Tire life
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 25,002
Likes: 2,703
From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
I can afford to buy a tuxedo but would I wear it to work if my job is a lube tech? Sure, you can but why waste your money? Many of the Corvette owners might not be punching it any more than a lot of F250 trucks with a clean and shiny bed are working the truck. I don't believe I had to promise to run my car to the max when I bought it. If I am running it to the 140 HP level, why buy 450 HP level tires just because I can? I don't feel I have to waste my money just to fit in with the boys' club.
Give me a break. The Corvette isn't anything special besides in the owner's imagination. It's just another mass production higher HP car. It even shares parts across the brand. Back in the day when I did autocross, I see old Datsuns, Ford Taurus and even the occasional minivan and trucks. Bunch of Mustangs and F-bodies. Tell you what I didn't see. More than 2 Corvettes on any given track day unless they were trailered.
Give me a break. The Corvette isn't anything special besides in the owner's imagination. It's just another mass production higher HP car. It even shares parts across the brand. Back in the day when I did autocross, I see old Datsuns, Ford Taurus and even the occasional minivan and trucks. Bunch of Mustangs and F-bodies. Tell you what I didn't see. More than 2 Corvettes on any given track day unless they were trailered.
In our area (Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin), there will be about 6-8 NCCC autocross weekends each season, with typically 30-50 drivers each weekend.
95% of the cars will be Corvettes, and 90% of those are driven to/from the event by their owner. Only few people will trailer the car or tow a small trailer with track tires.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,424
Likes: 3,276
From: Hartford WI
Fortunately, things have changed.
In our area (Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin), there will be about 6-8 NCCC autocross weekends each season, with typically 30-50 drivers each weekend.
95% of the cars will be Corvettes, and 90% of those are driven to/from the event by their owner. Only few people will trailer the car or tow a small trailer with track tires.
In our area (Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin), there will be about 6-8 NCCC autocross weekends each season, with typically 30-50 drivers each weekend.
95% of the cars will be Corvettes, and 90% of those are driven to/from the event by their owner. Only few people will trailer the car or tow a small trailer with track tires.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 1,355
Likes: 635
From: St. Louis
I can afford to buy a tuxedo but would I wear it to work if my job is a lube tech? Sure, you can but why waste your money? Many of the Corvette owners might not be punching it any more than a lot of F250 trucks with a clean and shiny bed are working the truck. I don't believe I had to promise to run my car to the max when I bought it. If I am running it to the 140 HP level, why buy 450 HP level tires just because I can? I don't feel I have to waste my money just to fit in with the boys' club.
Give me a break. The Corvette isn't anything special besides in the owner's imagination. It's just another mass production higher HP car. It even shares parts across the brand. Back in the day when I did autocross, I see old Datsuns, Ford Taurus and even the occasional minivan and trucks. Bunch of Mustangs and F-bodies. Tell you what I didn't see. More than 2 Corvettes on any given track day unless they were trailered.
Give me a break. The Corvette isn't anything special besides in the owner's imagination. It's just another mass production higher HP car. It even shares parts across the brand. Back in the day when I did autocross, I see old Datsuns, Ford Taurus and even the occasional minivan and trucks. Bunch of Mustangs and F-bodies. Tell you what I didn't see. More than 2 Corvettes on any given track day unless they were trailered.
What other "mass produced" cars perform like the Corvette for pickup truck money? We typically have 6 to 8 Corvettes show up to our autocrosses and they do quite well.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 25,002
Likes: 2,703
From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
The big difference I noticed is that SCCA events usually are run on shorter and tighter courses, which give an advantage to the smaller but lower powered cars typically attending. I used to call them "high speed parallel parking".
NCCC tries to run more open courses that allow the Corvette driver to use more of his power.
Neither style is "better" or "worse", they just allow drivers to enjoy the strong points of their particular car.
But we see lots of Corvettes that drove to the event, tape on some numbers, and go out there to exercise the car. My car has collected its share of "cone blood".
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,424
Likes: 3,276
From: Hartford WI
How about giving the rest of us break. If you do not think the Corvette is special, why are you wasting so much of your time on this forum? Almost 27,000 posts and you have been here for 21 years!
What other "mass produced" cars perform like the Corvette for pickup truck money? We typically have 6 to 8 Corvettes show up to our autocrosses and they do quite well.
What other "mass produced" cars perform like the Corvette for pickup truck money? We typically have 6 to 8 Corvettes show up to our autocrosses and they do quite well.
I did consider Porsche or BMW but the wife's sudden decision to get rid of "That rickety POS" (the C4) on a Saturday morning didn't give me much time to scope out support for either of those lines.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,424
Likes: 3,276
From: Hartford WI
I've been doing autocross for over 25 years, started out doing SCCA events and after getting our 2001 C5 I switched to NCCC.
The big difference I noticed is that SCCA events usually are run on shorter and tighter courses, which give an advantage to the smaller but lower powered cars typically attending. I used to call them "high speed parallel parking".
NCCC tries to run more open courses that allow the Corvette driver to use more of his power.
Neither style is "better" or "worse", they just allow drivers to enjoy the strong points of their particular car.
But we see lots of Corvettes that drove to the event, tape on some numbers, and go out there to exercise the car. My car has collected its share of "cone blood".
The big difference I noticed is that SCCA events usually are run on shorter and tighter courses, which give an advantage to the smaller but lower powered cars typically attending. I used to call them "high speed parallel parking".
NCCC tries to run more open courses that allow the Corvette driver to use more of his power.
Neither style is "better" or "worse", they just allow drivers to enjoy the strong points of their particular car.
But we see lots of Corvettes that drove to the event, tape on some numbers, and go out there to exercise the car. My car has collected its share of "cone blood".
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 420
From: Eastern NC
If the tires aren't cracked or leaking i would 100% keep using them. I am almost confident you aren't racing the car nor driving it extremely spirited on the street. Furthermore you have 3000 miles in 6 years. Why spend over a thousand bucks on another set of tires to sit and rot away? Drive it your 500 miles for the year and rock on.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,424
Likes: 3,276
From: Hartford WI
If the tires aren't cracked or leaking i would 100% keep using them. I am almost confident you aren't racing the car nor driving it extremely spirited on the street. Furthermore you have 3000 miles in 6 years. Why spend over a thousand bucks on another set of tires to sit and rot away? Drive it your 500 miles for the year and rock on.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
10 Revolutionary 'Corvette Firsts' Most People Don't Know
Joe Kucinski
5 Reasons to Upgrade to an LS6-Powered Corvette; 5 Reasons to Stay LT2
Michael S. Palmer
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 10,404
Likes: 1,706
From: North Texas
IMHO, you are sort of in no-man's land on age. Probably not old enough to just junk based on age. They won't perform as well as a set of new tires. They are probably safe for standard street cruising, but maybe a little too old if you plan on doing any really high-performance driving. So, it's really down to how you plan to drive the car.