Have a quick question. 07 ZO6 has 18" rim front and 19" rear. The previous owner reduced the price of the vette by 1,800 to cover new tires. The Mich/Pilots on it, estimated tread wear left less then 10,000 miles.
Tire Rack has Mich/Pilots for 1,900 and Generals for 990. for a set of 4. This where I need help! The Michelin is rated lower than the General at half the price, or is it the price that gave it its high rating? Tire compound? Should I buy now knowing quite well prices on tires will go up next spring. Vette will be stored all winter. Second question will the "sticky tire compound" deteroriate faster on a car in storage or flatten out during storage?

There is a lot of Guru info out on what tires are best. A lot will depend on what you are going to do with them. If you are going to race you will need something that will wear faster. If you are using the car for cruising like I do then that opens up a lot more options. I would wait to buy till you need them. What works on my 90 or your Dad's Vette would probably not be good on your ZO6.

Price isn't always the best indicator of quality, that's for sure. Read lots of reviews. I just put Cooper tires on my car, and they were half or less than the price of the Goodyears - I'm very pleased with them. I'd imagine tread life is going to be relatively short whatever you buy.

I have pumped my tires up to 45 PSI or so when I store my car over the winter to prevent flat-spotting, and that seems to have worked well.

Okay, lots of stuff here. The ZO6 is a performance car. Therefore get performance tires. Michelin's are, Generals NOT.
ALso, Nitto Invos are real popular tires that allot of people like.
But when it comes to high performance tires, Michelin/Good Year/BFG, Dunlop/Yokohama, Even Kumhos are rated pretty darn well.
The Cost is irrelevant to a degree as to whats good. You wont go wrong with Michelin, but Generals aren't tires for 200 mph,for example.
Tire Rack can help if you call them too.
Stickier tire will wear out quicker, hence lower treadwear ratings. But the smile factor will be higher.

I am a huge fan of Kumho.

Hate General... Had a set years ago, and the sidewalls failed on all four tires.

When it comes to tires, size is most important; they must fit right. However, 200mph top end, as neat as it is, isn't a priorty. You don't need those ratings... just something

Michellin are the best tires on the planet, really.

Andy

Michelin has plenty of rock hard tires. Don't go by a name, check the reviews and the UTQG rating relative to other tires from that company.

The tires will be good for about 6 years before they start turning into rocks. So how far do you drive in 6 years? That's how long your treadwear needs to last. I can't seem to get more than 10K out of the tires I've been buying lately, so I'm working my way up to some harder tires.

Some crappy radials will flatspot over weeks/months, but that goes away after the first few miles, so I wouldn't use that as a criteria, plus all you'd have to base that decision on is a bunch of 2nd hand internet gossip.

I usually check the ratings and surveys on Tirerack, and the comparison tests. You can tell pretty quick which opinions are valuable and which aren't. Keep in mind most people on there are comparing a new tire to the old/worn one they replaced.

Compound also makes a big difference in the rain in my experience. A hard tire will lose traction during wet cornering much much easier than something soft.

Obviously I am going to be in the minority here, but here's my opinion anyway. I used the Tire Rack ratings and reviews as a guide, and I put the General Exclaim UHPs on my C4, and loved them (15k+), so when it came time for tires on the C5, you can guess what I bought. I just could not see the difference in price being justified, (and unlike others, I had a bad experience with the last set of Michelin tires that I had). I've put almost 10,000 miles on them, and love the ride, how quiet they are, and they way they corner (and my car sees plenty of spirited driving on mountain roads). Since I've never had any desire to drive at or near the top speed of my car, how they would perform at very high speed is not an issue to me. Unlike some others, I do feel these to be a "high performance tire", and in fact you can tell quite a difference when the temperature is low outside (these are considered "summer" tires).

I have a good buddy who has Kumhos on his C6, and my son has them on his C3, and both love those, too. I would not hesitate to put those on my car sometime, if I should decide the Generals aren't cutting it.

Bottom line, make yourself happy. Perception can be everything, but I've never been a "brand snob", so I just go with what I like as long as it meets the need.

Pianoguy mentioned Cooper tires. I have a set of Cooper Zeon 2XS tires on my 89, I now have 24,000 miles on them and counting. I paid $650.00 for the set and have nothing but good things to say about them. They are sticky, handle very well,are great in the rain and last a long time. I will be replacing these tires with another set of Coopers when the time comes..WW

The 2006 through 2010 Z06 is notorious for eating tires. Even if you are a grandma driver. Just know to not expect 30k-50k miles out a set of tires on your Z06

Quote:

The C6 in general is known for eating tires. My cousin's lasted less than 10,000 miles...and not from burnouts.

Matthew

With 10K miles left on the present tires I would wait until spring to replace them.

Quote:

Yea, I agree. You can also check the tread depth easily with a penny, put it in the tread. The distance from the coin edge to the top of Mr. Lincoln's head is 3/32, usually considered the min depth for safety.
No reason to store it on new tires unless you're going to put it on jack stands.

The tire advice aboue is all good. Kumhos pricing will be right inbetween the Michelin & General.

If it was me, I'd run the car once a month in the winter.
If not, change the engine oil before storeage.

I bought Kumho's Ecsta ASX a year ago for my 90. They had a decent tire rack rating and after 5K miles they look great. They are quiet and don't wander much on rough pavement. They are more of an all season tire not just a summer tire. I bought locally and paid $135 per tire.

Thank You for your input. The Tire Rack is only 6 miles from me. When I get a chance I will take zo6 to have her tires checked. I needed tires for my Fusion last fall. You should see their showroom. These guys are really good.
Work is kicking my butt today! Got off at 5 pm and have to go back tonight for a meeting. Friday is off for working on ZO6 suppose do something at Notre Dame. Next day off is a week from tomorrow. Need to run tonight my long course, 7.4 miles. I broke the toe on my left foot playing soccer in high school and gets aggravated on long runs.
It could be I had turf toe twice before it broke, or wearing heels made it swell. Again I appreciate your response, The previous owner never beat the Vette but told me the it was hard on tires. Rear tires look great front are the ones that are showing wear. I'll have it aligned after I get new tires. Thanks Erin

Stickier for the most part means less tread life. But I've had a few that didn't quite fit that rule.

Your options are extremely limited if you want them matching front and rear. I assume you don't want runflats either.

For treadwear, measure to the wear bars. These are raised sections in the center grooves of the tire. Once it gets to these, the tire is done. Any tread depth beyond that is meaningless, as it is often inconsistent depth, and will start cording in other areas before the tread depth is used up.

I do think most change their tires to soon though. Tread depth is really only needed for driving in the rain.

Quote:

Don't feel too bad, I have one car that the tires only last 600 miles before I have to throw them away.

[quote]
I assume you don't want runflats either.
quote]

You definitely want runflats!!! Considering that the C5/C6s do not have a spare, not even a jack, in fact you really want run flats. A can of fix a flat is little re-assurance on the side of a dark road.

Quote:

Uh-huh. Here's cousin Wil in action:

http://www.corvette-guru.com/modules/ ... id=134274#forumpost134274

Erin, when I bought tires for my C5, I found that the Michelins were actually cheaper than the Kumhos. Speaking comparable tire for tire. If you live that close to TireRack, I'd certainly go down there and pick their brains.

BTW, I love my Michelins.

Quote:

Yes but runflats ride like hell and have less grip.

FWIW I carry no spare, have a can fixaflat... I have had one blowout in 8 years, and even that was avoidable.

I have Allstate Motor Club! 1 hour I'm either back on the road or the car is towed somewhere and fixed. Can't beat that with a stick. Unfortunately I have had to put it to the test and they passed.