In 12 years and almost 150,000 miles of C6 ownership, I've seen it all when it comes to tires with the possible exception of color matching. Since Red is my daily driver, I needed a cold weather tire to get through the winter months. In 2007 the only available winter tire was the Pirelli Sottozero, a non-runflat. So I collected all the well known bits: plug kit, stripped down Harley-Davidson 12V air pump, etc. I had driven just three weeks on those Sottozeros when, on my way to a friend's house to watch the NFC and AFC championship games, I made a left hand turn at a major arterial intersection and dropped the brand new right rear into a huge water-filled pothole. Red felt like it hit an IED. The pothole tore a three-inch gash in the sidewall. The TPMS couldn't scream fast enough. All the air had escaped within 100 feet. Fortunately I was able to turn off the arterial into an apartment parking lot. Equally fortunately, the storage locker where I had my summer wheels+tires and a floor jack was only five blocks away. I called my friend who sent his wife with a pickup truck to haul the jack and summer right rear from the storage locker. It was cold and windy, but I was able to remove and replace that dead non-runflat in a reasonably safe place. With no road hazard warranty, the replacement cost me $500. I ran those Sottozeros for six winters, all the while terrified of getting a puncture in some pitch black god-forsaken place with narrow shoulders and semis whizzing past.

Enter the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ runflat, released on Halloween three years ago. I believe I grabbed the first four shipped from TireRack in Indiana. Three days after they were mounted we had a major ice storm in StL. I remember crawling with white knucles up I-55 making 29 mph in 29-degree freezing rain. Traction control was pulling 100% duty cycle on that commute home.

Those Michelin A/S runflats proved their worth many more times since then. My girlfriend seems to be a magnet for picking up screws and nails wherever she wanders. I've had to have three slow-to-medium rate leaks repaired this winter alone. And this evening as I pulled off the Michelins and mounted the summer Firestones, I spotted a sidewall rupture in the left front that's going to have me on the phone tomorrow with TireRack about their road hazard warranty.

All this chit chat is lead-in to a serious question: What about my original patching kit in the rear cubby? It's still there. Unopened. Never used. Thank god. If I wasn't before, I'm now a confirmed believer in runflat tires.

 

Has anyone actually plugged a vette flat tire with it ON the car? I have plugged many tires on my work trucks and that was not an easy task. Maybe I have the wrong plug kit, but no way could i plug a flat vette tire with the car inches off the ground and a hard *** tire to poke in to.

I keep a regular scissor jack, mounted so it won't fly in a crash cause the only way I would be able to plug a vette tire is off the car and some air in it to fluff it up a bit.

 

The glue in your kit is long since dried up...
Even when I had non-run-flats I always had plenty of warning and could drive the car to the tire shop. If the day ever comes that I have some sort of blowout along the road, I'll whip out a credit card and wait the appropriate time for someone to show up. If past history is any indicator, this will never take place.

 

Exactly. Blowout? You’re screwed anyway.
Slow leak? Pump it up and drive till it’s low and fill again until u get to a tire shop.

 

Yes....I found the leak and plugged it and it was drivers side rear and never jacked the car up. It was basically in the center of the tread on driver rear......Took about five minutes...I drove it for 5k after with no issues.

 

Side question - not trying to hijack but now I'm reading threads on this topic and I'm seeing that C6's came with some sort of GM patch kit when new? I'm guessing they expired also from what I read - since I picked up a '12 last fall & there's nothing there.

If they did, what was included in the kit?

 

None of my c6's had that...I had 07/11/12/13/15and another 12... I used the deluxe green slime kit...sans the slime...just the plug kit.

 

Thanks - could be that a few dealers put together a "kit" and upped the price by 500%.

 

I like that but dang they are proud of it. Googled around for 15 minutes, couldn't find a better deal.

 

Second screw in second drive this year
It figures. it's a run flat. didn't loose any air.

 

This is in my trunk. C4 jack and all the necessary tools to plug a tire.

 

bump for further thoughts

 

still wanting thoughts/ideas

 

Portable tire inflator.
Socket for lug nuts, socket for jack, and ratchet for both.
Tire plug kit consisting of plug kit, vice grips, pliers.
Low Profile Billet Aluminum jack.

I have everything except the jack, ratchet, and sockets.

My plug kit and tools all fit in a compact orange plastic waterproof container.

My tire inflator is very compact also.

I think I will be able to fit everything in the driver side storage compartment in the back. I am going to get a Harbor Freight 1/2 inch collapsible ratchet it is should also fit.