Just relax it will all be good and work out.

 

4 wheel alignment???

 

Thanks for the information. I have had the Vette in the garage accept for yesterday. So it sounds like the cold weather and my experience with the car.

 

It usually is in the garage. I had to take out yesterday which is unusual.

I am very safe with the car, thanks for your input.

 

I have 3800 miles on the C6 and drove it last week with 15-20 degree temps, no problems with handling. Just comes down to how easy you drive the car. I tried a few things right after break-in, learned really quick that just hammering the gas in 1st or 2nd at low speed with sub 50 degree weather with make the rear break loose extremely easy. Once I got the "feel" or the car I'm very confident about driving it in the cold, just can't push it the way you can in summer.

BTW the road noise is very pronounced with the F1 supercar runflats, when you need new tires you may want to consider something other then a runflat. Non runflats are quieter and last longer, but you'll need a compressor and plug kit in case of a flat.

 

First have the tires re-checked to make sure they are balanced, second lower them to 30 psi. also you may want to get the alignment checked, if the alignment is off it has an effect on the ride and handling on the Z51 and Z06's cars, good luck

 

My Z51 just turned 7000 miles and is a daily driver. I've driven it in temps as cold as 4 degrees. It's 10 right now and I have some errands to run and I'll take the Vette out for it's Sunday run.

First the F1 SC tires are very sensitive to air temps and pressures. I try and keep them right at 30 PSI (stone cold) but sometimes they will fall to 29/28 or even 27 depending on temps. They will warm up to over 30 PSI within a few miles.

Second I respect the car and road condistions. I won't "man handle the car" in these temps/condistions. I drive as if there was a egg under my foot and short shift. I'll let the LS2's torque pull me around instead of the gears.

And lastly I knew the C6 with Z51 was going to be some what finicky in the cold as I had previously owned a C5 Z06 so I knew cold weather driving was going require an easier driving style.

Good luck

Tom

 

Wheel hop? I don't have any I changed to KDW 2's, which have more grip than the run flats. You need to accelerate smoothly, not mashing the peddle to the floor. I have 4.10's and have no issues with all that extra torque. Smooth is the name of the game.

 

z51-not good cold weather traction.Will have wheelhop when cold.That stuff goes away when they heat up.As for noise,turn up the radio.

 

You raise a good point I had forgot about. The stock tires are actually scary in wet wheather. I too, had not experienced anything like that before.

If you have a bunch of miles on those tires, getting rid of them may help. I went with KDW's. AS for the ride, I believe it needs to be stiffer, If I had money to burn, I would replace the shocks. Currently, I'm just about 400RWHP 400 RWTQ.

 

Your setup and miles is just like mine. Although it's 60 or 70 degrees here. The tires are now about 2 years old and have hardened.
Simply replacing the tires will dramatically reduce your tire and road noise.
Guaranteed.
The Firestone C5 runflats were reputed to be very quiet, and I went that route and found out for myself, and now FS is just out with C6 runflats, and that may be just the ticket for us!

Also my C5 had both tops and I never could hear any difference in driving noise between the two.

 

You won't believe how much a tire change can help address road noise. I switched from the EMT Supercar tires to Yokohama ADVAN Sport's and they are much better in the road noise department. Not long ago I switched out the Bridgestone's on our Mercedes CLK for Goodyear GS-D3's and the difference was incredible! Finally our CLK was the quiet ride it should have been.

In the traction area... cold weather plays a huge part in how well the tires will hook up. Nonetheless, more judicial application of the gas pedal will keep your C6 pointed straight and firmly planted to the road.

Speaking from experience, a supercharged C6 can spin up the tires anywhere/anytime, it can be a handful if not driven properly. But - driven with a softer application of the throttle, it can be as docile, compliant, and friendly as a soccer Mom mini-van.

 

What type of shocks?

 

I think you need to throw some long tubes and a cat back on that thing ---- You wont be worried about tire noise anymore

 

That's easy. If you can hear the tires you've still got the stock exhaust. GET RID OF IT!!!!

 

I think, jp, you've now gotten some very sound advice and observations from colder climate, Z51 drivers.

Somewhere around 10 years ago, they (the tire mfrs) came out with this "summer tire" designation. What it means is that the tire really is meant for max traction in very warm weather and usually at for high performatnce cars, too. As the air temp cools, the road surface cools and the tires take longer and longer to heat up to operating temp.

Think NASCAR, or any racing series. When those racing tires are cold such as when they first come out of the pits, they can spin out very easily. That is not a wrong analogy for what is considered "summer" street tires.

And in truth, it gets very hard to heat them up to full operating temp in cold, and colder weather. That's just a fact of tire life.

The ways to solve it have been detailed above.

Another way is to go to the highest level of "all season" tire that you can find for the Corvette. But this is a "compromise" tire in the sense that it will not give you all-out performance in "summer" conditons. Close, but not the same.

For most of us, in truth, we'll never achieve the difference in 100% performance of an all season vs. a summer-only tire. But it is a thought for you to keep in mind.

Otherwise, as the wise heads in this thread have said, just drive gently until you really, really know those tires are warmed up. And remember that in really cold weather, they may not ever warm up to full operating temperature, which means your wisdom will tell you to drive accordingly.

Good driving!