Cracked Wheels!?
#141
Add another to the list. I just cracked a rear on my 17'Z this week.
car has 8k on it and never hit anything significant.
GM can't ignore this forever because they're all failing in the same way (inner bead) which means you can't blame everything on potholes.
FYI for those mentioning forgestars beware. I've seen dozens of them cracked on various vehicles.
actually just yesterday while I was exploring options for the Z at my friends shop a guy came in with 5 cracks across both his front forgestars.
car has 8k on it and never hit anything significant.
GM can't ignore this forever because they're all failing in the same way (inner bead) which means you can't blame everything on potholes.
FYI for those mentioning forgestars beware. I've seen dozens of them cracked on various vehicles.
actually just yesterday while I was exploring options for the Z at my friends shop a guy came in with 5 cracks across both his front forgestars.
#142
You're flying in the face of a lot of others who've switched to Conti's with no problems at all. Bear in mind we're talking street use with the nannies on, not for track or turning them off. My experience with the Conti's was an immediate difference in steering, it was so much easier than the Michelin's which always felt to me like I was driving a 50's pickup with the tendency to wander about on varying road surfaces. I had a hair-raising experience once when the Mich's decided to follow a depression in the interstate road surface at 75 mph and nearly threw me into a guard rail. The Conti's have just as good a grip on the road as far as I've experienced. Are you using your GS on the track or just for normal street driving?
Not everyone treats their car the same way, not everyone drives their car the same way. Not everyone lives in the same climate.
I have switched from the crappy PSS's to conti's 2 times, and both times were a success. I don't track the cars i switched to contis on so i'm sure i didn't leave any "performance" behind when i ditched the PSS's.
But for street driving, everything else was upgraded. No more tire noise, no more harsh ride, no more tire skipping at full lock at low speeds, no more worrying about low tread life.
#143
Add another to the list. I just cracked a rear on my 17'Z this week.
car has 8k on it and never hit anything significant.
GM can't ignore this forever because they're all failing in the same way (inner bead) which means you can't blame everything on potholes.
FYI for those mentioning forgestars beware. I've seen dozens of them cracked on various vehicles.
actually just yesterday while I was exploring options for the Z at my friends shop a guy came in with 5 cracks across both his front forgestars.
car has 8k on it and never hit anything significant.
GM can't ignore this forever because they're all failing in the same way (inner bead) which means you can't blame everything on potholes.
FYI for those mentioning forgestars beware. I've seen dozens of them cracked on various vehicles.
actually just yesterday while I was exploring options for the Z at my friends shop a guy came in with 5 cracks across both his front forgestars.
I am on my 3rd forgestar set and never had problems.
And also like what was said somewhere, anything is better than OEM.
#144
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REVIEWS: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/whee...r-reviews.html
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#145
I re-read your post and realized you are running Conti's on the rear and Mach's on the front while you wait for the front Conti's. That's a no-no; you can't mix the two different types of tires or you'll end up with exactly what's happening to you. The characteristics of the Mich's and Conti's are completely different and your front end is doing one thing while the rear is doing another. That's a dangerous mix and if I were you I'd take it real easy until you get 4 matching tires or you might end up wrecking that GS.
I planned to replace the front Mich as soon as the Conti became available (wanted to avoid cracked rims in the rear given they were just replaced). However, given how poorly the Conti manage lateral movement, I'm planning to dump them and go back to the Mich. At least they didn't wiggle all over the place. Now I'll just risk broken rims ... no winning I guess.
#146
I didn't read thru this entire thread, but I figured I'd add some input from an article I just read. Sorry if it's been posted before in regards to this.
Car and Driver's 40k mile wrap up of the C7 Grand Sport. Only issues were with the wheels.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp
Car and Driver's 40k mile wrap up of the C7 Grand Sport. Only issues were with the wheels.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp
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usrodeo4 (09-07-2019)
#147
Instructor
My Response to Car & Driver's Article on their C7 Corvette Long-Term Test
I didn't read thru this entire thread, but I figured I'd add some input from an article I just read. Sorry if it's been posted before in regards to this.
Car and Driver's 40k mile wrap up of the C7 Grand Sport. Only issues were with the wheels.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp
Car and Driver's 40k mile wrap up of the C7 Grand Sport. Only issues were with the wheels.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp
I read the article on Flipboard and posted a response, (copied below), of my recent experience in Detroit where C & D had the long-term test car, as I remember.
**************************************** ***************
On a whim, last August, I decided to make the trek back to Michigan for the Woodward Dream Cruise, in my 2018 Corvette Z06/Z07 3LZ coupe. It's a long poke, from Western Montana to southeastern Michigan, a round trip of 4,300 miles.
