When Super Isn't Super

True story and one for the books. I've owned many Corvettes. My last new Corvette was a 2001 C5, which like all C5 Corvettes, came with Goodyear run-flat tires. The ride wasn't great, but wasn't annoying. Now, I was 20 years younger and that may factor in somehow.

This past October I took delivery of a new 2019 Stingray. Purchased online and out-of-sate, so never puts eyes on the car, drove it, etc. Side note: I purchased this C7 from a dealership in California. I had it all planned out - fly to CA, zip around the block a couple times, hand them a check and begin a 3-day road trip (and break-in) back to New Mexico. I had my plane ticket. Wasn't until my credit union was wrapping up their end when they discovered that if I took physical delivery in CA, even though I was going to be out of the state the day I arrived - I would be required to pay CA sales tax. That was over $4,200. No way - so I hired a transporter.

So - transporter shows up, I give the car the once around and head home in my new C7. Home was only 12 miles from the drop area, but by the time I arrived home I was cursing the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires - the standard factory run-flats. My C5 was far smoother, even with the factory run-flats. I inquired with my local Chevy dealer service department, and they told me the tires just had flat spots from sitting. Put on 1,000 miles and those flat spots should work themselves out. By 300 miles I couldn't stand it any longer. Back to the dealer, and they conducted a road force test. Sure enough, flat spots in all 4, and toward the upper measurements, meaning it may take at least 1,000 miles. Keep in mind that this all happened going into winter, which didn't help matters.

So I'm upset, and don't want to wait. The dealer did a price match, so I ordered the softer Michelin Pilot 4S. I had actually printed off the tire information and pricing from another tire outlet, and had that with me. While I had no first hand comparison to go on, the Internet seemed to have two thumbs up from all sorts of Corvette owners who had made this same switch. So I gave them my printout of what I wanted and order the tires. They tell me in could be tomorrow, or a couple of days - so why not just leave your car with us and we can get straight to it. Seemed like a sound idea. Well, a week goes by - finally, December 23rd they call me and say the car is ready to roll. Great. I get to the dealership, they bring the car out, I pay them and off I go. My home is only 10 miles away, and I purposefully drive the same stretch of road where I felt the horrible ride with the original tires. I just about puked. These new tires are absolutely no better than the original tires. Looked like rain approaching so decided to go home. I park it and flop down in the house pissed off that I just spent a good amount of money with zero improvement. How could the Internet be so wrong by so many people.

The next morning I go out to see if maybe they had over inflated the tires. As I am now face-to-face with my tire - it says - Michelin SuperSport! These were the same tires. How in the world. Now it's Christmas Eve, so I need to wait a few days before I can visit the dealership. When I drive into the service bay I ask to see the shop foreman. Nice guy, I explain what has happened and he cannot believe it. He gets down and looks at all 4 tires - yep, these are Super Sports. I inform him he's right, but these aren't the tires I wanted. He pulls my paperwork and luckily my printout was attached, clearing showing the tires I wanted. He apologizes and says he'll order the right tires today. By now I have less than 30 miles on these new tires. I just assumed that he'd pull the tires and return them for credit. I learned that, at least for this dealership, when they buy tires - no returns.

The new Michelin Polit 4S tires took several days to arrive. So now I'm riding on softer tires, but I will be the first to say that these tires are only marginally softer. Too late now to throw more money at my tires, but I know I'll be replacing them at some point - perhaps by then I will have first hand knowledge of the tires that are providing a smoother ride. And as a side note - for anyone looking to purchase new, factory spec Michelin Super Sport tires for their C7 (and maybe C6 as well - I don't really know) - head to Reliable Chevrolet in Albuquerque and ask for the foreman Mark. He told me that he wanted to get rid of these tires and would make a very sweet deal for someone - as in "at cost".

Source: Phil Ellison - NMCA

Posted 2/21/20