Roblaura

I just purchased my first Corvette - as a replacement for my "57 Chevy that we decided to sell. We are retired and like to have one practical car, and one fun car.

The vehicle is a 2013 Grand Sport with Z06 wheels. The newly installed tires are Michelin P245/35ZR19 on rear, and Michelin P245/40ZR18. The QUESTION is: What is the appropriate tire pressure for normal road driving? The door say 30 psi, and the tire dealer says 35 psi.I do not drive the car aggressively, and want to get best wear/last longer.

Rob

Dave S

I run 32 psi all around & get good tread wear....'05 Z51 with Nitto Invo's.

EVRose

30 cold.

Corvette_Ed

30 lbs cold. Have run the same on my C5 and C6 and have had nothing but even tire wear.

Not So Fast

Welcome Rob, we did the same thing 3+ years ago selling my 1970 El Camino SS 454 auto, then bought our 2011 Grand Sport, don't regret it at all.
Enjoy the Vette
NSF

jrose7004

30 lbs cold.

dmk0210

Start with the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation (on the placard in the door jamb), not the tire manufacturer or the tire installer's. The car manufacturer makes these recommendations based on vehicle weight, load balance, suspension characteristics and other things that the tire manufacturer and installer are not taking into account.

Now drive the car and watch your tire wear. The tread should wear evenly. If it wears more on the middle it's over inflated. If it wears on the both outside edges it's under inflated.

If you want to geek out, you can get a pyrometer and take temperature readings at the middle and outside edges of the tread after driving the car.

.

jaredtxrx

These sizes seem way off to me.
a base C6 uses 245/40-18 front and 285/35-19 rear
Grand Sport and Z06 are 275/35-18 front and 325/30-19 rear

AORoads

I gotta agree with Jared above. Why are you running such smaller tires?

Here's what tirerack sez are normal tires for a Grand Sports, 2013.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/Selec...oModClar=Coupe

Whoever sold you that car I'd ask them why the smaller tires (and I'd guess it was cheaper all around).

As to your question, there are weekly threads on this topic, but the quick answer is 30lbs. cold as said by many above. And, if you want to play around a bit with finding what works best for you and your area, you can do the first two paras of dmk's post above.

Edit: When you have the time, here's an interesting thread on tires and tire pressures. Some of the other folks commenting in this thread have tremendous experience and knowledge.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-settings.html

Boomer111

Dealers and tire store's are mandated by Feds to air up all tires for fuel savings and 35 psi seems to be the number regardless of what the mfg. might state on the door.

I have experimented some and 30 cold seems to give even tire wear across the tread, as long as the alignment is correct.

Mad*Max

30 lbs. cold

Roblaura

Thanks for the recommendations. FYI - the tires are filled with Nitrogen. Unless I hear that this makes some sort of difference, I will reduce the pressure to 30 psi cold.

For those of you who questioned the tire sizes, the tires on the car were the originals (vehicle has 12K miles) from the factory. I replaced the tires with the same size that came on it.

Rob

RocketDawg

I think that must be the case. Every time I take my Subaru Forester in for service the dealer airs up to 35 all the way around, even though the door plate says something entirely different. In fact, it's different for front and rear.

On my Vette, the tire store always asks what I want and they approximately put that in. I adjust it afterward with a little more precision.

AORoads

Rob, and to the best of my knowledge, there are a couple of inconsistencies with either what you wrote, or what is on the car. I am not trying to be argumentative---it's not my car. But, you said it is a:

2013 Grand Sport (not a base model, not a Z06)
Front tire size: 245/40ZR18
Rear tire size: 245/35ZR19

That is not listed on TireRack.com

That is also not listed on CorvetteActionCenter.com which quotes the announcement of/for that model. Here are their words:

"...The wheels are wrapped in large 275/35ZR18 tires in Front and 325/30ZR19 tires in the Rear."

See third paragraph about half way down under "Grand Sport Details"

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...ighlights.html

As a point of information, there is no '13 Corvette with the same first numbers, the Section Width of 245 for the front and rear tires. And, from the factory the GS or Z06 came with the same size front tires: 275/35R18.

If you disagree, that's fine with me--as I said, it's your car. If I'm wrong I feel certain someone will correct me.

raspyc6

I have seen at least 2 posts here that do not have accurate rear tire sizes listed.

a base C6 uses 245/40-18 front and 275/35-19 rear...no, 285

2013 Grand Sport (not a base model, not a Z06)
Front tire size: 245/40ZR18
Rear tire size: 245/35ZR19...that sure would look skinny on a Grand sport if 245 width

duckvett

Roblaura -
Please remember we are just trying to help, don't kill the messenger.

Would you please provide the VIN # of the Corvette you bought? My fear is that you bought a base model that had been "upgraded" with wider fenders and front bumper and sold as a Grand Sport.

Thanks.

dmk0210

Nitrogen will make no difference at all on a street car. It's pretty much a waste of time and money. just use air unless you are a competitive racer.

dmk0210

Higher pressure is safer than lower, at least regarding the risk of catastrophic tire failure from the tire overheating (which is why your Corvette owner's manual recommends using very high tire pressures for very high speeds).

After a bunch of idiots with low tire pressure rolled their SUVs and sued everyone in sight, the Feds and installers practice a little CYA and err to the side of caution.

For those of us who actually own a tire pressure gauge and will use it periodically, the OEM recommendation is better all around.

.

69 L46 4 Speed

OP: The original tire sizes for a C6 GS are P275/35ZR18 and P325/30ZR19. The original wheel sizes are 18x9.5 Front and 19x12 Rear.

There is a possibility that a previous owner dinked around and put narrower wheels on the car or you were sold a base model made to look like a GS.

jaredtxrx

Yes, correct, I stated incorrectly and fixed my post.
285/35-19 rear on the base.

I would be VERY surprised if a normal tire shop would even try to mount a 245 on a 12-inch wheel.

Would like to see pictures of this car.