Help! Model year '18 Grand Sport

[Dave Petersen]

I was told that the sales manager of our local GM dealership, stated that the new Grand Sport could not be
driven home from the dealership until the temp had risen past 40 f due to tire issues. This is Minnesota,
90% of the year is under 40! Can this be true?

 

[Hib Halverson]

Depends on if it has ZO7 or not. ZO7 get you Cup tires and they don't work very well in temps that cold.

That said, ask the dealer if a sale depends on you being able to drive the car home, would they react any different.

 

[MacMulkin Chevrolet]

That is erroneous information and it irritates me that some Chevy dealerships say this to their customers.

Corvettes come with high performance tires. Depending on the model or options you get, some come with higher performance tires than others.

Any time a tire is cold, and the pavement is cold, you run the risk of wheel slippage. However, that is why C7 Corvettes come with traction control systems, tire temperature monitors, and humans come with common sense (or at least they should...)

Obviously, if it's below 40 degrees, and your tires are cold, you don't want to take corners at a high rate of speed.

So this is where human common sense *SHOULD* come in: if you want to play around with your car when it's cold out, and you're not sure if your tires are warmed up to normal operating temperature:

1. On the right hand side of your steering wheel, press the left arrow button
2. Now press the down arrow button to PERF
3. Press the center button to select PERF
4. Scroll down till you get to the tire temperature readout

There ya go. If the tires are cold, I would suggest taking it easy until they warm up. The fact that some moron told you that you can't drive your car below 40 degrees is full of s***.

Last but not least, ALWAYS check your owners manual and ALWAYS take what some dealership salesman, or sales manager says, with a grain of salt. If they're a low volume Corvette dealer, chances are, they don't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to Corvettes.

I apologize for sounding harsh, but I've had customers tell me before that they were told by another dealership that they can't drive their Corvette below 45 degrees, and this irritates the hell out of me because it's false information.

 

[Rob]

I live in New Hampshire and I own a 1990 ZR-1 - no traction control or electronic nannies and I'm running "high performance" Goodyear tires.

I'll drive the car right up until the first snow fall. I've driven the car on cold tires, below 32 degrees and yes, the ass-end can swing around real easy.

So I just take it easy with the car until I've been doing some highway driving and I use my head when it comes to driving it in less than optimal conditions.

If some dealership ever told me I couldn't drive any automobile below 40 degrees, I would tell them to go screw.

Just my two cents...

 

[Hib Halverson]

Rob gets the Saturday morning "Beacon of Reality Award".

 

[LLC5]

I live in New Hampshire and I own a 1990 ZR-1 - no traction control or electronic nannies and I'm running "high performance" Goodyear tires.

I'll drive the car right up until the first snow fall. I've driven the car on cold tires, below 32 degrees and yes, the ass-end can swing around real easy.

So I just take it easy with the car until I've been doing some highway driving and I use my head when it comes to driving it in less than optimal conditions.

If some dealership ever told me I couldn't drive any automobile below 40 degrees, I would tell them to go screw.

Just my two cents...

You can tell them to go screw it you chose to, but you would be wrong to do so if the tires on your vehicle were not designed to be operated under those conditions. Using your head and taking it easy means nothing in a panic or unavoidable situation that can occur any time, any place.

Let's make something perfectly clear here. If the tires on any vehicle are not recommended to be used under 40*F temperatures, then you actually should not be driving on them in those conditions. The tire manufacturers and vehicle manufacturers will tell you the same thing for very real legal reasons. Do not take this lightly.

That being said, yes anyone can drive their vehicle any way and with any tires they chose to at any time. No dealership would be telling you not to drive your vehicle below 40*F, just not to drive it with tires that are not designed to be used below 40*F. They should be advising you to get the proper tires for those conditions, and they would also be correct in telling you to do that for safety and legal reasons.