martypaulk

2006 W51 Convertible with 8,834 miles. I have a life time tire warrantee through the dealership, but at about 5000 miles, I hit a big pothole which knocked the alignment out 3 degrees. Tore the front tires up in less than 1200 miles before I could get it into the dealership. Replaced the tires at my cost (dealership said I should have brought them in as soon as it happened) and now at 8800 miles, I'm seeing the front's again shreading. I noticed the side of the car covered with what I thought was road tar, but ended up being ver fine tire rubber dust. Close inspection of the tires showed feathering of the rubber at each groove. Dealership said that I had been driving the car fast through corners and that this abuse is what caused the premature wear - so they aren't going to warranty the tires. The alignment was within specs. I haven't been road racing or hauling butt through curves. Most of my driving is highway between the house and work. I'm now looking at replacing all 4 tires before 10,000 miles (the front's for the second time!). At a loss for what to do. Here are the actual specs of the alignment when I brought it in.

Front left Camber -0.4, SAI 9.2, Included Angle 8.8
Front right Camber -0.7, Toe -0.02, SAI 9.3, Included Angle 8.6
Front Cross Camber 0.3, Cross Caster 0.2, Cross SAI -0.1, Total Toe 0.17
Left rear -0.5, 0.05,
Right rear -0.3
Rear Cross Camber -0.2, Total Toe 0.15, Thrust Angle -0.03

I'm concerned that if I buy another set of EMTs and we haven't found out what the real issue is, that I'll be buying another full set of tires in another 3000 miles. HELP!!!

Datawiz

Your dealer is an idiot and is hiding behind the fact that these things came from the factory out of alignment. My first 2 sets of fronts looked like this after only 10,000 miles per set.



I put my 4th set of rears and 3rd set of fronts on at 23,300 miles. I switched to BF Goodrich KDW 2's. Non runflat, but after 3,000 miles, it "appears" that the fronts are now wearing properly.

Oh yeah, I had the DEALER align the car after the first set. I had the Goodyear Dealer do the alignment this time AND give me the before/after alignment readouts in case further adjustments are required for the next set. This is one of the more frustrating problems I've had with mine.

AORoads

If you have a free replacement guarantee, it's time to talk with the regional warranty rep for Chev. Otherwise, you'll be out of pocket again for tires. No such thing as driving aggressively and therefore wearing the tires down unusually unless he can prove you were racing the tires. Even then, it's a call.

I'm going to assume that the dealer was smart enough to not only realign the car but also ck to see if there was any other damage to any other part(s). Then again, that MAY not have been done. When the Chev guy comes in, you might want to ask that question again since it's unlikely they'll give you another set of free tires right away (in say, another 4K miles if these give out on you).

Ask the Service Mgr. to make the call to the region/district rep for warranty. Doesn't matter if it's a dealer only guarantee. They need to be "jacked up" to honor their stuff.

Fred Severt

I know this to be true with these EMT tires as I also have replaced the tires on my C-6 already at 18,000 miles. I don't autocross and had the front alignment redone the third week after I bought the car. Had them take all the camber out and I still had the problem. I went to Michlin Sport tires as I had on my 99 Vette. Change tires, as much as the stock EMT tires had the great grip. THEY STINK IN ALL OTHER DEPARTMENTS. GOOD LUCK

martypaulk

Dealership is Lawrence Marshall in Hempstead Texas. Anyone have experience with them? Is there a better dealership to deal with in the NW Houston area?

Also replaced the front bearing hub - after the second set of front's wore out. They knew it needed to be replaced after the first set of fronts went bad but didn't have the part in stock but also stated that it wouldn't affect tire or front end wear. I bought a Timken bearing and they replace it when I took it in this time around to complain about the tire wear. Tire wear on my front's is primarily the outside as if it's plowing straight ahead.

Have asked customer service representative to get ahold of the local Chevy representative to try to get this sorted out. Both of the service guys I've talked to just shrug their shoulders and agree that there is no way that these tires should be worn out after 3000 miles.

MitchAlsup

You may think that you have, but the rest of your post indicates the dealer thinks not.

This feathering shows large forces at work in the contact patch. This could come from excessive toe, extremely abrasive road surfaces, or lots of understeer, or finally, driving like a teenager.....

If the above is considered IN SPEC, then something is terribly amiss. This car should oversteer to the left and understeer to the right.

martypaulk

Specified ranges as per the printout that I have are:
Front
Camber -1.1 to 0.2
Caster 7.3 to 8.5
Toe -0.05 to 0.15
Cross Camber -0.6 to 0.6
Cross Caster -0.6 to 0.6
Total Toe -0.10 to 0.30

Rear
Camber -1.0 to 0.1
Toe -0.10 to 0.10
Cross Camber -0.5 to 0.5
Total Toe -0.2 to 0.2
Thrust Angle -0.2 to 0.2

Dave S

Marty....

