Big Jay E

Need to get the front end aligned on the GS. The original Goodyears went away in 14,000 miles, which I gather is the norm.

I sprung for the Michelin runflats because they were supposed to last twice as long. That was the case with my C5.

Well I am at 14,000 on these and the fronts are down to the wear marks. The rears look only half worn.

I have read that these cars come with an aggressive alignment meant for running track days, etc. I never do that with this car, so I would opt for a more conservative settings if it made the tires last longer.

Does this seem normal to others running the Michelins?

AORoads

no, not at all. look for the Pfadt settings street alignment. and hope you find a good alignment shop!

MikeyTX

The factory alignment is not great. I head straight for the alignment shop I use with each new car. You need less aggressive settings for sure. Find a good alignment shop and have the settings biased more towards street use rather than track. Also, find one that offers a life time alignment. It is well worth the extra cost. As shot to heck as the roads are here in TX, it has paid for itself.

MikeyTX

weathermaker

I have the Michelin A/S (40,000 mile tire) on my 05. These are not available in the larger sizes. If you read the threads on this forum, it sounds like 14K is all you are going to get on any tire for a GS/ZO6.

Wayne O

Depending on how you use your car you might want to dial-back the alignment to a less aggressive posture. I haven't seen Pfadt's suggested street alignment settings but being it's from Pfadt I'm sure they're good. Check your tire pressure often....maintain proper inflation. If possible 'rotate' your tires (or swap sides) periodically. Obviously, drive conservatively to prolong tire life.

Cheer-up....14,000 miles isn't so bad. Hell, you could be racing your car and go-through a set of $2,000 Hoosier R100 slicks in a month (or less).

carpe dm

You are VERY lucky to get that mileage! Our fronts were shot at 5K!! Get as much negative camber out of the fronts as possible. With your mileage, however, your alignment can't be too bad.

Neil Baker

I went with Goodyear Eagle GS-2 when my stock tires went. My dealership made sure the front alignment was perfect for not wearing the insides of the tire, I have 22000 miles on fronts and just thinking about buying new ones, I think I have about 3000 miles or so left, good enough for around town but not a long trip. I'm very happy with the GS-2 Runflats.

BigJoe

The Performance Street specs seem to work for everyone (that is not tracking the car).

carl3989

My Goodyear have 25000 and the front are totally worn on the inside. The rears aren't that bad. Will replace all 4 with Michelin Pilot Sport AS+ZP's. However, Question: Can any tire shop, such as Mavis, do an allignment properly or must you go to an allignment shop that specializes in vettes?

JoesC5

Not quite factual. I installed the Bridgestone RE050A runflats on my Z06. I've worn approximately 20% of the tread off in the past 6,500 miles(since installation). They should last past 30,000 miles and are the cheapest run flat available for the GS/Z06.

The Bridgestone's were developed for the Z06 and their performance is spot on.

I have my alignment set at -0.9 degrees camber on the front and -0.6 degrees camber on the rear with zero toe front and rear.

AORoads

actually, not every tire shop does alignments. but those that have the equipment, should be able to. the trouble comes in not knowing what they're doing, or setting it to "within the range" and thinking that's good enough.

I'd find a place via a car enthusiast club, a Corvette club, etc. for some shop that knows Corvettes and does them often. anything else, and you're hoping they know what they're doing.

check your area for Corvette car groups.

D2 Vette

I also swithed tires after 15K on the OEM Goodyears. However, I went with the Firestone RF's and also purchased the lifetime alignment for $169.00. That was at 30K miles (Bought the 05 with 15K miles) and now have 112K miles. I get the full alignment every 6K miles (free) with an oil change and get 30K miles per set of Firestone RF's. Very happy with my DD.

BigJoe

FWIW I too had my last alignment done at my locale Firestone dealer, even though I didn't have Firestone tires on the car. They did a good job (at least my tires started wearing evenly, which is all I wanted). They also offer the lifetime alignment for $20-$30 more than a single alignment.

Flies Lo

This is a high performance car, with high performance tires and alignment. I'm an HPDE instructor and my car does see the track. The stock Goodyears lasted 12,000 miles for me, on my GS, with four track three day weekends on them.

