askennedy

I am buying a new Z06 that is over 500 miles from me.

I was wanting to get opinions of road tripping the car for the first 500 miles.

How does everyone feel about an 8 hour, mostly interstate break in?

Thanks in advance.

HighBeta

You will probably be fine. My only suggestions would be to avoid using the cruise control, change gears occasionally to run at diiferent RPMs, and keep it below the redline. Your tach will read differently for the first 500 miles, respect the tach.

Unless the car already has skirts installed, think about applying some cheap painters tape along the rockers and the area around the rear brake ducts. Just trying to avoid road rash until you get the car home and you can get on top of that issue.

And try not to smile for too extended a period of time. Don't want to get a face cramp, lol.

Enjoy!

askennedy

Thanks for the info. I am a current Z06 owner, I bought the one I have now with 4k miles already on it. Just trading up.

indyblue98

When we bought our Z06 a few weeks ago.
Decided to make a mini Vacation out of the trip home.
I made sure to stay off the interstate.
We made a deal about 150 miles from Bowling Green .
Flew in , did the deal , then spent a night in Lexington.
Drove some secondary roads to Bowling Green ,
Did manual mode on the A8 Transmission .
Never went above 6 gear.
Did the Plant tour , as well as the Museum .
Made an appointment for getting the Oil change in St Louis.
Did drive the interstate after the Oil change , but kept using
manual mode for shifts and kept mixing it up , but did use all 8

askennedy

This one does have the side skirts, part of the reason for the upgrade.

askennedy

thanks for the feedback!!!

VooDooRob

We bought new from Kerbeck and drove 500 miles home on a Saturday. We varied the speed and took a good amount of breaks. Over 1/2 the time was in the pouring rain, we just put it in weather mode and kept speeds below 60 and the PS2s were fine. Its a great way to learn the car and no the car did not melt in the rain. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

ajrothm

I just did this last week..Bought it and drove it 530 miles home. For the first 2 hrs or so, I drove all back roads through small towns.. lots of stop and starts. I did go 1/2 throttle to 4K several times in that time frame to load the motor and seat the rings. I finally got up on the highway and ran 250 miles of varying speeds from 65 to 78mph. I stopped for gas at 320 miles, and checked the oil and it was full. For the last 220 or so miles, I drove it normally, running 75-80 mph, I did use the cruise but I varied speed every 20 mins or so. Once I got home, I checked the oil again and it was still full, exactly the same spot on the dipstick. I took it to the dealer the next day for the 500 mile service (562 for me), and it's been open season on it ever since. I have 980 miles on it now and it runs like a top.

My advice is to not break it in TOO EASY in the first 20 miles or so.. try to seat the rings as soon as you can, definitely before getting it on the highway.

I normally do not subscribe to "break in" but...given the failure rate of the LT4, I decided to play it safe.

JoesC5

You are also breaking in the differential ring gear and pinion, thus you should vary your speeds. Just running it in different gears but holding a steady speed, like on the Interstate, is not properly breaking in the differential.

After picking the car up, it's best to run it on secondary roads so you can keep varying the car's speed. Driving through small towns, taking potty breaks, etc is good for the car.

After 400-500 miles of secondary roads with varying speeds, then it's okay to drive on the Interstate.

askennedy

thanks for the info

askennedy

Thank you....I come from a pretty much Ford history of high hp street cars and race cars. We heat cycle them a couple times and drop the hammer.

I will take this one much easier

ajrothm

Yeah I normally heat cycle them a couple times, then on to the dyno for wide open pulls, then into the car and off to the track. Ironically I have never had an engine fail or consume oil due to improper "break in".

I have never seen engines as picky as these LT1/LT4s are about break in, and the alarming failure rate..

I can't tell you how many new cars/trucks I've bought and never did any kind of break in or special drive procedure other then normal driving, even with 3 miles on the clock. Yet with the most expensive car I've ever bought, I had to worry about finicky engine break in, transmissions failing, rear ended failing etc etc.

It's pretty crazy.. Seems like it's always dooms day around here.

gve

Do some half throttle accelerations in 2nd or 3rd gear up to 4000 rpm and then let the engine slow you down to about 1000 rpm this also helps seat the rings.

Doctor Mark

I did the same thing. Live in the Atlanta area, drove up to N.C. in my 2014 Z51 tossed keys and drove back in my 2016 Z06. All in all a long but fun day. Got home with almost 500 miles on the new ride and did the service. Great car.
FWIW dealer in N.C. much more amenable to decent pricing and trade in value.

pkincy

On my way North, I noted that my C6Z06 would turn off the CC every time I changed gears. After picking up the new car, I drove 80 miles on secondary roads at relatively low speeds. I like to allow the Diff to cool completely after a short run. Stayed with a friend and drove about 80 more miles to I5 on secondary roads. I did note that the CC would continue to hold speed (75) on I5 even as I varied the gears in the A8. So I kept a steady CC speed for the next 400 miles but would vary the engine from 1600 rpm to 2100 rpm to 2700 rpm or so, by simply selecting different gears. Got the Oil Change the next day. One anomaly was that the GM computer showed my VIN the next day but didn't show the free service. So I paid ($142) for the oil change. 3 days later they rechecked and it showed. So the local dealer sent me a refund check. Odd but OK.

askennedy

I am getting mine from Hendricks in Cary NC.

383vett

What is this "alarming failure rate of engines" you keep referring to? Sure there have been a few failures... That happens with every line of performance cars from Porsches to Ferraris. The C6Z had a much greater failure rate with dropped valves than the relatively infrequent failure of the LT4 motor.

JoesC5

And there are still people(including GM) that will argue with you that you can hold the number of failed LS7's in one hand(even though we all know better than that).

Bill Dearborn

Just remember to change speeds and gears every 10 miles or so. Use cruise in 7th gear at a speed you want to travel. Then some miles down the road change to 4th or 5th gear and reengage cruise at the previous speed for some more miles. Then change gears again. Use the up down speed controls on the cruise to adjust the speed up or down for a while as well. 10 touches on the set button drops speed 10 mph and 10 touches on the resume button takes it up 10 mph.

If you have some in town driving that will help as well.

Bill

benspruce

Bought my 2016 Z06 A8 in late June. I live in Calif so my wife and I flew to Ohio where we purchased the car and drove it home. We left the dealer with 3 miles on the car and wound up travelling 3500 miles. We went through 11 states and made it a great vacation. I stopped in Topeka Kansas for the 500 mile oil change (it was actually 900 miles). We went into several vacation locations such as Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, over the Rocky Mountains, and right along the Bonneville Salt Flats. I varied the speed and did not use cruise control until about the 5th day. I exceeded 100 mph on several occasions and it felt very comfortable. It was a great trip and there were no issues. It's been a terrific car since our return home to Monterey Ca. Live it up!