Tire Replacement Suggestions

[jefferyzornow]

The car sits on "Tire Cradles" form rubber cushions. My Goodyear Eagles were stored the same way with no flat spots. I am quit familiar with flat spots and tires. You may think its acceptable, but I don't.

[rush91]

Have you tired increasing the tire pressure during storage? This has worked for me in the past, and I store my car on a cold concrete floor in the winter for 5 months. I start it once a month and weather permitting go on a 5 minute drive. Flat spot problem fixed.....

[jefferyzornow]

Originally Posted by rush91

Have you tired increasing the tire pressure during storage? This has worked for me in the past, and I store my car on a cold concrete floor in the winter for 5 months. I start it once a month and weather permitting go on a 5 minute drive. Flat spot problem fixed.....

Yes, I have increased the pressure 10 psi during winter months. Otherwise, the rest of the year, the car never sits in the garage more than a week.

[ram_g]

I have been battling much the same issues with a set of Nitto NT555 G2s bought ~800 miles ago. I finally decided to throw in the towel and have just returned from my local Discount Tire, where they agreed to give me the full price back towards a set of Michelin PS2s (rears 335 width), and not charge me again for mounting/balancing. I am very pleased with DT's customer focus but not so happy with the ordeal.

There are many similar reports online about the Nittos, and yet several others (including in this thread) where folks have had no issues. My take is that Nitto may not have very tight quality control - some (maybe most?) of their tires may be great, but some are evidently problematic from the get go.

[jefferyzornow]

Thanks, I appreciate your comments.

[WARP TEN]

I never had any significant flat spotting with the Michelin tires I put on the '95. Stored on a lift for 5 months Nov 1- Apr 1 with the tire pressures at about 50 psi. When I took it down in the spring a short drive and the tires were perfectly normal. At one point I did have a valve develop a slow leak but Costco (where I bought the tires) replaced it without charge. They also said the valves were only warranted by the manufacturer up to 44 psi. I now put the pressures (on the Z06) to about 45 psi during storage. --Bob

[Racinfan83]

My car had Nittos on it when I got it. Almost new. Had vibration. Road force balanced bad. Nitto reps would do nothing. Ended up getting another set of Nittos because Sumitomos suck and I couldn't afford anything better at the time. Guess what, had these balanced multiple times and still vibration. Pump em up to 50psi cuz car sits so much and it's on carpet. I haven't had much time to drive it last 3yrs, and the vibration makes me nervous. One of these days I think I will take it to Marc and just say "find it and fix it" along with my header stud leak...😳🙄😳😥

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by Racinfan83

My car had Nittos on it when I got it. Almost new. Had vibration. Road force balanced bad. Nitto reps would do nothing. Ended up getting another set of Nittos because Sumitomos suck and I couldn't afford anything better at the time. Guess what, had these balanced multiple times and still vibration. Pump em up to 50psi cuz car sits so much and it's on carpet. I haven't had much time to drive it last 3yrs, and the vibration makes me nervous. One of these days I think I will take it to Marc and just say "find it and fix it" along with my header stud leak...😳🙄😳😥

My '95 had a set of Sumitomos on it when it arrived in 2012. I also had a vibration and the next spring when I drove to Bowling Green it was annoying so I found a tire dealer there with a Road Force balancer and a very experienced tech. He had to rotate all the tires about 180 degrees on the rims and had to use a fair amount of weight to get them balanced. But one of the tires was so far out of manufacturer's specs that he could not get it balanced. But he still solved about 95% of the vibration problem. When I got home I got a set of Michelins from Costco and they balanced out perfectly and were vibration free--even without a Road Force balancer. --Bob

[ram_g]

Had the new Michelins installed at Discount Tire yesterday. What a difference compared to the Nittos! Finally I can appreciate the "smoothness" that the ZR-1 is known for!

I had a good feel that the Michelins would be better just as they were balancing them. The Nittos needed these massive weights to achieve balance but the Michelins just needed very small ones - in fact one tire needed no weights at all. Quite remarkable, and goes to support the quality control aspect I'd mentioned previously.

So what's the problem? Near my neighborhood we have some really crappy roads with sharp undulating dips - not potholes, but 50mph dips that give the suspension travel on any car a real workout. I was hearing some new "scrape sounds" that I think is a bit of interference between the 335 width rear tires and the fender lip. I can see a small bit of paint rubbed off on the driver side and indeed the driver side rear fender lip seems 1/2" lower than the passenger side. I will need to investigate the whole ride height issue further.

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Originally Posted by ram_g

Had the new Michelins installed at Discount Tire yesterday. What a difference compared to the Nittos! Finally I can appreciate the "smoothness" that the ZR-1 is known for!

I had a good feel that the Michelins would be better just as they were balancing them. The Nittos needed these massive weights to achieve balance but the Michelins just needed very small ones - in fact one tire needed no weights at all. Quite remarkable, and goes to support the quality control aspect I'd mentioned previously.

So what's the problem? Near my neighborhood we have some really crappy roads with sharp undulating dips - not potholes, but 50mph dips that give the suspension travel on any car a real workout. I was hearing some new "scrape sounds" that I think is a bit of interference between the 335 width rear tires and the fender lip. I can see a small bit of paint rubbed off on the driver side and indeed the driver side rear fender lip seems 1/2" lower than the passenger side. I will need to investigate the whole ride height issue further.

I recall others citing the minor interference issues with the rear fender liners.
Small trimming resolved it.

As for the Nittos.
After years of fighting the vibrations I had from day one with the Nittos, I finally resolved the flat spotting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought Good Years!

Marty