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Had my car up on hoist yesterday and noticed how the edges of the front tires were all chewed up. I am guessing this is from the chatter from the oversize tires when making a slow turn like in a parking lot. Not sure there is much a person can do about it. Hard to have the same tire work for street and track. 2017 GS
It's due to negative camber and nothing to do with the slow-speed "chatter" - all late model Corvettes use negative camber in their alignment. It will chew up the inside edge of the tires.
(if you're not after top performance, you can have your adjustment done to have camber adjusted more towards the neutral end of the range and that will help a BIT)
It's due to negative camber and nothing to do with the slow-speed "chatter" - all late model Corvettes use negative camber in their alignment. It will chew up the inside edge of the tires.
(if you're not after top performance, you can have your adjustment done to have camber adjusted more towards the neutral end of the range and that will help a BIT)
Negative camber will indeed wear out the inner edges of your tires. But in my experience, edge wear is more commonly produced by improper toe angle in the alignment.
Toe-out will produce inner edge wear, toe-in will wear the outer edges.
Of the four new Corvettes we've purchased over the years, every one of them had at least one wheel toe-out that exceeded even the generous GM tolerances.
If the only thing you are looking for is max tire life, then 0 toe and almost 0 negative camber is appropriate. You can get better handling and still very good tire life with a little bit of negative camber and just a very little toe-in for stability.
The GM alignment tolerances are so hugely wide that you can have an alignment that is still within the specs but pretty awful, either for handling or tire life or both.
Had my car up on hoist yesterday and noticed how the edges of the front tires were all chewed up. I am guessing this is from the chatter from the oversize tires when making a slow turn like in a parking lot. Not sure there is much a person can do about it. Hard to have the same tire work for street and track. 2017 GS
I use a simple solution to tire Chatter and have since I got my C7 Z51 in October 2103. When below ~50F I don't use a full luck on slow speed turns. I make "K" turns. Do that every day when cold when I back out of the garage and turn down the driveway. In the summer no charter with full lock. This time of year a "K" turn!
At 400 miles brought my Grand Sport to the dealer for a free alignment. Not just a check but to align per the sheet I gave them! I'll explain. The GM specs allow a very wide rage of camber to be acceptable +/- 0.6. That allowed the rear of the Grand Sport to be from -0.5 to -1.7.
Mine came from the Factory was -1.6. Good for tracking BUT not for good tire wear. I requested and got -0.8, much better for tire wear. Could have asked for -0.5 and their Hunter machine would still say fine, as it did for my -1.6! In fact the only thing out was one toe. They could have fixed it and said fine! I picked centerline for all toe's, which is essentially zero. Best for wear as well. Took the tech 30-45 minutes to achieve my request, all on GM's dime.
Negative camber will indeed wear out the inner edges of your tires. But in my experience, edge wear is more commonly produced by improper toe angle in the alignment.
Toe-out will produce inner edge wear, toe-in will wear the outer edges.
Of the four new Corvettes we've purchased over the years, every one of them had at least one wheel toe-out that exceeded even the generous GM tolerances.
If the only thing you are looking for is max tire life, then 0 toe and almost 0 negative camber is appropriate. You can get better handling and still very good tire life with a little bit of negative camber and just a very little toe-in for stability.
The GM alignment tolerances are so hugely wide that you can have an alignment that is still within the specs but pretty awful, either for handling or tire life or both.
You nailed it as good general advice. Those tires are huge and low profile so the wind isn’t going to blow the tires outward on the wheels, needing a little toe in. Zero is the setting on the nose.
Buy tires with tall tread blocks that squirm (all seasons)
Interesting comment about the tread blocks. I get chatter with the stock Z51 tires even in warm south FL. However my tires are the originals and after 23K in mileage they are getting close to being done, thus the blocks are getting smaller.
For the OP - in addition to alignment make sure you have zero play in your wheel bearings. A bad bearing will chew thru tires very quickly. Haven't seen that problem reported around here, but figured its worth double checking.
Hey Jerry, thanks.. What does my avatar say where I live?, Im having trouble with info on site Im in Cape Coral Fl so not sure what you mean?
Didn't look at pic, it says you live in Cape Coral FL! It will be 31 in the AM here tomorrow (and 27 the following day) but will be 40F soon after. I already planned to exercise first and leave when it warms a bit! That is for me NOT the Grand Sport!
Since the Vette is in an attached garage and it was 60 today and it will be sunny tomorrow the roads will not be at the minimum it will reach for a short time in the morning before the sun comes up. Typical of our winter temps in Eastern SC, radiate through a clear sky at night and the sun quickly warms during the day. So even with a cold spell coming for a few days it will be >45F when I need to drive. Our average daytime temps in January and February are in the mid 50's, not as warm as FL but no issue with the OEM tires!
It's due to negative camber and nothing to do with the slow-speed "chatter" - all late model Corvettes use negative camber in their alignment. It will chew up the inside edge of the tires.
(if you're not after top performance, you can have your adjustment done to have camber adjusted more towards the neutral end of the range and that will help a BIT)
Get tires that are not as sticky. The “chatter” is a side effect of the super sticky tires and suspension geometry that give the Vette it’s exceptional handling.
The “chatter” is a side effect of the super sticky …..
Hmm, it's just opposite! Chatter gets worse when the tires are cold and less "sticky!' In fact GM says it gets worse when the pavement is wet, which I have validated. It's also more complex than Ackerman steering compensation for the different front wheel turning radius on very tight slow speed turns. Proof? It goes away with all-season tires with more normal "slip angles" and the exact same Ackerman steering geometry.
This is what I eesearched when I got my C7 Z51 in October 2013 and was very surprised it occurred when my C6 with the same width tires was not nearly as bad: http://netwelding.com/Wheel_Chatter.pdf
only had my vette for a month now, and every time i hear the fronts make that noise when turning hard to park or leaving a parking spot i always think im screwing up somehow, i gotta get used to it.
^^
Got my C7 Z51 in October 2013. The “Chatter” was so much worse from 50F and below than my C6 Z1 with the same width tires when cold I don’t turn the wheel as much and make a “K” turn. It doesn’t do any harm to the car but I don’t like the “hopping” as GM also called it - - so why “get used to it.”
The little extra time it takes, I think about the 1+ “g” lateral acceleration I can reach on the single lane road around the 50 foot diameter fountain on the road at the end of my street! Worth the extra effort!
01-08-2019, 10:16 AM
Chewed up tires from slow turns
