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Yeah, I read a lot of raves about the Grand Sport, but I'm not sure I'm not happier I have the Z51 Coupe, it's a very sweet all weather fighter. Hey, any C7 beats just about anything this side of a $120K+ 911 or a Ferrari.
He gets it....its just a car
Not sure why vette owners make a big deal about rain? It gets wet when washed, wont hurt it. Maybe they still leak outta the factory?
Weather mode etc is fine to active the nannies sooner. I use it all the time when it’s 45 or below. Got stuck in a very rain storm with my C7 Z51. Wipers could not keep up. When I finally got back to our development, thought I would’t go on the road where water flows intonour Lake flows as it always floods. However did not realize there was a dip on the alternate road that caused a deep long section of water. Recall turning around on the narrow road where I could not see the edges! Finally went back and forth on the roads that cross the one main circular perimeter road. Made it home but never again in very heavy rain. If there is a prospect of heavy rain I take the wife’s SUV.
With the tires about half worn car hydroplaned slightly on the Interstate even with those narrower front tires than the Grand Sport. I recall in that section could see another car was doing the same. Have not risked the Grand a Sport in heavy rain. Heck it’s front tires are the same width as the Z51 rears.
Remember committing to take my Street Rod to a car show being held in conjunction with a “Welding Contest” arranged by the local Tech College. Since I am a chair of the volenter advisory board had no choice, it was raining only lightly. However had to go up a moderaly steep bridge over the Interstate. Recall those 16.5 section width rear tires were spinning until I slowed down to ~20 mph!
Wide tires hydroplane and nannies are not much help! The street rod only has posi but no help on that bridge! One of the few times I used it’s wipers!
One look at the tread between base and GS/Z06 is PSS and Cup2 tires, and you can tell:
It's easy to see how differently they will behave in the wet. It's not just about tire width. Tread depth and channelling (or lack thereof) make a huge difference.
Yeah, and that's with the OEM summer tires, the car will be better still when I replace them eventually with those Michelin All Weather sneakers everybody raves about here.
The Tread pattern channels water to the outside of the tire. F1's grooved rain tires are designed for wet conditions. The grooves in their surface can clear 60 liters (16 gallons) of water per second at full speed.You can ask Sebastian Vettel how slicks handle even a small amount of water as happed to him at last week’s German Grand Prix when he lead from the start and very close to the end slide off the road in a wet spot into a barrier for a DNF!
You can see why my street rod did so poorly in a light rain. It has no water channels to the outside! Even the wife's high performance run flats have deeper and more water channels than my Grand Sport.
He gets it....its just a car
Not sure why vette owners make a big deal about rain? It gets wet when washed, wont hurt it. Maybe they still leak outta the factory?
It's quite simple, as some owners just enjoy keeping their C7s pristine (outside, inside, under carriage and under hood) and driving in the rain negatively impacts this
in requiring lots of time cleaning the hard to get areas, under carriage for example. I don't see anything wrong with this, even though the drive it every day in any
condition owners seem to believe there is.
I believe there's no wrong way to enjoy your C7, just different ways.
Last edited by Kevin A Jones; Jul 28, 2018 at 11:14 AM.
After 30" of rain and counting since May 1, I am incredibly impressed with the C7 and the PSS in the rain, even in the types of very heavy T-storm downpours we've had frequently this summer.
After 30" of rain and counting since May 1, I am incredibly impressed with the C7 and the PSS in the rain, even in the types of very heavy T-storm downpours we've had frequently this summer.
I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come down for a while yet.
I commute on Michelin AS3+ tires. We don't get snow here, and there is no amount of rain that makes me need to take another car. Car handles perfectly in the rain.
That's a great question Joe. It depends on which part of the 50 mile commute we're talking about and when I encountered rain I'm not being a smart *** asking this ( I really don't know ), what speeds should I be aiming for, and what should I look for to make a valid observation? I guess I'm thinking along the lines of cutting through the water and how that feels, compared to pushing through the water and how that feels.
I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come down for a while yet.
LMAO . . . between last Saturday (7/21) and this Saturday (7/28/18), I recorded 19.25" of rain in my home rain gauge. Much of the DC metro region was under flash flood warnings (not watches) all week. At one point last weekend, I recorded 3.5" of rain in 1 hour. During 3 commutes last week, there was standing water everywhere and visibility was down to near zero. July 2018 is already the wettest month in this region's recorded weather history. I'd call that "heavy."
I've lived through the rainfall associated with a dozen or more hurricanes/tropical storms, and I've never in my life seen this much rain in such a short period of time.
^^^
Heck, that is more than we got in 2016 from Matthew! It took out our Dam! Just finished the rebuild this week. SCDHEC said we could close the valve on the bottom of the old raiser and start filing the Lake.
Not even sure the new 9 foot diameter standpipe overflow that flows into a 7 foot diameter x 90 foot long pipe can handle 19 inches in a short time. It’s designed to handle the max 100 year rain, but not sure it’s that much.
I have a 2017 Z51 Coupe. I'm out in the rain today driving quite a bit, but there car in Weather mode, and I was amazed how stable and sure footed the car was on slick roads, even driving somewhat aggressively in corners. The car is just amazing, by FAR the best driving car from a pure handling standpoint in all conditions (except icy/winter roads) I have ever driven. even after 18 months and 12K miles the pure handling goodness of this car never fails to amaze.
Obviously didn't attend the Spring Mountain Corvette Owner's school. They put you on a soaked skid pad to run a figure 8 course while trying to spin the car when set in Weather Mode. You have to work hard to spin it. I purchased my Z06/Z07 with Cup2 tires and drove it over 165 miles home in a downpour. Just decided to try Weather Mode and it worked like a Champ. Sixty Five to Seventy Five Mph on Interstates with no slipping/sliding.
I have a 2017 Z51 Coupe. I'm out in the rain today driving quite a bit, but there car in Weather mode, and I was amazed how stable and sure footed the car was on slick roads, even driving somewhat aggressively in corners. The car is just amazing, by FAR the best driving car from a pure handling standpoint in all conditions (except icy/winter roads) I have ever driven. even after 18 months and 12K miles the pure handling goodness of this car never fails to amaze.
You should try it in the ice and snow, isn't bad there either. It's actually kinda fun with the right shoes
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
Weather mode etc is fine to active the nannies sooner. I use it all the time when it’s 45 or below. Got stuck in a very rain storm with my C7 Z51. Wipers could not keep up. When I finally got back to our development, thought I would’t go on the road where water flows intonour Lake flows as it always floods. However did not realize there was a dip on the alternate road that caused a deep long section of water. Recall turning around on the narrow road where I could not see the edges! Finally went back and forth on the roads that cross the one main circular perimeter road. Made it home but never again in very heavy rain. If there is a prospect of heavy rain I take the wife’s SUV.