The only problem that I had was picking up a nail and a screw in the rear tires, both in the Detroit area. Prior to this, I hadn't experienced a damaged tire in thirty years.
As for damaged wheels, although I didn't have any problems but, frankly that's a frickin' miracle given the horrendous condition of Michigan roads. While there, I spoke with a gentleman who's an employee of GM and works at the GM Technical Center in Warren. He told me that, in a period of several months he had broken 6 wheels in a period of several months traveling to and from work in his 2018 Z06 Corvette.
The bottom line is that the fact that Car & Driver had wheel problems in the Detroit area is not at all surprising. Keep in mind that the Grand Sport and Z06 are equipped with run-flat tires (with extremely stiff sidewalls) mounted on 10" wheels on the front and 12" on the rear. Anything short of 10-ply tires mounted on narrow steel wheels could experience wheel failures driving through the "tank traps" that are the Detroit-area roads.
So Car & Driver's panning of the wheels on a Corvette is disingenuous in my opinion.
Montana Bob
**************************************** *******************
I wasn't going to bring this up on the Corvette Forum assuming that I would be flamed big time as my experience with stock Corvette wheels is totally counter to most of those posting their bad experiences. Perhaps I am just more careful in avoiding potholes. Whilst driving in the Detroit area, I was wiggin' and waggin' big time to stay out of trouble. Every so often I'd hit one and my eyes would immediately go to the tire pressure display which I constantly used while in the Southeast Michigan area. Couldn't wait to get out of there so much so that I left the state by heading straight south down I 75 to I 80 and then headed back west instead of taking a shorter route.
Montana Bob
Last edited by MontanaBob; 10-16-2018 at 07:34 PM.
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Carvin (10-16-2018)
#148
I appreciate your feedback, but having Mich up front wouldn't cause the back end to feel like it's sliding all over the place - unless the Mich are just that much better (we are talking about street driving). But that does seem contrary to the reviews at Tire Rack and here as well.
I planned to replace the front Mich as soon as the Conti became available (wanted to avoid cracked rims in the rear given they were just replaced). However, given how poorly the Conti manage lateral movement, I'm planning to dump them and go back to the Mich. At least they didn't wiggle all over the place. Now I'll just risk broken rims ... no winning I guess.
I planned to replace the front Mich as soon as the Conti became available (wanted to avoid cracked rims in the rear given they were just replaced). However, given how poorly the Conti manage lateral movement, I'm planning to dump them and go back to the Mich. At least they didn't wiggle all over the place. Now I'll just risk broken rims ... no winning I guess.
#149
Instructor
You're making a mistake, Joe. The difference in grip and lateral side-slip are very different. In years' past, this would be akin to mixing radials and bias tires which caused a lot of accidents. Obviously, it's your car and skin but any honest tire expert will tell you you should never mix two different types of tires. This isn't a brand issue, it's a physical characteristics one. You've got sticky, hard-walled run-flats on the front and more live Non RF's on the rear. In a turn, the Mich's are going to act very different from the Conti's and that's producing the rear end acting strange. The Mich's are definitely stickier than the Conti's and will grip more than the rears. Result: the *** end will swing around.
Montana Bob
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tertiumquid (10-16-2018)
#151
Intermediate
I just found out I have cracked both rears on the GS running Continental in 100 deg Texas heat. So don't think Conti's will solve your problems. Plus the Conti's are not near as sticky as Pilot Super Sports. Just got Pilot Sport A/S 3 Plus installed. So far I like them much better than the Continental. And I have track tires/wheels so that's not where the cracks happened. I understand bent wheels but I don't think they should be cracking. Now what to do. Sounds like the wheel repair option doesn't always work out. At least the new C8 should have slightly more narrow rear tires. Hope that helps.
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Don Pablo GS (09-06-2019)
#154
I didn't read thru this entire thread, but I figured I'd add some input from an article I just read. Sorry if it's been posted before in regards to this.
Car and Driver's 40k mile wrap up of the C7 Grand Sport. Only issues were with the wheels.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp
Car and Driver's 40k mile wrap up of the C7 Grand Sport. Only issues were with the wheels.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp
#155
You'd be better off getting rid of the OEM wheels. They are the problem, not so much the tires, although they certainly can contribute to the cracking. Some of us have found the best combination for street use overall in terms of ride quality, noise and elimination of the cracking syndrome are non RF's like Conti's mounted on quality monoblock forged wheels. They'll cost you $3.5K and up but the problems will be gone. I went with Signature wheels but there are other excellent manufacturers out there - just don't let anybody talk you into flow forged wheels; they're cheaper but nowhere near as strong as the monoblocks. Conti's can be had for about the same price as the OEM Michelin's. Do this and you'll be able to really enjoy that ZO6.