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Old Mar 24, 2015 | 09:39 AM
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Default C7 tire wear

Suppose I bought a new C7 and drove it 20% around town, and 80% highway. Generally speaking, how many miles could I expect to get out of a set of tires? I know it varies with how aggressively the car is driven, so please assume average in that respect. Thanks!
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Old Mar 24, 2015 | 12:52 PM
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Originally Posted by marc9889
Suppose I bought a new C7 and drove it 20% around town, and 80% highway. Generally speaking, how many miles could I expect to get out of a set of tires? I know it varies with how aggressively the car is driven, so please assume average in that respect. Thanks!
The last Michelin PS2s on my C6 Z06 lasted over 30,000 miles, driven roughly the way you describe. And the Pilot Super Sports should go a bit further as they're rated at 300 tread wear vs. the PS2s at 220. I only have about 6300 miles on my C7 so can't tell you much about its tire wear yet.

Ernie
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Old Mar 24, 2015 | 01:02 PM
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Honestly, if you have to worry about the price of tires, you should buy another car. In general, 25,000 miles on a set of tires is good.
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Old Mar 24, 2015 | 01:35 PM
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You definitely jumped to an incorrect conclusion, so I'll add a few more details.

In 2004, I bought a new Mustang Cobra that would dissolve a set of tires (front and rear) in 16,000 miles under normal/conservative driving conditions. There wasn't anything wrong with the alignment, nor was there anything related to the differential. The tires were just built from a very soft compound, and they went away in a hurry. At the time, there was no durable alternative, which added up to a pretty sucky/expensive situation that I don't intend to get into again.

I'm fine with 30,000 miles or even 25,000, but I'm not buying another car that lands me in the tire shop to drop $1100 every 16k. Anyone who drives 30k a year like I do, probably shouldn't buy a C7 if the tires have to be replaced every 16k, hence the question. If they last 25-30k, I could live with that. If they are gone in 16k, I'll pass on a C7.
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Old Mar 24, 2015 | 01:48 PM
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The OEM Goodyears on the C6 typically lasted only 14,000-16,000 miles and many replaced them with a different brand.

The C7's come with Michelin, which from what I've heard/seen last much longer. I've not read any complaints about Michelin's wearing out quickly. If I get ~25,000 miles I will be happy because that is 4 years for the way I drive the car.
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Old Mar 24, 2015 | 02:07 PM
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Thanks for the info everyone.
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Old Mar 25, 2015 | 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by RussM05
The OEM Goodyears on the C6 typically lasted only 14,000-16,000 miles and many replaced them with a different brand.

The C7's come with Michelin, which from what I've heard/seen last much longer. I've not read any complaints about Michelin's wearing out quickly. If I get ~25,000 miles I will be happy because that is 4 years for the way I drive the car.
Good point that tire bodies are only designed to last 4 or 5 years, so 25,000 miles may be 5 years of driving. After 5 years, the tires should probably be replaced just due to age..
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Old Mar 25, 2015 | 09:09 PM
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My 14' had about 5-7 / 32nds left with 12k miles on them.

My 15' has a little under 12k miles and has 7 /32nds on them and that's with my 15' being supercharged for the past 8k miles!

All depends on how you drive the car.
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Old Mar 25, 2015 | 09:58 PM
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I got around 30,000 mi out of a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports on my EB Flex. Don't see why the fronts won't go that far on my Vette. The rears will depend on burnouts!!!!! On my G8 GT, the fronts were fine at 25K but the 285-35-19 rears (Bridgestone 050A's) only lasted a little over 12K.... They had less rubber from the factory, but didn't like my style!!!!

So if you drive like a grandpa... you might actually get 35-40K... and have NO FUN...
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Old Mar 26, 2015 | 09:33 PM
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Interestingly, just today when I took my new Stingray in for an alignment, the mechanic noted unusual tire wear (outer edges wearing) on the rears. That, with only 700 miles on the car.

Of course, he found the factory rear camber adjustments way out of specs at +.7 and +.8 degrees. I have been pushing the car around corners even during my break-in period, just not applying high RPMs or full throttle.

The funny thing is that the first thing I did when I got my new car home, was to check my alignment. I got the front values fine, -0.4 & -07 but, I reversed the numbers on the back in my trig calculations and instead of + values I came up with - values. Goes to show you that at times you get what you expect (negative camber) and not what you actually have :-) (positive camber).

Now, I'd like to find out who and why at GM's set such positive cambers in the rear. According to the printed specs they were way out of range.

I was impressed with the handling before but now, after placing a nice set of negative cambers on the car it corners as if on rails. Might even be a tad too neutral for safe public road driving. I did install the Z51 rear sway bar only and now I will likely put on the Z51 front bar as well in order to give it a touch more understeer.
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Old Mar 29, 2015 | 10:48 PM
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I'm at 14000 on my Z51. Had a screw in one of the rears so I had it off for inspection. My guess is that the rears will last somewhere around 5K more before getting to the wear bars.
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Old Apr 3, 2015 | 06:04 PM
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Default tire tread guage

Originally Posted by runutzzzzz
My 14' had about 5-7 / 32nds left with 12k miles on them.

My 15' has a little under 12k miles and has 7 /32nds on them and that's with my 15' being supercharged for the past 8k miles!

All depends on how you drive the car.
Good answer and everyone should buy a tread wear gauge for about
$10 and quit guessing.
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Old Apr 4, 2015 | 09:36 PM
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Originally Posted by RussM05
The OEM Goodyears on the C6 typically lasted only 14,000-16,000 miles and many replaced them with a different brand.

The C7's come with Michelin, which from what I've heard/seen last much longer. I've not read any complaints about Michelin's wearing out quickly. If I get ~25,000 miles I will be happy because that is 4 years for the way I drive the car.
C6 OEM's had a wear rating around 200-220 (I think)

C7 OEM's Have a wear rating of 300 -320 ( I think )

I had a C6 that wore out ( conservative driving ) at about 14K miles.
I put Conti DW non run flats at about $800 per set with a 300 wear rating. I carry a small air pump and a plug kit.
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Old Apr 5, 2015 | 04:15 PM
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Originally Posted by TEXHAWK0
Good point that tire bodies are only designed to last 4 or 5 years, so 25,000 miles may be 5 years of driving. After 5 years, the tires should probably be replaced just due to age..
Not trying to nitpick but Tire Rack uses 6 yrs or maybe 7 at a max if stored inside before you need to pitch tires due to age. Don
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