The alignment for me was perfect as the tire wore evenly across the tread, with the fronts being into the wear-bars and the rears just touching them. I have a friend here at work with an '08 vert Z51 that's on it's third set of front tires in 16,000 miles. He drives the car like a grandma; never at high speeds and for short distances, and has his alignment checked every year.

I suspect there's something going on here that that we, all of us, really do not understand: My tire wear is fairly decent considering how my car is used. My friend's tire wear is totally unacceptable. This makes no sense, to me at least. The only constant I've noticed is that those who report poor tire wear are those who simply do not drive their cars anywhere near the limits. (and, no, if you don't track your car, your "spirited" driving is not anywhere near what you think it is. Sorry, that's just the way it truly is)

I've just changed to Michelin Pilot Super Sport non-run flats. The wear remains to be seen, but I've seen Michelin Pliot Sports wear exceptionally well, even on cars that are tracked regularly.

pilot38

I have a question... I have had my C6 for a month now...when I first got it I noticed that the car was pulling to the right...took it back to the dealer after putting 500 miles on it(at their request). they aligned it to the specs, however it still pulls to the right...but not as bad....took it back in today and they told me that the alignment was fine and that the alignment was set to help the car corner better, and I needed to put more miles on the tires and we could check it again. Do all the corvettes pull like this?

Pilot38

AORoads

Driving at, near or above "the limit" (I guess, of the tires or alignment) isn't the only cause of poor tire wear. A little more info on the above would be helpful.

So, tell us about your friend's tires when worn: how did they look to you? did you see all 3 sets? what was the pattern of wear? was it a competent alignment shop that checked his tire wear/alignment every year? what did they set his alignment to, or did they even change it at all? How about inflation pressures?

I'm sure you know that short distance or long, stop and go driving with lots of braking is going to have some effect on tire wear, but probably not as much as all-out high speed driving.

ptaylor_9849

I've owned 4 C6's including a ZO6 and here's the first thing I do every time I buy a vette. I tone down the negative camber on the front to negative 4 and get toe as close to zero on both front and rear as possible. This completely calms down the twitchyness that our cars are known for. It helps make the car track perfectly straight without following grooves in the road and it helps greatly with premature tire wear. I have helped many people with these specs and I hope they help you as well.

Camber: -4 degrees
Toe: 0 degrees

MachAll 2005

Don't you mean -0.4 degrees?
I agree except -0.4 max ... my target is -0.2 and rear with very slight toe out...... around 0.10 degrees "out".

oldgoat99

First, thanks for posting that!

I'm getting ready to have a set of Michelin PS2 ZPs installed within the next few days. I'm also going to have an alignment done. I have a 2009/Z51 and the tires wor out a lot faster tham I expected so I just want to make sure on the alignment specs. I have been researching and read the PFADT specs. The Toe of "0' you mention is apparently what the PFADT specs recommend but the Camber you say should be -4 deg. Is this what it should be to get the best mileage out of the tires?

I'm having a hard time figuring out what the alignment should be. Too many opinions for my pea sized brain, I guess.

Here's the PFADT specs I found... (Two different PFADT documents... which don't seem to agree with what you're saying. I'm hoping you or someone will guide me. Thanks.

PFADT Recommendations Document 1...
Pure Street
Front
Camber -0.8deg
Caster 8.0deg
Toe 0.0in
Rear
Camber -0.5deg
Toe 0.0in

Dual Street/Track
Front
Camber -1.2deg
Caster 5 to 8deg
Toe 0.0in
Rear
Camber -0.8deg
Toe 0.0in

PFADT Recommendations Document 2...
Performance Street
Front min max
Camber (deg) -0.7 -0.9
Caster (deg) 7.5 8.5
Toe -1/16" 0
Rear
Camber (deg) -0.4 -0.6
Toe -1/16" 0

Performance Street - Track Use with Street Tires
Front min max
Camber (deg) -1.1 -1.3
Caster (deg) 7.5 8.5
Toe -1/16" 0
Rear
Camber (deg) -0.7 -0.9
Toe -1/8" -1/16"