rpm's. The LS3 is pretty much broken in at the factory. It's the rest of the driveline your working on.

 

IMO,

I think the 55 mph is a bunch of .

Its a carry over when all the states mandated 55 mph to conserve energy, and keep pollution down.

The main thing for the breakin is to vary the speed you drive. In other words, don't stay at any given RPM for an extended time.

You can run 65 ~ 75 and keep the RPM's down without a problem.

Also, go easy on the brakes for the 1st 200 miles.

Enjoy.

augydog

 

My break in period was only 150 miles. I couldn't help it

 

When I picked up my Vette, last year, drove from Atlantic City to Bayside. Traveled on AC Expressway, GSP, and NJT. Kept it between 50-55 and must have stopped at every rest stop along the way.

Kept in the right lane the whole time. Everyone passed me and no one really cared how slow I was going.

Who cares, you got the Vette, they don't. The 500 miles will go fast.

Enjoy the ride, and don't forget to wave.

 

I was told at the plant to vary my speed for the first 500 miles between 0 and 120. That's what I did.

 

I did this on for the break in I did it like suggested by MotoMan at Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power. Go here and read about the process. http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm .I have had lots of cars over the last 45 years and always broke them in fast and they were fast compared to others with the same engine, so I completely agree that you ride it like you stole it.

The reason that the owners manual tells you to break it in easy is because the don't want any law suits from accidents caused by speeding. I also am not recommending that you do what I did. That's my disclaimer, . Just break it in slooow.

The first 30 miles (after proper warm-up) I left the dealer and ran it to redline in 1st let off and down to 20 and shifted, redline in 2nd let off and down to 35 and shifted to 3rd up to redline let off and down to 50. Next turned onto a long stretch of open clear road for 10 miles. I repeated the procedure several times for the 30 mile round trip taking it to the redline several times. After I returned to my shop and drained the oil and replaced the filter. The oil was strained and we found some small particles, as expected, from the break-in and also some in the oil filter.

I then drove it on a few day trips varying speed but not running it hard, like the first 30 miles except for a few short bursts but not to the redline.

I hope you all find this information helpful or you may disagree and just have an average preforming car .

Regards,

Rich King
__________________
Rich King

Original Thought: "The reason that the world is so far out of balance is because, so many people think that it revolves around them." Rich King

 

I'll break mine in driving back from Montana.

 

Drive it....you won't break it...

 

My opinion:

You're breaking in gears. Not the rings. Keep the gear loading down for the first 500 miles. IN other words don't use a heavy foot. RPM is ok but get there slowly. The 55 MPH is for the rear end gears. Gears really do need to wear into each other for awhile or they may overheat.

 

The 08 I kept to 55 mph or less. That's not to say I did with others in the past.

 

Not me. I don't worry about break-in on my vehicles, and they all last fine.

I ALWAYS change the oil at 500 to 1000 miles though.

 

this is getting a little old---its not 1955---drive the car and drive it hard---break it in how u want it to run--im on my 7 th new vette in 9 years and break them all in hard and no issues to yet---absolutely zero--- i love how people are scared to drive their cars

 

I believe in going easy on it for 500 miles.....but I'm relieved because when I saw the thread title, I thought your new Vette had been broken into!

 

I just bought a new 07 Z51 - the dealer said there is no real break in period for the C6 - comes new with Mobil1 and ready to go... so mine has been driven like a Vette for the 400 miles I've done this week...

 

I come from the Jet Ski world and everyone there with modded Ski's will tell you to break them in hard right from the get go. Not constant but a WOT run every few hours. Granted, the Ski's I have put out more than 250HP with 3 cylinders but a motor is a motor. The olny reason I would take it easy on a car is to break in other components such as the Transmission or critical seals. I truly believe though a motor needs to learn how to be run hard from the get go. The rings need to break in that way. I've been doing it this way for years with everything I have owned without an engine failure.

 

just one more reason why it's difficult to be the second or third owner of a "seemingly pristine" Corvette. as it falls apart, mysteriously, for no reason whatsoever.