DoTheyMakeOtherCars?

Will the tires on the Z51 get more miles than the tires did on the C6 Z51?

MikeyTX

With the C7 riding on Michelin tires across the board, I would say yes. However, if peeps still continue to drive w/o having their alignment checked soon after delivery, all bets are off !

c5vette73

Even if they last longer than C6's tires, that will still be horrible tread life.

C7 4 Me

Is that a best practices tip? Hadn't ever thought of that.

michaelinmech

In the "7 things you don't know about the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray" article recently posted, one of the 7 was the tires. Therein it states the following:

"Ask Jim Mero what the best part of a Z51 Stingray is and he says it's the tires. According to Michelin North America's Lee Willard, lead development engineer for the new Corvette tire, the Pilot Super Sport ZP is a hybrid tire that utilizes technologies from both the Pilot Super Sport line of ultrahigh-performance tires and the Pilot Sport Cup DOT race tire currently optional on C6 Corvettes.

Says Mero: "The tire has high limits but also lots of latitude." And by latitude Mero means the tire (at freezing or below air temps) only needs one lap to reach its full ability on a dry track. And thanks to dual compounds and asymmetric sidewalls, it outperforms the outgoing standard-fitment tire on the Corvette in every area, including wear."

DoTheyMakeOtherCars?

May have messed up then. I didn't buy the Z51 C6 because I didn't want to buy new tires every 7000 miles. I got 20k plus from my base c6 tires. Oh well, pretty sure I will still love my base Stingray :-)

robvuk

No doubt.

Sin City

The great irony of sports car owners.

They want outstanding handling and cornering but they don't understand why tread life suffers.

I guess they never passed high school physics.

JustinStrife

Not me. I knew what I was getting when I swapped to Nitto 555rII's. They lasted 16 months and about 4k miles in the rear.

JerriVette

Usually its as stated a compromise in every tire....performance vs wear....

I imagine that balance will continue.

Part of the fun I guess and for those that complain....other brands will likely be available.

On my c6 z51 I went to a Hankook evo12 tire and the ride and handling improved drama calmly. Not saying that will be the case with replacing the michelins as I expect them to be an amazing tire...

For those concerned with down the road costs......the Hankook evos12.s were rated as near Michelin pilot or PS2 performance equals...( I don't remember which by car and driver) and they have for the last two sets cost me 750 dollars for all 4 tires delivered by discount tire direct.

As time goes in...I am sure inexpensive non run flat performance tires will be available for the z51 c7 although the reviews for how excellent the Michelin tire is on the c7 z51 .....maybe there will no desire to pay less and switch to another brand....

I think the GOODYEARS were compromised not by Goodyear but rather the constraints and guidelines had at that time imposed on the tire by GM ....

I'm sure the next generation GOODYEARS will be superior to the michelins as they battle it out for supremacy...(and no gm directive leaning on Goodyear)

CRABBYJ

After about a year I noticed unusual wear on my right rear tire of my bought new Z51 '05 C6 Coupe. Dealer 4 wheel alignment showed a bad alignment right rear only. I never abused the C6 or hit any bad potholes, etc.

With that I plan to negotiate a complete 4 wheel alignment check of my new C7 as part of the PDI. I suggest others should heed Mikey's advice.

JerriVette

Sounds like Part of the transport tie down ..

Gearhead Jim

The C5 and C6 would settle a noticeable amount over the first few hundred miles and alignment could change. GM would do a warranty alignment on those cars if the miles were between something like 500 to 5000. Not exact, but you get the idea. All three of our new C5/C6 Corvettes got a warranty alignment, and all three of them had at least one parameter that was outside of even the mile-wide GM tolerances.

A couple of years ago, GM was bragging about all the money they spent making changes in production/alignment methods, to get proper alignment from the factory. Ask the owners of some GS's with 10k miles how their tires are wearing...

So just wait until your C7 has some miles, then take it to the dealer and say it wanders at high speeds, or something like that. You shouldn't need to lie to get the car set properly, but that's the way they play the game.

ZL-1

Good advice. GM warranty won't cover an alignment during PDI or at low mileage because the suspension components need to break in and settle. (If a customer demanded an alignment during PDI the dealer would have to pay for it). In the case of a customer complaint after 1000 miles GM will pay for an alignment. Not sure of the upper mileage limit though.

Cruiter

Having retired from the car business several years ago, I do know one of the worst things for alignment factors and shocks (other than pot holes and speed breakers) happens before the customer even gets to see the car. During the various phases of transport, the cars are tied down to the stops and in some cases left that way for days or longer as the train/transport bounces around. Shop used to say that was the equivalent of 50,000 miles of 'normal' wear. A case 'could' be made for at least checking the alignment during PDI. I'm hoping that museum delivery will eliminate that. Maybe some that have picked theirs up there can chime in on that aspect as far as alignment issues.

I went to the 'Tire Rack' and checked the specs, the tires have a '222' tread wear rating. On a larger car that isn't real good for long wear. The C7 isn't that heavy tho. But ....... I can't visualize too many 'school bus' starts and stops so it stands to reason that if you drive the car for what it is, 20K on the rear tires anyway might be the limit for most. Being a realist, I'm just trying to convince myself of what to expect and that's about it.

Kappa

In my experience, the Corvette wears tires very well. I ran a set of Nitto NT05's out to 15K miles on my C5 and they were not easy miles by a long shot.

There are a lot of much lower powered sportscars(ie S2000) out there that are lucky to see 10,000 on performance tires and 7500 is normal.