JIMWALLACE

I live in Michigan, just purchased a very low mile 2013 GS, at 20 degrees F, parking lot turning, tires sound like the Differential is failed, GM experts say the GS factory Good Year summer performance tires, are the problem, and they are not to be used below 40 degrees F, all well and good, but we have a lot of the year below 40 F. I have read most of the threads about these tires and they generally deal with the poor wear, 12K miles or less. I am looking for a aftermarket tire that someone who lives in the cold north who has purchased and installed such tires on their C-6 GS, which solved this particular low temp, low speed turning noise problem. Thanks, Jim Wallace 248-320-6204 crbjjw@comcast.net

BadAV

Part of the issue is the scrub radius as well as the OEM Goodyear tires; high performance cars tend to do this when turning sharply at low speeds. I found that a Pfadt street alignment helps a little also. I replaced the OEM Goodyears with Bridgestone RE050A runflats and found they are considerably better than the OEMs.

Sky High

I have a '13 GS also and live in N.Y. The oem GY's did it and the Bridgestone's I have on the car now do it also, but a pinch less. It's just the tire and car geomitry and you can't get around it in cold weather no matter what tire brand you use. My car does not do it in warm temperatures.

JIMWALLACE

BadAV: Thanks, to be clear, the bridgestone's in cold weather are considerably better for the low speed turning scrub noise that the oem Good Years? Jim

NashvilleGrandSport

Unfortunately there are no all season tires available for the GS due to the size of the rear tires. I have Cooper Zeon RS 3 on mine and they do it in cold weather, as did the Bridgestones I had on my previous car, a Nissan 370Z. Just a characteristic of these summer tires in cold weather.

RocketDawg

My Michelin Pilot Super Sports do it also, especially when backing out of a parking place and have the steering wheel turned almost to the stops. I have a base Vette, so I can get all-seasons, and I probably will next set I get. I don't really drive it hard enough to justify a high performance summer tire.

BadAV

It's considerably less than the OEMs were but it still does it on tight turns in cold weather. I just try to keep from turning really tight turns as much as possible in the cold weather. Once the tires have warmed up after driving for a while it doesn't do it. As everyone else has indicated, it's somewhat a fact of life with summer tires in cold weather.

blittle

Attended a "tech session" at the GM tent in Carlisle this year....the question of "all season tires" came up...much back and forth on the issue , but in the end the GM engineer said...."honestly, we engineered this car to be a performance car and really did not expect too many people would be driving it in winter weather" I thought that was a pretty straight forward answer.....

Judgebull

I have 13 GS with the original Goodyear Gen II tires and the "scrubbing" is common. First time it happened I thought the rear end was about to fall out of the car. I now try to minimize it as best I can eliminating sharp turns etc.

csf

I wish I was there to ask that engineer why he installed and charged me for heated seats in a car he designed for me to only drive in the summer.

Don-Vette

99% of Northerners store their corvette during winter and have another daily driver. It's a performance car. If you want all season tires, put them on another car, not a Corvette. IMO!!!

joec

That was a pretty stupid a$$ answer.. while I understand we won't/can't drive in snow or ice I do enjoy driving it year round..

mikeCsix

All vehicles do this, when the tires are narrow enough, you most likely won't hear it. I even hear it in my work van when the pavement is wet. The phenomenon is called slip angle, as slip angle increases, so does the noise. Our cars are light-weight with minimal insulation for road noise so with the much wider tires the noise becomes more pronounced.

When you hear tires squealing going around a turn, that is also slip angle at work. As hard as I've pushed mine in turns, I've never heard them squeal, they grumble instead, and I've had mine consistently over -1g.

RocketDawg

I fully understand not driving the Vette in snow and ice, but there aren't that many places in the US that stay snow-covered all winter. But there are plenty of places ... just about everywhere ... that experience sub-freezing temperatures frequently. You'd think the Corvette would be expected to be driven in cold temperatures.

tealex

I took the Goodyears off my 13' GS and replaced them with Michelins this year. I do drive the car all year as long as there's no snow/salt on the roads. Only thing I'm concerned with now is what I'm hearing about tires cracking from using them in sub-freezing temps. Has anyone else heard anything about this.

blittle

HA! ...good point! ( and I do use my heated seats !) ....I do think, at least from my take on the discussion that morning..... that what he was trying to do was explain why there was no "pressure" from the Corvette team on the tire guys to manufacture "all weather" tires in corvette sizing. Mine is now on life support in the garage....after the last snow, ice, and salt crap on the roads.....there is not much fun in taking it out.

c6miller

I believe it has more to do with the thick differential lube in cold temps. You'll notice that it gets better after driving for a while as it warms up.

csf

Of course I was being a bit sarcastic. And I use my heated seats too. But I also do find it frustrating I have to park my GS every winter just because there are no suitable cold weather tires for where I live. Honestly, I did a lot of research before I bought my GS but totally missed the tire issue. My bad. I always planned to buy winter tires and wheels and drive it year round.

And then there's my younger lawyer brother, who drives his Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet 365 days a year, and enjoys driving it in the snow as much as he does top down in the summer. I'm not a Porsche guy, but I now get a bit jealous every winter.