Kayir

Just picked up a 17 GS. 16k mikes. Haven’t checked the build dates but I’m assuming the tires are original. I had a 14 stingray in the past. Just got it out for a few quick drives. It has the a8. What I’m noticing is under any 1/2 or above throttle the back end gets squirrelly. Even in a straight line. I’m thinking the tires are probably end of life and hockey puck hard. Can people just confirm to me this is not normal for a stock GS on an 80 degree dry day?

thanks!

Mike

MBrianB

maybe tires.....maybe too much lead in your shoes

Kayir

I can’t stress enough, I’m not being aggressive. It’s been 7 years since I’ve sold my c7 stingray so I don’t remember but don’t think it was this tail happy. And since then have had an atsv a cayman s an f90 m5, no slow cars. And nothing is this tail happy. It’s fun. But I’m planning on tracking often, and already a little nervous about giving it the beans up the esses at the glen.

GeoGS

My 19 GS A8, gets a bit squirrelly when I takeoff a little hard. Tires are AS 3 ZP. About 15K on them with new full forged rims. Sold the original tires and rims as soon as I could under 2K. Still have quite a bit of thread left on them and the ones on the car now. Still corners good even going in hard. But yes I think they have hardened and wore down a bit. Do not hook up like they did when new. After reading about TT failures maybe a good thing. Do not plan on racing anybody. So going on about 4 years. Will take it a little more careful if I am caught out in the rain.

Bill Dearborn

You can check how old the tires are by checking the build dates shown on the sidewall. As for flooring it going up the Esses remember you are entering the Turn at 100+ mph and should be able to go wide open almost as soon as you make the turn into T2 or as you exit T2, hold it WOT through T3, T4, up the back straight until you get to the braking zone for the bus stop. Being squirrely at low speeds and rpm on the street is a different issue. It takes a lot of power to break the rear tires loose at 100+ mph, especially if the tires are good and hot like they would be after a couple of hot laps.

It could be the alignment Vs the tires. Are you driving or towing the car to the track? If towing you may want to have the car set to the track alignment and make sure the REAR CASTER (NOT FRONT CASTER) is set to 0.0 degrees. The car performs a hell of a lot better with the track alignment than it does with the street alignment delivered from the factory.

Bill

Kayir

Thank you bill. Super helpful. I’ll check the build dates tomorrow. But I’m betting they’re 7 years old. They felt pretty hard to me after a drive today. Your point is well taken regarding turn in at 100+ vs turn in at 15 mph. That said, there’s still something super skittish about this car and it shouldn’t be. Was hoping to hear from people that this isn’t normal snd is likely tire related. Was 50/50 on the track vs street alignment. Will likely do the DSC spec intermediate alignment after I lower it on the stock bolts. It’ll help I’m sure. Although as is it also tram lines all over the place at highway speed.

Kayir

Build dates are 17th week of 2016

CPB

Definitely time for some fresh grippy rubber. My car is a 2017 and had the original PSS ZP's when I received it 6 months ago. The car would light up the rears easily as you described.

I'm now on a 200 treadwear HPDE tire and the car is completely "stuck" in those same situations.

Kayir

Ah! CBP, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. Same exact situation. Ok. New tires it is. Out of curiosity, 200 treadwear? Cup 2 is 180. SS is higher than 200. Only other options for stock wheels are like conti sport or Bridgestone s007. Don’t know much about either. No 4s option, no R888 or re71 or nitto nt01. If you like what you have what are they?

CPB

I went to a 295F, 325R on the Continental ExtremeContact Force. They are basically a Hankook RS4 competitor, so not as fast as the RE71Rs, Rival S or the Yoke's. But they are better in terms of longevity on wear and heat cycling. I needed something that can stand a chance of surviving some street use between events, since I'm only on one set of wheels right now.

Unfortunately I cannot comment on the traction of a fresh set of PSS ZP's on these cars. I ran super sports a long time ago one the STi once and they couldn't handle heat well. That tire just isn't something I was interested ever using again. If I do another street tire I'll look at the Continental ExtremeContact Sport. On other vehicles I have driven it is nearly as good at the Pilot 4S, but at a more reasonable price. Just not suited for dry track days. The Extreme Contact Sport (replacement to the DW) is the traction cheat code during a rainy/wet track day.

car2fast4you

I recently had the ExtremeContact Sport 02 tires installed on my Z06 - for my warm weather setup. I don't track the car; but they seem to have plenty of grip for the street. They only have about 400 miles on them; and I haven't pushed them too hard yet. But they ride fantastic. All of the harshness from my AS4 ZP cold-weather tires is gone. The AS4 tires ride a bit harsh; and they don't handle the Z06 power at all.

squirrelchew

2016 tires, assuming they were stored properly, are in their last years of life.

That's a huge, huge assumption for a garage queen corvette owner, though.

Replace 'em.