I know there's other posts on this, but having bought my Corvette last week, and with winter in the north east rapidly approaching I thought I'd reach out.

When I bought my car (from a Ford dealer), I brought up the desire for winter tires. The manager at the dealership said I should go to Chevy for that because the tires were wider on my car (Grand Sport '17) and that he didn't really trust his guys and they didn't have the proper tools to do it correctly.That sounded logical at the time.

So I took it to the local Chevy dealer (that sells corvettes) and things started to fall apart. I asked for a set of winter tires and a mag update, and I was pretty sold on Mich Pilots from my limited research. When I was in the shop, he had no idea what I was talking about with regards to the Pilots and he was trying to convince me that i only needed two rear winter tires. He said his boss owned a corvette so he would have him call me later, which I thought was weird but ok. Then after 3 days when the same guy called me back he was saying that they recommend I got all 4 winter tires, to which I was like "no ****". On top of that, he started telling me that I had to order the tires myself off of tirerack or similar, and that they couldn't get them through their supplier, but they could change and balance them. He was asking me about my tire size etc, and all kinds of things that I would expect an "expert" to know.

I say all that to say this. If Chevy dealers aren't experts, and I know more about the car than they do, then I'm not going through them. For anything. So if I have to find a new place for tires, did grand sports in '17 come in multiple sizes? Is there anything else I have to know, or have to tell them (or more importantly have to learn) so that the process goes smoother?

I just got stumped that I went somewhere and knew a little more about their cars than they did, and I don't know that much about cars. I just bought the car I fell in love with :/

 

ask your local corvette club for local dealers (tire installers) with a good rep (and also ask your crazy dealer) if he, or who, has the newest Hunter machines for mounting the ultra wide tires used on the GS. IF they don't have the newest Hunter machine, things can get ugly, (difficult to mount using older machines). Also make sure that they have the "road force" Hunter balancing machine. Also check your alignment (once for free under warranty) by the Chevy dealer to make sure you don't have incorrect settings which can cause excessive premature tire wear. Both of my C7's had out of spec alignment settings from the factory and were adjusted free of charge to spec under warranty.

The Consumer Reports hard copy December 2019 issue on newstands now features two reports "top tire picks" and best priced tire retailers. Surprisingly Vredstein Wntrac Pro beat out Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 in the "Performance Winter/Snow" and Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate beat out Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ in the "ultra high performance all season tire" category. you can also access the reports digitally on-line, think an on-line subscription is $12/year.. Les Schwab Tire Centers had the highest satisfaction score, but Discount Tire Direct was only 1 point below Les Schwab.

Going to an on-line tire dealer and using their tire finder chart will quickly id the winter and all season tires types and sizes that they have that will fit your GS. Shop a couple of on-line vendors for those tire types and sizes and you will get a price you are happy with. Also, once you know the sizes you want, don't be afraid of shopping the C7 parts for sale section on this forum to see if anyone is selling used what you want to buy. All the on-line vendors will ship the tires direct and free to your chosen installer. My dealer was happy to receive the tires and schedule the mounting as he was the only tire shop in town with the newest Hunter equipment. I chose the All Season Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ ZP runflats for my Z06, same tire sizes as the GS. 3000 miles so far and pleased with them. Temps in the 40's now and going lower this weekend. What they are made for.

with the correct tire mounting machine and the correct sized tires it is no different than any other car to buy new tires for.

 

As with all C7s, the factory did not offer a variety of tire sizes for the GS. Not sure why your dealer cannot get the tires for you - I just had a set of Michelin PSS A/S 3+ ZPs put on my car and the dealer ordered them for me and mounted/balanced them. The price for the tires was as good as I could have got from other suppliers plus I used my GM Card for the purchase and was able to double the manufacturer’s rebate.

I believe the rebate offer is still going on. Sounds like you need to find another dealer.

 

It was much harder than I imagined to find a shop to service the C7 Grand Sport tires. The local Chevy dealer sent me to a specialty rim and tire shop who dealt with low profile tires on big rims and all was well. And that is the short story version.

 

The Tire Rack is an excellent source of tires and information about tires. I think it was good service for the dealer to recommend The Trire Rack because their prices are low and service is good. They can ship to your tire installer. This is very common and tire installers are usually fine with that.

 

Be aware that around this time of year, the All Season AS3+ Corvette tires can be hard to find. If you want'em, get'em quickly.
On the GS/Z06, they are available only as runflats, so no decision needed.

 

Tire Rack, my good friend

 

Or Discount Tire, who can also has the correct machine to mount them.

Car dealers do some things very well; selling & mounting tires isn't one of them.

 

I took delivery of a new GS last month which I purchased out of state from one of the big forum dealerships. I took it to my local Chevy dealer for the 500 mile oil change and to have a set of all seasons swapped onto the factory wheels. This dealer is listed as both a "Corvette Signature Dealer" and a "Corvette Certified Dealer" on Chevy's website. Before I even scheduled an appointment, I contacted the service manager via e-mail and inquired if they had a Corvette certified technician and the equipment to swap the tires without damaging the wheels. The service manager responded affirmatively that they had a Corvette tech and all of the proper equipment to do the job. When I made the appointment, I inquired further and the service writer told me that they actually have several Corvette certified technicians and that they service at least one Corvette per day. In preparation of them handling my wheels, I even spent hours ceramic coating them in hopes that they would be further protected. Now, I have 3 scratched wheels which they attribute to the "lubricant" used during the dismounting/mounting process (I call BS on that excuse). Of course, "this has never happened before". They ordered 3 new wheels, but only God knows how long it will take to get them from GM. I thought I took all reasonable precautions and asked all the right questions, but I still got screwed. My advice is to see if you can find a place that uses a "touchless" tire changer. Inquire as to the MANUFACTURER and MODEL NUMBER of the equipment used. Research the equipment to ensure that it is touchless. Then, hope for the best.

 

Which is why I said this in the post above yours:

Corvette Techs aren't tire mounting experts, those are employed at tire shops, not dealers.

 

The Discount Tires and Tire Rack stores make a living selling and installing tires all day long. I trust either to know more about tires and do a better job mounting tires than the local Chevy dealer. The Chevy dealer gets my warranty work and that’s about it.

 

I really wanted to use Discount tires - i have used them before...but the ones near me do not have the rear caster tools. I am currently talking with a chevy dealer near me - they confirmed the have caster tools. The quote for tires was about 300 higher than tire rack but they also have a match price so I think I can get them to match.

 

It has been my exerience that everyone says they can adjust the rear caster until the car is there and you ask the guy who is actually going to align the wheels. Then he says rear castor cannot be adjusted and he looks at you like you are an idiot for even asking for it.

 

On our C6, we noticed that the suspension needed to be driven a few miles to settle after being lifted with the wheels dangling. That might effect the alignment settings. I arrange to do alignment work a few days after anything else.
Saving $300 would be nice also, and you can buy Road Hazard tire insurance from DT fairly cheap.

Perhaps other areas are different, but in the distant ‘burbs of Chicago, a good number of dealers now have the rear caster tools but almost no tire stores have them.

 

Have Discount mount the new tires, and then have the dealer check the caster after you've driven it for a few days.