rothchilds

I picked up my car in Jan 2015, did museum delivery, and drive home to california. Saw snow, freezing temps, wind, rain. Magically the tires did not fall off the wheels or crack in a million pieces. You drive with caution and care in those conditions.

When my stocks wore out, switched to Bridgestone sport summer only non runflat tire. Absolute garbage compared to the Michelin. Slides in the corners, breaks traction easily.

I don't drive it like I stole it every time I get in it, but I want to have the confidence that when I want to I can. Going back to the stock Michelin in about 2 months and am counting the days. The car needs the absolute best tire to take advantage of it's capabilities, I won't settle for less anymore

Foosh

Don't hold your breath. I do "drive it like I stole" it, so to speak.

After my extensive experience with both, I'll fess up and admit that the car handles far better on the AS3+ more days out of the year than on the OEM PSS. The Mid-Atlantic is not exactly frozen tundra country either. The AS3+ is better any time the pavement temps are below 80ºF.

It find it intensely amusing to read posts from so many people who post that the OEM summer tires are just fine, you just have to be very careful when it gets cool. On the AS3+ you can keep driving in November like you did in July.

However, the really impressive part is that even in July, the AS3+ offers grip beyond the capabilities of 99% of C7 owners. Folks who say otherwise, simply have no clue what they're talking about having never tested a set.

TEXHAWK0

I agree GM should offer AS tires for people that live where they actually have winter.. I would consider ordering them even in Texas just so on the few weeks a year we have freezing temperatures, I would not have to worry about ruining my tires. They don't need to be snow tire tread, just tires that will not get damaged if driven in cold temperatures.
I think most people understand there is a trade off for everything.
I have a friend that bought an extra set of wheels and tires and had the dealer swap them out before he even took delivery. Z06 tires don't do well even on wet pavement and would be worse than AS tires when cold.


Might even last longer than 20,000 miles.

cowboy casey

UHP tires were installed in the first week of owning mine... Just to many fluctuation in temps here in OK to safely drive year around, even in the summer during or after a storm goes through the temps can drop below 50 degrees...

Would I take these tires to the track... NO... if we were all very honest with ourselves I bet only 5 out of 100 ever take our cars to a track... and running around town these tires will never see the type of duty they would at the track.

It would make more sense for GM to install UHP tires on every Corvette and have a checkbox for those 5% of people going to the track Wouldn't it be great to be able to pick exactly the wheel and tire combo you wanted at the dealer....

She still has paper tags

Foosh

Tex, it's really not about what you say above (highlighted in bold). It's about the rubber compound in max performance summer tires, which turns rock hard in temps below 50ºF. In order for summer tires to stay grippy, they need a lot of heat to keep the compound soft. In really hot temps (100º+ pavement temps) the PSS is much softer than UHP AS tires, and that's why they wear out sooner, and also why the grip a bit better, but only when REALLY hot. The two types of tires are essentially equal until you heat the PSS to over 100º.

In contrast, UHP all-season tires have a compound that stays softer much longer in cooler temps, but is still sticky when hot. I've had the opportunity to test each back to back several times now, and the AS3+ still provides considerable grip as low as 15ºF in my tests.

When I swap back and forth between seasons, I always do a number of back-to-back tests over a 10-mile loop. At 50-70º, you can go WOT from a standing start, and the OEM PSS will break lose easily in 2-3 gears. I can do the same thing at those temps in the AS3+, and they'll bite and grip much more quickly in 1st.

I think the irony of this discussion is that for the majority of owners, they're suffering more performance degradation by running summer max performance tires than they would be by going to a UHP all-season. They're having to unnecessarily "baby" their cars much more often than they would otherwise.

Drive-C7

Before my 2014 Z51 arrived, like you, I bought a second set of Z51 rims and AS tires for the clean, cold roads in Virginia. I knew what I was buying because I researched the car before I bought it. I had new AS tires and rims before my car arrived. I find it easy to swap out rims/tires twice a year since I can do it myself.
I have to disagree about your statement that summer tires are only better above 80 degrees. That is not my experience after almost four years of driving the car. I would say they are still superior to AS until you get below 60 degrees. I notice a huge difference in performance and I am in the mountains near West Virginia going around curves all the time and in all temperatures. I usually put my AS on in late Oct. and take them off in March.

Foosh

You didn't say what AS tire your purchased. The Michelin AS3+ was not available in 2014. There are huge performance differences between various types of all-season tires. When the AS3+ debuted and was tested, the consensus was they essentially provided max summer tire performance, and maintained that performance when temps cooled down.

I'd love to be able to show you what happens to your OEM PSS at 60º with me on the AS3+ in mine, head-to-head. I've also now run multiple back-to-back tests on the same day at the same temp. If you don't test that way, memories fade, and perceptions are totally subjective.

phileaglesfan

You need to keep road temps up for summer only tires to be effective. All season tires are a compromise but generally allow you to go in all tire temp conditions. Whether they have grip or not depends on the tread.

There are A/S tires available for the Stingray and Z51. Most Corvette owners as much as they like to talk BS will never see the top 10% limits of their car. I doubt you'll see an A/S tire on a car with 650hp. There is already very low demand for the GS/Z06s rear tire size. If you want a C7 that is best for traveling with the max performance then Z51 is probably the best way to go.