These numbers cover the range of settings, but the OEM "preferred" for '05/C6/Z51 are as follows:

Front camber -0.45
Front caster 7.90
Front individual toe 0.10
Steering angle 0.00
Front cross camber 0.00
Front cross caster 0.00
Front total toe 0.20

Rear camber -0.45
Rear toe 0.00
Rear thrust angle 0.00
Rear cross camber 0.00

If you PM me, I can fax the entire spec sheet to you, which includes the OEM minimums & maximums as well as recommended setting for "moderate" & "aggressive" driving style. I strongly recommend a good performance oriented alignment shop with a record of Corvette work & modern laser equipment, to set up your C6. They will insure that the settings are "dead on" plus make recommendatoins that will fit your particular driving style. Most dealers will get within the min/max ranges & go no further. Considering the cost of replacement tires, the cost of an "expert" alignment is well worth the price.

For example, I use a bit more caster (split left & right) and toe, in order to improve turn-in & straight line handling....but it's all individual preference.

Landru

Sage advise, Dave.

Couple things I'd add this poster should consider, also.
First (& foremost): Find another dealership, one who's honest.
Second: Replace the stock rubber with anything but GY, and at that time have the entire car's alignment checked/set using the best state-of-the-art equipment available.

Corvette ED

GM had this same problem with 1997-2004 Corvettes. The fronts wear out on the inside. You would think that they would have solved this problem on the C6 cars. Goodyear tires are the most overpriced pieces of junk on the market.

martypaulk

Update - you guys are going to love this one. I was putting some air in the front tires when I noticed something that the dealership has missed the two times that they have "aligned" the car. The front right tire has the words "THIS SIDE FACING INWARD" on the outside of the tire. So this unidirectional tire is on inside-out and is therefore rotating the wrong way! Would that contribute to the accellerated tire wear that I've been seeing?

bradb

Marty,
I just posted this before seeing your thread...

"Took my 05 vert to Davis Chevrolet in Houston for some service and an alignment. Service was friction modifer in the rear end, service is a wheel alignment before a big Colorado car/bike driving trip.

I asked for some fairly aggressive alignment specs as I am an ex-racer and corner carving "ne'er do well" at heart. I was amazed to get a call from the alignment tech, who asked if I knew my specs were going to increase tire wear before he finished the job. We actually talked for while about the C6 and what it likes, what I wanted, etc. After thanking him for taking a minute to ask, I felt I should pass the kudos along to the forum.

I've used Davis' service department by default (it is very close to my office) over the years on my Trailblazers (owned 2 for tow vehicles) and my C6. Many times they have left me feeling like they were average. My last two visits there have seen a world of difference and it was time for me to say something good for a change. "

C64BOB

My Z-51 did the same thing to the inner edges of the fronts. I just changed them at 21K miles. The rears would have lasted another 5-8K as would the fronts if this didn't happen. The shop checked (and slightly adjusted) the alignment and it had .3 degree camber on both sides equal caster and slight toe-out on one wheel and slight toe-in on the other. Total toe was about zero. The one with the slight toe-out (.05 degrees) was worn a little worse. The tires otherwise showed little or no camber wear. They were wearing pretty much straight across and then the inner edge was killed. In spite of the 0 total toe (versus excessive toe-out) this had to be primarily a toe problem and/or an artifact of the tire construction. So the alignment guy pulled the toe right on to spec and we'll see what the next set does. BTW my rears were wearing out in the centers like they were over inflated and they were never over inflated. For the last 7-8K I'd been running them 3 lbs under inflated to try to square up the wear (and they heat up quicker in the cold). Didn't help. Just another artifact of the runflats.

martypaulk

Update: After numerous calls to the service and customer representatives at the dealership, they are putting 4 new tires on. In addition, I am having new clutch plates put in the rear end as the lubricant additive didn't help last time around. Also having a new power steering pump and hose installed to eliminate the groan at idle. Trunk hinge was bent which caused the trunk to sometimes not close so they are fixing that. I asked them to check the wheels for runout (ok) and to tighten up the alignment so that we don't have this problem going forward. So, despite the battle that I had to fight, in the end, Lawrence Marshall dealership stuck behind the tire warranty and replaced the tires.

AORoads

Doubtful if the inside out tire mounting caused all the problems but there is a strong reason why all mfrs. put that on their tires---handling.

As to the solution from the dealership, it does look good, doesn't it? Maybe all your efforts finally worked to get you your fourth front set of tires on the car in less than 9K miles. Whew!

Black04Vert

I had some severe handling problems on my old C5 (it pulled really badly under hard acceleration and the steering wheel would oscillate back and forth). My ex-dealership, Showcase Chevrolet in Dallas, couldn't figure out the problem after 2 trips to the Service Department ... until I informed them that they had the rear wheel and front wheel placed on the wrong axle on the passenger side of the car.

Some of those dealerships aren't running with the best talent ...

double-oh-coupe

Glad to hear this is coming together for you Marty -- hopefully this fixes it!

Chris ...