scrolling thru posts today. Ran across a post about tires and wear....

14K miles on my car (2006) with factory tires and they need to be replaced...bought with 7K miles so I have no idea if they were rotated or aligned....I had NO idea that tires should be rotated that frequently and that I can only expect 10-15K miles out of the stock tires.

What do you all think are better tires - what is the max I can expect from a better tire? No tracking...is the cost differential commensurate with the extended life expectancy?

Lastly - how often should they be rotated and realigned?

Any and all info is appreciated.

The factotry Badyears are quite noterious for wearing fast and also loosing their grip ability. Double that for the tires of the Z06s and Gran Sports.


What’s this thing called rotation? To be frank I know of no one that rotates. Tires are different sizes front to back so at best you can only go side to side, then you got the problem of pressure gauges being on the wrong side.

A realignment at times is a good idea. As the factory has a habit of being a little lose with its settings when buying a new Vette get your alignment checked and more likely changed after you get about 600 miles on your new ride at a top notch alignment shop!

FWIW I replaced my tires on my Z06 at 10,000 and they needed it. I drive a bit spirited but not abusive it and that’s just the way it is with this car.

cost doesn't usually have that much to do with life but does often relate to performance. one of the best street tires made is the michelin pss. sadly it's not available in OE stock sizes but is close and multiple members have mounted them.

another commuter tire to look at that does come in OE sizes is the bridgestone s04. it's a good rain tire and performs alright but will suffer a short life from scrubbing the fairly narrow tread blocks if you drive it hard. this or the pss are the tires the base coupe should have came with, the re11 would have really made the z51 numbers look good. i don't know what gm was thinking with their tire choices.

best street performance tire out in OE sizes is the bridgestone re11 which in most cars are good for 18-20k miles without too much trouble. these things absolutely rip and have a high threshold for a standard street tire. it's a soft tire but puts so much rubber on the ground that it doesn't suffer the same slip grind scrubbing as a harder smaller tread block tire.

You don't rotate tires on a 'Vette. As was mentioned, the front & back are different sizes, and if you went left to right, the treads would be pointing in the wrong direction. That is unless you got non-directional tires, but really who does that on a Vette? So, relax and just replace them when the tread wear says it's time.

If you have a Z51 then the tire wear is about normal. The tires should say Goodyear Supercar on them.

Besides the mileage it was time to replace 7-8 year old tires anyway.

No rotation needed, run 'em till they die. I replaced my original G/Y's at about 19K miles, fronts were worn but rears still had some tread on them. I see you're in the Northeast like me, if you don't race or track but just enjoy the ride you might want to look at Michelin PS2 A/S RF's, great touring tire and cheaper than Goodyear's.

I see you are from NJ...If you drive your vette in the cooler temps, I would suggest a All Season tire like the Michelin Pilot AS/ZP. It is a good all around YEAR ROUND, run flat tire. Pricey but worth it in my book. There are of course, the non run flats that are less money. Do a search and you will finds LOTS of threads on tires.

One more thing...if your OEM tires wore evenly there is NO need to get a Alignment. I have a 08, bought new and changed them out at 22,000 miles with the Michelins....4000 miles later.....big improvement over the Good Year in terms of quietness, and grip especially in temps cooler than 40 degrees. Good Luck

The Michelin Pilot Sport AS Plus ZP (Zero Pressure, meaning run-flat capable) will last twice as long, run smoother, run quieter, and provide better grip in the rain and cold. Do a search on this Forum and you will find virtually everyone that has bought them, love them. P.S. GM finally smartened up and changed from Goodyear to Michelin on the 2014 C7 Corvette.

His Z51 Supercar tires are non-directional, and so are many of the good quality replacements like the Michelin PS2 runflats that we have.

FWIW, we used up two sets of Supercars on our 2006 Z51 and one set on our 2009 Z51. In mostly highway driving with some mad moments in the twisties, we got about 20k miles per set. A friend who drives like a Grandpa (because he is), actually got almost 40k out of his front Supercars and 45k on the rears. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't know him and his car so well.

Got 18k out of stock GY Supercar RFs. Changed to Firestone RF and have 23k on them with plenty of tread left. JMHO but I can not recommend Firestones due to significant performance loss. I'll spend the money to go back to Michilens on next set. Rotation is a no-no as others have tated but alignment is a must for tire life on a C6.

When I sold my 04 several years ago it had almost 20,000 miles and the tires still had plenty of tread left. The only thing I did was check the tire pressure monthly.

Factory Goodyears got 44,000+ on front tires and the rears could have gone longer still good.

Ditto - have them on for only five hundred miles but am quite pleased. Quieter and feel good. $1,300 at Costco.

Get Michelin PS2 ZPs (3-season) or PS A/S Plus ZPs (all-season). With a good street alignment you can get 30K out of the PS2s and more out of the all-seasons.

14K is not an unusually short life for Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar EMTs. It is short for Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-2 EMTs. All those numbers and letters after the manufacturer's name make a big difference. It's is ambiguous to refer simply to "Goodyears" or "Michelins" and useless to make generalizations about "run-flats."

Rotation is out because you can't swap front and rear. Side-to-side would work with non-directional (asymmetric) treads, but not necessary because the tires on opposite sides should have mirror-image wear or else your alignment is way off.

In my experience these cars hold alignment extremely well unless you really clobber something on the roadway. I've dropped the front subframe (which is located by pins) and the alignment didn't budge. My advice would be to get the car realigned at each tire change, mainly because alignments are cheap and tires are expensive.

I drive fairly conservative but will drive aggressive at times and my original Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-2 have 12,000 on them and literally look new.

Last Spring I mounted the Michelin PS A/S Plus ZPs (all-season) on spare rims and have been running them ever since.
Mainly because I drive as much as possible into the cold Spring weather and Fall months before the snow hits.

The Michelin tires are an improvement, but also felt the Goodyear GS-2 tires were not all that bad.
Now though, I Personally don't see a reason to run the Goodyear tires again after driving the Michelin A/S tires year round.

The New Michelin A/S -3 tires coming this year look Very promising

15K-25K miles

I would either try to stretch out your current tires till this summer or buy a used set to get to the summer. It doesn't sound like you drive much. The new Michelin A/S tire sounds like a good one for the base C6. Also another option will be the C7's Michelin Super Sports in C6 base sizes and it is a run flat also. I have the non run flat version of the Super Sport on my 11 GS Vert and it is an improvement in every category over the stock Goodyears (they lasted 11k). C6 owners with Goodyears just don't know what they are missing by using a substandard tire.