Tires in cold are like someone poured oil on them!

carbuff

carbuff

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Aug 14, 2014
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The OEM Michelin tires are garbage in cold weather. Slick like butter, and zero grip.

The worst tire I have ever had on a car in the last 40 years.
Ever worse than the 70's Firestone 500's. And those were bad....

Serious safety concern.

No warning from GM or dealer BEFORE selling us the car.

These cars need all seasons, but they do not make all season runflats for the Z51 in 20".
That is not good for the Canadian market, as GM essentially advises parking the car once ambient temp hits 40F. (As per owners manual).
I did not buy this car to park it for half the year.

Why is nobody talking about this?
 
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Because most of us only drive them in the summer. Didn't you think about this before you bought, it is a well known fact that the C7 uses summer only tires. I agree even at 50F I find these tires get slippery, just buy some all seasons and move on.
 
I know some people do drive them year round but I have always thought of the Corvette as a three season vehicle. Sorry you are disappointed but I don't think this is a fault of the tire. Maximum grip on warm days, that why I bought mine.

Merry Christmas and enjoy that car.
 
Bought many cars with summer tires and know what to expect........tho true: the dealer could be a little more open about it and remind customers for their safety.

Winter tires are also available, tho rare.

Merry Christmas ...

C.
 
carbuff said:
The OEM Michelin tires are garbage in cold weather. Slick like butter, and zero grip.

The worst tire I have ever had on a car in the last 40 years.
Ever worse than the 70's Firestone 500's. And those were bad....

Serious safety concern.

No warning from GM or dealer BEFORE selling us the car.

These cars need all seasons, but they do not make all season runflats for the Z51 in 20".
That is idiotic for the Canadian market, as GM essentially advises parking the car once ambient temp hits 40F. (As per owners manual).
I did not buy this car to park it for half the year.

Why is nobody talking about this?
Click to expand...

This has been talked about quite a bit actually. Even the Owners Manual speaks to the fact the OEM tires are summer only. This is from the 2015 manual...
Driving with competition oriented
tires on snow, ice, or cold road
surfaces can cause loss of control
or an accident. Competition
oriented tires are summer season
tires and are not intended to be
driven on snow, ice, or road
surfaces below 10
 
Well, obviously not a well-known fact.....:0

Interesting comments.

Spring and fall commonly, and very occassionally summer, here easily see 50F. That is my point. I feel duped by GM.

To put this issue into perspective! I expected to drive the C7 year round on OEM tires, just like I did our C4, Z51 C5, and Z51 C6. I am NOT a Corvette newbie. Those summer Good Years performed well. I may be jaded from owning a lot of really nice cars and other vettes, but I expected WAY more from this car from the way GM hyped it.

Someone said to read the manual. NO, I did not have access to my owners manual before, since it only was available once I got the car. And I did not lurk much on C7 forums while waiting for my car to arrive, so I had no way of knowing this would be such a serious safety problem.

And I resent having to drop close to $2K for another set of tires.
And especially non runflat as once I swap them, I will keep the all-seasons on the car aa sesons.
I feel cheated, because I was. I can easily afford the all seasons, but it is the principle of how GM handled this. Badly.

My car is designed for runflats, so why would anyone be happy to put on non runflats without a spare. Nobody is.

Sure I am not the only one who feels this way?

On the west coast, you can drive any other Vette year-round, and MANY do.
We have cold and wet but usually no snow or ice. But yes, below 10C.

Don't get me wrong, I am a Big Corvette fan, but really disappointed with this issue ( one of a number on the C7)
So are many other owners, and would-be owners in numerous C7 threads on other forums.

GM could have Easily insisted to Michelin to also avail all seasons as part of the contract.
 
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CCO said:
Bought many cars with summer tires and know what to expect........tho true: the dealer could be a little more open about it and remind customers for their safety.

Winter tires are also available, tho rare.

Merry Christmas ...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. Yes, sadly only michelin and pirelli make NON runflat winters in the Z51 20" size.

And bridgestone and michelin AS/3 are the only all-seaons, also only available in NON runflat.

All makes of runflats are summer only.
 
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We autocrossed our C7 tires in October when it was -5 C.
Yes, we felt like we were on ice.
Therefore we had to dial down our aggression.
But we DID know about this before we entered the event.
This was only our 2nd chance to drive in a competitive environment since
we got the car.

But driving to/from the event, and general handling on the highway,
as long as you don't do anything really stupid, they work just fine.
Just remember that they ARE Summer (only) tires.
 
I put tire chains on my 2009 ZR1 for winter driving

:)
 

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Wow I would never risk driving any car with 465 HP in the winter!! Nor do I consider a Corvette to be a year round driver. The reason the C7 sticks to the road so good is because of these tires. That was one main goal GM wanted to achieve and they did it. I know guys running the same non run flat versions on their C6 Grand Sports and kicking ass in autocross. Pretty hard to build a year round performance tire. There is always a trade off somewhere. Let's face it they had an all season tires that performed crappy in race or track conditions everyone would be dumping on GM for a crappy handling performing Corvette.
Last summer (2013) I swapped out my factory run flats (on my 2003 - C5) for Hankook Ventus V12's, purchased through www.tirerack.com They had them on a close out sale this past August for $380US for all 4, shipping and duties and exchange all in $760 Canadian landed on my door step. I brought in a set for a buddy at that sale price. I love the non run flat, car was quieter, handled twice as good. When my new C7 needs tires I'm saying goodbye to run flats again. Have to carry a plug kit and compressor to hobble it in for a repair. Got lucky with my C5 in 11 years never had a flat.

I don't think Michelin made faulty tires, they just made a superb sticky tire and I only blame them for not letting dealers know they could crack if moved in colder temps. It just happens to be the nature and characteristic trait of this tire. I don't think initially GM was aware of the problem until C7's were being delivered in sub zero temps and the problem started showing up.

Michelin AS/3 all-seaons set of 4 $1070.00US at Tire Rack. Install during the colder season and put on the factory ones for warmer seasons. Between the 2 sets no real extra cost in the long run over the multiple years of use, other then swap out costs.

Merry Christmas everyone
 
Leaning toward the Michelin A/S3, since few owners already installed these.
But I would like to know if anyone likes the Bridgestone 970's instead of these? Because I dislike Michelins.

The Bridgestone are the ONLY other all season option I can find. Anyone using these?
 
Original Goodyear tires we're just as bad in cold weather driving .All season tires for the C5 and C6 we're not available for a couple years until the market was there .C7 AS RF's will be produced in time .
 
Elf said:
Original Goodyear tires we're just as bad in cold weather driving .All season tires for the C5 and C6 we're not available for a couple years until the market was there .C7 AS RF's will be produced in time .
Click to expand...

The Goodyears on our 2002 and 2006 were very good, as compared to the current summer Michelins on the 2015.

I think so too that RF AS will be available. In time. But right now for everyone that means buying non-RF AS tires now, and then again when the AS RF come out (to avoid hassles from flats).
 
carbuff said:
The Goodyears on our 2002 and 2006 were very good, as compared to the current summer Michelins on the 2015.

I think so too that RF AS will be available. In time. But right now for everyone that means buying non-RF AS tires now, and then again when the AS RF come out (to avoid hassles from flats).
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Maybe it was colder here than Vancouver :D Anyway I'd like to see GM allow tire options at the time of purchase like on my Ford truck .I believe there we're four tire options on the truck .Keep in mind it's only 95 days till April 1st .
 
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