I have 5K miles on my Z51. The rears measure about 4/32, but cord is showing in several places. The fronts indicate a bit more, about 5/32. I have found these tires to be great in dry conditions, very sticky. And it appears the compound is quite soft, if my experience is any indication. This wear is with no track use, and no burnouts. I will confess to a good bit of aggressive country road driving, but nothing crazy. I had an alignment done last week, but nothing was off that would result in accelerated wear. I usually keep the pressures at about 30 at normal operating temperature. During aggressive driving, around 32/33.

I am planning on replacing the wheels with all 18" and going with the Michelin PS2. But, I have a track event next month, and ordered a set of BFG KDW-2's, hoping they will be adequate until I can get the wheel and tire issue resolved. Has anyone else had similar experience with the OE Goodyear Supercar tire?

 

And the problem is further compounded when you drive more enthusiastically

 

For that reason I went with F55

 

and the roads here are the worst the F-55 will plant your suspension to the ground. like adding another safety feature that is always working and looking out for you....

 

I'm hoping to get a year out of the Z-51 OEM tires. I’m not aggressive usually but get a little froggy every once in a while. Most of my driving is interstate. Should get 30k + miles. After that I’ll probably go to 220 tread wear stickys, but NON-Run Flats. Got a year to figure it out. 4,500 mi today & no sign of wear.

 

5K miles????? I haven't heard anything about the Z51's going away that quickly -something's

 

He just drives it like he stole it.

 

I'm considering a C6 over a 03 Z06 or 405 ZR-1. Are you saying you only got 5,000 miles out of your OEM tires with normal to moderate use? That’s enough to push me away from the C6.

 

Well, I'm saying I will only get 5K miles from them, but I don't believe I claimed normal use. Of the 5K, maybe as much as 1K was very aggressive country-road driving. In terms of mileage, that would equal five or six track weekends, more than I would expect to get from any soft compound tire. But, I can't compare the two equally, because even the most aggressive road driving is not going to stress the tires as much as the track. So, it's hard to say. The responses are pretty much as I expected. I have driven the car hard (but not abused), and the tires have paid the price. This is my first Corvette (M3 before), and my perception is that, as a percentage, not as many folks drive these cars as aggressively as the M3 crowd; seems a shame.

But, as for your decision, I hope you will not let my tire wear experience sway your choice. I expect I would have burned up the C5 ZO6 tires just as quickly. I bought the car fully expecting tires and brakes to be quickly consumed. And, at this point, I will be surprised if the rotors last beyond the first track weekend. But, as Mr. Taylor said, he has virtually the same miles, with little sign of wear, and I expect he is enjoying his car as much as I (naah, not really). I can't speak for others, but I can drive for long tire wear, or I can drive for fun, but I just can't do both.

 

No track or burnouts led me to think of it as normal/aggressive use. I noticed Taylor’s plug on wear, but concerned about the contrasting results. I was considering a secondary set of 18” wheels for competition as well. What widths do you plan to go with?

 

If I were doing it today, and could find the wheels with correct offset, I would use 18x9.5 front with 265/35 tires, and 18x10.5 rear with 295/35. These are the OE ZO6 tire widths with the front adjusted from 40 to 35 profile to offset the one inch larger wheel diameter, which will maintain about the same ratio of front/rear O.D. (hoping to avoid any traction control issues).

 

I checked mine at 1250 miles. They all had 8/32's on them (actually, just a nats *** over that). I can assure you my rear tires are not treated very well, either. And they had six runs down the drag strip before that. So I think mine will last quite a bit longer than yours seem to be.

 

I hope you're right. But, it seems the wear on mine was not exactly linear, but more rapid after the first 2K miles or so. I also remember that, somewhere along the line they began sounding differently in turns, actually, little sound at all. Before, they would offer condiderable sound that helped in communicating grip. Maybe a certain tread depth is required to transmit some noise. Anyway, good luck with yours.
Ed

 

Where did the cord start showing?

 

Just inboard of the center of the tread. The wear is down to the wear bars in a couple of places in that area. I am begining to think I might have been running a bit too much pressure which, along with the negative camber, might cause premature wear in that area. But the camber was only -0.4, which, in my opinion, is probably not enough.

 

Try a different brand or type not as soft compound if you want it to last and slow down on the enthusiastic driving.. ...

 

There's nothing wrong with the F55, but if you want the larger brakes, lower gearing on the manual transmission, suspension upgrades and the coolers, you just can't get that without going for the Z51 package. Personally, I'd rather have to replace the tires prematurely than give up my Z51 package.

 

Besides burn outs and bad alignment (mine Z51 had to be realigned with only 8 miles on it-from the factory the steering wheel was not centered and pulled to the left with easy fish tailing!) lots of cornering will wear tires out real fast. While higher speeds will cause faster cornering wear, more curves equal more wear, bottom line. Road and Track had a small piece on this effect last year, based on a reader's question of why his tires were wearing so fast just driving to work-the road the reader was driving had lots of curves (lucky dog!)

 

I have 7300 miles or so on my C6 Z51. I've done about 10 burnouts (not smoke bellowing, but I spun the tires in 1st and 2nd and laid down rubber), and I drive it enthusiastly from time to time (at least once a day). To make a long story short, I've DRIVEN the car. I haven't noticed any excessive tire wear yet, especially cords showing. I'll take a closer look this evening and let you guys know how they look after intense examination.

 

Based on responses, I probably need to clarify my original post just a bit. I am not complaining about the tires, just curious if others have seen similar wear under similar use. So, let me be clear, I have driven the car very, very aggressively, on roads that would compare to high-third-gear/fourth gear esses on a track, along with slower, tighter turns. And the road surface is not the smoothest in places. So, I would not necessarily expect any better tire life, but would have been pleasantly surprised had it occured. I can honestly say I have never driven any car as many "sporting" miles in three months. And, it has been perfect, no complaints. With good tires and a few minor suspension tweaks, I think it will be awesome for track schools.