I just noticed that my front tires are well worn. These are the originals on an '09 F55 at 15K miles. The rears have substaintial tread remaining. I guess this has been caused by short stop and go trips resulting in a lot more wear on the fronts. So what do you guys think I should do? This is not another thread asking about specific brands and models, as I can do a search on this topic.

 

It's fine to replace just the fronts...but they should be runflats since the rears are.

Its not just turning, the alignment can help wear them out sooner also.

 

Not enough right foot baby!

I'm sure some real experts will comment on the reasons but probably not unusual for someone not doing burn-outs or throttle steering.

The fronts can take the brunt of the work steering and braking.

 

Hi All
A friend who owns a shop and Z06 said EVERY new or fairly new Vette
That he has checked the alignment has Been out of alignment They are set so they will not pull. From what I have herd GM knows if they pull
they will come in to get realigned but if they do not pull it will be out
of warrantee before the tires are warn

Michael

 

Replace the fronts.

 

Put whatever you want on the front.

 

I would not mix runflats with non-runflats. If the rear tires are still serviceable, just replace the front tires. Have your alignment done while you're at it. There are qualities I like with non-runflat tires but IMO, for street use, there's something to be said for the keep-on truckin' attributes of runflats. If you want to change to non-runflats in the future, maybe you'll be ready to change all four tires at the next go-round.

 

If you have 50% or more wear left in the rears, replace the fronts with the same tire and then all four when the rears wear out. At that wear rate, all four tires will need replacement.

If you have between 30-50% tire wear left in the rears, just replace the fronts.

If you have less than 30% tire wear left on the rears, replace all four tires.

Just my .02cts.

 

How in the world are your fronts more worn than the rears?

I balded my rears due to some launches, and spirited shifting. I rarely did burnouts keep in mind. I replaced all 4 evenly with the Michelin PS2 ZP's. I had some life in the fronts and it if wasnt for the bubble I might have just bought 2 rear GY's. And then bought all 4 new on the next tire cycle. But I also felt the GY's lacked in grip and worn out too fast, so I went with the Michelins.

My suggestion is if you are gonna keep your rears then dont change tires size or brand in the front, go with the same tire (keep them a matching set). Looking at a car with diifferent tires on it shows poor maintenance. And it makes the car look ghetto.

 

I changed out my run flats with 9200 miles on it. The left front was worn considerable more than any other tire on the car. It is not out of alignment. I changed out the shocks as well and was told that surprisingly they were worn out as well. I've got an 08 with the Z51 package and I am not a hard driver. Run flats on my Vette are history.

 

If you stay with the same tires only do the fronts, if you want different brand of tires do all four

 

Replace the fronts to match what you have on the rear.

 

Do a massive burnout and replace all 4!

 

Replace all 4.Get rid of those OEM GY's.

 

The tires that come on a non-Z51 coupe do not all have the same amount of tread when new.

The fronts have 10/32" of tread when new. The rears have 11/32" of tread when new.

However, my 06's fronts were not quite down to the wear bars at 32,000 miles. Must be an alignment problem if OP only got 15,000 on an F55-equipped C6. My 06 also had the F55 suspension.

 

Granted but but he got half the life you did on his front tires. I suspect he was taking turns hard which is why I asked how they worn out before his front tires. And unless your taking aggressive turns all the time, (even weaving in and out of traffic spiritedly) driving in a straight line or casual driving shouldnt wear the fronts out before the rears. My rears went quicker because of the shifting to second gear (tire spin) and launching the car most of the time.

 

replace the fronts but try to get a tire with the same temp and grip rating

 

I'm going to disagree with most of the advise you have been given in the above posts. The reason your front tires normally wear faster than the rears is that they do the most work during braking and steering and the fact that when parking or doing a three point turn-about you are scrubbing the tread off by turning the front wheels when the car is stationary. Misaligned tires wear unevenly, so if your tires wore in a unifom manner across the width of their treads, you do not have an alignment issue. You do not want to simply replace your front tires alone if you end up with more tread on the fronts than the rears because this will cause the front of the car to brake more efficiently than the rear, causing the rear of the car to try and pass by the front of the car (causing a spin-out), especially when braking is accompanied by a lane change (as in an accident advoidence maneuver) or when negotiating a curve, especially during inclimant weather. If anything you want more tread on the rear tires than the front as this will tend to prevent spin-outs when braking. If you go into your local Discount Tire dealership they will confirm this recommendation and will show you a video explaing everything in great detail. Or you could ask the same question of an advisor over the phone at Tire Rack. These people are tire experts and are certainly more knowlegeable about such issues than your average Joe six-pack.

 

Mixing runflats with non runflats is not a good idea. Handling will suffer but if you are not driving aggressively you can get by while waiting for the rears to wear out. Front end alignment definitely affects inside edge wear. Small changes in alignment will elimunate inside edge wear without giving up much in handling. My 07 is on its 4th set of front tires (PS2) and I am happy to say they are wearing evenly.

Mixing thead patterns is also not a good idea but is less of an issue. I switch my rears regularily between PS2 and Nito Evos depending on what is in store for the day (dry weather driving).

I have run PS2's in the front and PS1's in the rear and didn't feel safe in heavy rain. Switching to PS2 in the rear to match the front eliminated the problem. ( Note: PS1 better in rain. PS2 better in turns.) So, I guess weather must be taken into consideration in your decission to mix tread patterns.

I would wait and switch all 4 tires at the same time. Non runflats of course!

 

While the car has 15,300 miles, 10,500 was on it when I bought it. It was only 7months old. The tires have always looked like the wear was uniform. I guess since I drive a lot of short distances and kind of spirited in sport mode( down shifting the paddles), the wear gets a little heavy on the front.

I would have thought also that I should have gotten better wear but it is what it is. Clearly the wear is down to the wear bars and I am feeling some lightness in quick steering. It's time to replace at least the fronts but I have always replaced all four in previous cars. Since you can't rotate you can expect this uneven wear front to back. When I examine the rears, it's just rediculous to disgard them.

I know it looks bad to have different tires front to back so I guess I will have to replace with the GY's. I was just reading all the threads on tire suggestions and had been thinking of changing brands. Oh well.