Recently purchased a 2016 Z06 with only 1,900 miles on it along with the original sport cup 2 tires.
I'm planning a road trip - around 2,000 miles in total during July - current tires have decent tread but I'm wondering if you think I change tires to an all weather tire or do you think I could make the trip with the sport cup 2 tires?
Would love to complete this trip on the current tires if possible but wanted to gain insight from the group.

 

I guess my first question to you would be, how comfortable are you, driving in the rain in those tires? 2000 miles for me is 3 days worth of driving, even if you are not doing this in one stretch. It is quite possible that you would encounter inclement weather in that time. If you are careful when it rains, you can do it. Me personally would get all season ZP tires, or at least a set of new MPSS tires.

Second, since those tires are the originals, they are already 6 years old. If you are a gentle driver (sticking to speed limits, never accelerating fast or taking high G turns), they should last the trip. But do check how they have worn. You may also want to get an alignment check done on the car.

We can only recommend what we may do personally. If it was me, and I had to drive a Z06 for 2000 miles on a road trip, I would swap the Cup 2 tires for a set of all season run flat tires and never warry about the tires during the trip. I take road trips to enjoy the road trip, I don't like worrying about the vehicle I am driving during the trip.

Best regards,
Vip.

 

You can certainly run the oe tires on a road trip. Just be ever so careful in if the roads get wet. Those are big ol steamroller tires with very little tread depth, the Vette doesn't weigh much = hydroplane is easy.

 

One thing you might take into consideration is how your tires were used in that low mileage and how easy and how long it might be to replace a tire.

In some locals, it might take you some time to get them due to there size. I always try to err on the side of caution.

I would also carry a large can of Fix-A-Flat and a small inflator. Some members might carry plugs, but, there is no way I am going to be messing around on the ground in July heat. jmho

 

For a road trip, I never use SC2's. Too many variables.

 

I switched to Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires on my Z06. Put 1500 miles on her a couple weeks ago including a couple decent rain storms. They did well. They won’t take a hard launch but they’re grippy in the corners and stomping on it from a roll. They are non-run flat tires, if you’re looking for run-flats then disregard.

 

A couple things. You haven't said where you are going but if you're likely to see rain you'll have to be careful with the cup 2s, those things hydroplane pretty bad, similar to the MPSS. The all-seasons will obviously do better. If you don't plan to track the car and drive it year round, I'd dump the cup 2s anyway though. They are a terrible street tire imho and the A/S4 will do much better for you in all kinds of weather. The Cup 2 will also take FOREVER to warm up on the street so you don't get great traction from them for 15 minutes or so in summer driving. If you want to drive the car in 50 or below temps, forget about keeping the cup 2s unless you like to drift everywhere. The MPSS is a much better tire for street/track but the AS4 is what I'd run if just street only on stock power. I had the A/S3+ on my Z and had zero issues with traction, much better wet performance, and you won't lose anything in the corners on the street (obviously those are not meant for the track though) in normal or even 8/10 driving. If it's a weekend, nice weather only car you may not want to pony up for new tires though.

To make sure you won't be waiting for a new tire in BFE somewhere though, I'd take a peek across the tires to make sure they aren't wearing on the inside due to alignment issues. Or have someone put it up in the air for you to do that. You may want to check the alignment to make sure that isn't going to happen while you are on the road. As long as you've got decent tread left I wouldn't worry about it but, if you plan to drive the car in rain or cooler weather in general, I'd put the cup 2s up for sale here and replace them with AS4 all-season tires. I wouldn't replace them just for a road trip.

 

IMHO, if you live in a state where the it rarely snows, or if you don't drive your Z06 below 40 degrees, I would not bother with all season tires. I have the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 for my cold weather tire/wheel setup. They can't handle the power of my stock Z06 very well. If I give it a lot of gas coming out of a turn in 2nd or 3rd gear, the tires slip & the traction control kicks in. You have to drive them very gingerly & smoothly to maintain traction.

I have Super Sports on my warm weather setup. They handle like razors & make the car feel very light on its feet. Whereas, the all season tires generally get the job done, but don't instill the same driver confidence. You can feel the resistance from the steering wheel & impending understeer whenever you push the car hard in the turns. They AS4's don't actually slide, but they always feel like they're going to, which is almost as bad.

I would strongly recommend the Super Sports or the Extreme Contact Sports, unless you absolutely have to drive them in cold weather. Both of those tires will handle rain just fine.

 

A different perspective. The tires are 6 years old but they should be fine. There are more than likely a large number of forum members driving around on tires that old. The rubber may be a little harder than when the tires were new but it will still grip as long as you roll on and off the throttle instead of using it like an on/off switch.

In the rain the tires should be fine as long as you are easy on the throttle. They don't really hydroplane as easily as some people indicate. However, the rear tires will lose their grip easier so throttle action has to be dampened quite a bit. If the car is an M7 this is easily done by reducing throttle input movements and driving with the transmission in higher gears (reduces torque to rear wheels). If you have an A8 then you need to use the throttle so the transmission doesn't downshift quite so easily when driving in the rain.

I have a 2015 Z06/Z07 M7 and track my car quite a bit. My dry tires are Pirelli Slicks my rain tires are my street PSS ZPs. I have driven them in the rain at triple-digit speeds without hydroplaning. At highway speeds of 70 to 75 mph, the tires should be just fine when running in the rain. There is only one item that I can think of that would bother them when driving in the rain and that is a road that sees heavy truck traffic. When I took delivery of my car from the dealer it came from the factory with Cup2 ZP tires. They have little tread on them when they are brand new and the outside 4 inches of the tread is closer to a slick. I drove the car 167 miles home in a driving rain storm on an interstate that had lots of truck traffic. At 70 mph if I drove the car in the grooves the trucks made in the highway it would hydroplane to some degree, however, if I moved the car sideways so either the right or left side of the car was riding on the lane markers the tires were out of the groove and not running in a constant puddle. While on the road my speed never dropped below 65 mph, the car was sure-footed and never slipped from the time I left the dealership until I drove it into my garage.

If tires that have a tread that is 40% slick can handle that kind of weather your 6-year-old PSS ZPs shouldn't have an issue.

You will see all sorts of stories of people telling about how treacherous the tires are and that they need to be changed to something better even when the tires are brand new. These types of stories have been rampant on the forum since it was first started and the brand new cars were C5s. All of that can be avoided with proper driving and not spending money on tires that aren't needed.

You don't mention where you live but if you are a resident of a northern state that has driven rear-wheel drive vehicles with limited slip differential in snow and ice you shouldn't have a problem driving your car as it is in heavy rain.

Bill

 

I, personally, wouldn't be worried about the 6 year age of the tires. If you talk to a tire shop, they're obviously going to recommend that you buy new ones. If you talk to Michelin, they say that you should start monitoring the condition of the tires at 5 years, but to replace them at 10 years. If your car spends 90% of its life in the garage, the rubber on your tires will be fine after 6 years. If the tires have been baking out it the sun for most of their life, that's a different story.

More info here:
https://www.michelinman.com/auto/aut...need-new-tires

 

Those OE tires will work for your trip, but in the case of inclement weather, be sure to adjust your driving patterns to account for the changing road conditions.

However, if you want to be cautious, changing over to all season tires would not be a bad move.

 

If you do get into rain, Weather mode is your friend. As Bill noted, you really shouldn't have any problems as long as you are prudent in your judgements.

 

For safety & piece of mind, get a set of Michelin AS4, then you will not have to worry about all that other stuff, not worth the stress.