Foosh

You see that's the thing. For the majority of the US, max performance summer tires are an even bigger compromise.

cowboy casey

650HP and tire width/size is the wrong way to look at this, Like @foosh says, temp's are what matters... Unless the tire is at or near 100 degrees they are not working for you, they are a degrade....

Lets put this into a comparison everyone understands...

Fuel:

PSS stock tires = 93 octane, if you run any other fuel grade your ECU will cut performance and not give you 650hp

UHP tires = 89 to 93 octane, any fuel between those will give you 650HP

Give me UHP every time....

boxster99t

Except that comment is exactly backwards--all season tires are the old way. This may be a relatively new concept for Corvette owners (and I own both Corvettes and Porsches so I'm not bashing), but summer and winter tires on performance cars is the no-compromise tire choice and one Porsche and others have been doing for many years.

boxster99t

Me too, Museum delivery in winter except it was February 5, 2015 and morning temperatures in BG were in the high 20's. And I drove home to Texas--I had no bad weather and it was cold until I got to Arkansas.

jimmyb

Well, I've extensively driven a friend's base C7 with Michelin A/S 3 runflats on it and the tire is very impressive, for an all-season tire. In cold rain (40 degrees) they are clearly better than PSS's. The A/S also ride better with less tread noise. In spring/summer dry or wet, they (A/S) are clearly inferior, I noticed a lot of active handling/traction control intervention when PSS's would not trigger AH/TC at all. To suggest that an all season tire (with a 500 tread wear rating) can come close to the Pilot Super Sport in hot/dry performance is just nonsense.

To Foosh:
I am glad you like the tires but to say "they are essentially equal" is untrue. It is just NOT possible for a tire with a 500 tread wear rating to be equal to a tire with a 300 tread wear rating from a handling standpoint. Obviously, the A/S is much harder rubber, whether it's hot or cold.

jimmyb

"Grip" depends on tire compound, not tread. If "tread" was the determining factor, then race tires would have "tread" rather than being slicks. Look at the tread pattern difference between a Michelin A/S 3 and Pilot Super Sport.

Foosh

I thought everyone knew by now that treadwear ratings are essentially meaningless. But, the difference in the rating is that summer tires are tested under summer conditions, which is when they were intended to be used, so yes, if you test a summer max performance tire and a UHP AS when it's 100º, the summer tire will be softer, than the UHP AS.

However, you are dead wrong about the temp influence on summer vs. AS tires. Near or below freezing, summer tires are hard as rocks, whereas a UHP AS will be considerably softer with considerably more grip. Check out the handling on your OEM tires when it's cold and report back. The differences are dramatic even below 60º with a UHP all season providing more grip because the summer tire compound is hardening up and no longer as sticky as at 100º.


Summer max performance tires are only going to demonstrate their supremacy under max performance driving conditions like on a race track. 99% of owners will never heat them up enough or drive them hard enough to take advantage of what they are good at.

Summer tires are put on sports cars for purely marketing reasons, because every other manufacturer does it. Wannabe race drivers who buy these cars would complain otherwise as to why Porsche does it, but Corvette does not.

Chemdawg99

If I wasn't so inclined to just put my car away in the winter, I'd just put all-season tires on my Stingray and call it a day and I might still do that.

Thinking about Bridgestone Potenza tires or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S ZPs. The latter more so than the former.

Drive-C7

I do not know where you get you information. I am not trying to argue but you are wrong. I just confirmed with Tire Rack I bought my 4 tires which are Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 285/30ZR20 99Y and Pilot Sport A/S 3 245/35ZR19 99Y on December 3, 2013 and my car arrived Jan. 2014. All I am trying to say is my original equipment Summer Tires outperform my high quality AS up until 60 degrees. I have real world experience on mountain roads. You have your opinion and I have mine.

Lonegun

No one makes the "correct sized" all season tire for my 2017 Grand Sport? The only alternative is the "too skinny" ones? Nothing run flat?

Foosh

Sorry friend, it is you who are mistaken, you're talking about an older tire, whereas I have been talking about the new version which has replaced it.

That tire is the AS3+(Michelin PS AS3+). The new tire is the one which has been reviewed as nearly equal to summer tires in warm conditions. It debuted in Z51 sizes in Fall 2016 and is a very different design including tread pattern. It's construction is very close to the PSS.

My tests show that to be the case, since I have both sets, and have evaluated them back to back 3 times at various temps on the same route driven the same way.

Bill Dearborn

The summer tires will work for three seasons of the year in Northern Climes. Are they as sticky at 30 degrees as they are at 100? NO! However, a good driver will not have an issue driving them in 20 or 30 degree weather on dry or wet roads. Cup2 tires can't be driven in 22 degree and lower temps due to tire damage issues but the PSS ZP can be driven if you don't slam the throttle down. All Seasons will work for the same three seasons but you are more limited on what you can do with the throttle in the Summer. If you plan on driving in the winter both the Summer and the All Seasons need to be ditched when encountering snow, ice, slush on a regular basis as well as temps below 10 degrees.

Living in Charlotte now I will be driving my Z06 with PSS ZP tires year round except if it snows (then I don't drive due to the crazies on the road who don't know how to handle a slick road and get stuck in a puddle of spit). Charlotte sees winter temps into the teens and sometimes into the single digits and none of that will worry me with these tires.

Bill