2020 Corvette

[Bucky]

There's a lot of weirdness and myths and internet lore on the LS7's, that much is for sure.
Personally I have only observed the dreaded valve issue once out of probably 20 or 25 Z06's I've worked on in my life, and it was a 2007 model, which falls out of the common internet lore range of 2008-2011 cars being the worst affected. The fix was having the heads pulled and sorted out by Texas Speed where they got some nice new supporting parts and a nice CNC port job. That head work was about $1500 and ~10hrs labor if memory serves, we ended up installing longtube headers at the same time because it was really easy 'while we were in there'.

The rod issue is almost guaranteed to be a problem in the first 10k miles, so the majority of C6 Z06's out there have wildly exceeded this already or had the engine sorted out by warranty coverage. Beyond that it's just an awesome engine that loves to make power.

On your GS - catted 'green' long tube headers from Kooks, a good intake kit, and a tune is all you need. Honestly you'd need to go supercharged to get close to making the stock catback a meaningful restriction, and longtubes plus the stock catback make a great combo of snarly V8 noises without headache-inducing decibels or drone on the highway. Catted longtubes in particular are the best bet for this. After tuning you should see 40-60whp gain almost across the board with those changes, too.

You have a '19 Z06? That's a fantastic car! You're having traction problems, though, because those stock Goodyear all-seasons are more dangerous in dry weather with that stock ~550whp than proper R888R's or Pilot Sport Cups would be in the rain. My opinion, I am not a lawyer and all that, but I'm shocked so many OE's ship such powerful cars with such insufficient tires these days.

If there was ever a car that 100% transformed from just a set of proper tires, it's the C7 Z06. If you intend to use it as a summer fun car and not daily drive it or risk driving it in poor weather, I would strongly recommend a set of Pilot Sport Cups or R888R's. A good compromise though is the Michelin Pilot Super Sport or Michelin Pilot Sport 4S.

I'm spitballing a bit because I can't remember which of those tires are available in C7 Z06 sizing off the top of my head, but the takeaway is that a proper summer-only street legal motorsport tire is a fantastic improvement across the board for that car.

My hat's off to you, though - a C6 GS daily and a C7 Z06 garage beast is an absolutely fantastic pair of Vettes to own.

Thank you for all the great info!!

The Z06 has Michelin Pilot super sports on it (what it came with). If the pavement is clean, they’re warmed up, and it’s over 80° out, they’re pretty good. Surprisingly, these are the tires used at the Ron Fellows school, even though their cars come with Pilot Sport Cup 2s (Z07 package). Their reason, I was told is, they’re worthless in rain. Most roads around here always seem to have grit of some sort.

I will definitely consider your suggestions, as it is only a good weather driver. Only 3K on the car / current tires, so I’ll have to get some track time to wear these out first.

The GS has Michelin Pilot A/S 3, and for everyday driving I’m loving these tires. Surprisingly good traction in rain and our gritty roads.

[orionz06]

The GS has Michelin Pilot A/S 3, and for everyday driving I’m loving these tires. Surprisingly good traction in rain and our gritty roads.

Next car will be something in the 350+ HP realm and those will be the tires I use. I've got 250,000 miles on the Pilot Sport A/S # and won't use anything else if they fit.

[BehindBlueI's]

I've been pretty satisfied with Firehawk Indy 500 tires on my Camaro SS/RS. They make a run flat as well, which was designed for the C6: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...+Wide+Oval+RFT

They are significantly less expensive then the Pilots, and while the Camaro is a heavier car, testing shows them running close enough that very few of us will ever notice the differences. Tire rack does testing on a wet/dry track. If you've not watched any of their videos I suggest you kill some time with them.

[JRB]

My hat’s off to both JRB and Bucky. There is so much good car info in this thread. The signal-to-noise ratio is so much higher than the car forums.

But enough blowing sunshine. (So to speak)

Reference the earlier discussion on the C5 Vette being the best balanced/performing track car out there, it brings up an excellent point on this forum. What performance characteristics do you value most in a sports car? (Or pistol, or rifle, or whatever) I drove a C5 Z-06 Vette on the track for a session, but I’m by no means an authority. Awesome grip, great acceleration, heavy steering, heavy clutch, notchy shifting. Blisteringly quick. But the car’s limits were difficult to approach without overshooting, and spinning the car.

On the other hand, I’ve driven an e30 M3 (1988) on the track a few times, and it was amazing for different reasons. The easiest car to throttle steer I’ve ever driven. Back end brakes loose very progressively and well-behaved. Steering is telepathic. Engine note is wonderful. Vastly underpowered compared to the Vette. But so easy to gracefully dance around the track, the car makes you look smooth and skilled. On of the E30 M3s had a 1995 3 liter Euro motor and 6-speed transplant. Plus a Torsen diff and suspension upgrades. What a smooth and wonderful car to drive, but still slow compared to a Vette.

I’ve recently driven my wife’s new/used ‘17 Miata. What a hoot to drive! 2300 lbs. Underpowered, but still a great car with nice chassis balance and refined driving experience.

Which is best? Well it depends on what you value. Glock 19 or Sig 320? CZ P-07 or Shadow? Colt 6920 or DDm4v7? JP or GA Precision? BAT or Kelbly?

I guess I prefer the BMW handling traits over the Vette, but that does not mean I don’t look at the power of a C7 Z-06 without a certain amount of poorly-concealed lust. To each their own, celebrate diversity and all that. Or be like Jay Leno and own them both.

I've not had the pleasure of driving an E30 M3, but every account I've heard mirrors yours - it is a truly special car. My sister had a 318IS with Bilsteins and H&R springs once upon a time, and while profoundly underpowered it really inspired a ton of confidence. I felt like I could drive that car at 10/10ths every time I got behind the wheel and that brings a joy all its own.

I also had a track ride in a C5 Z06 with an honest-to-god pro driver. The Z06 had longtubes, a tune, track pads and brake fluid, and some Hoosiers on all four corners. To this day that five laps around my local road course is the only time I've ridden in a car and thought I was going to throw up from motion alone. Those laps averaged 3-4 seconds faster than the well-practiced owner could muster in that Z06, and the track is about a 1:30/lap for a fast car - finding 3-4 seconds on a 1:30 course is LIGHT YEARS in racing and it really made me appreciate just how much space separates the good amateurs from the lower-level pros.


Years ago, an acquaintance of mine with several exotics including a Ferrari Enzo summed up the C6 Z06 like this; 'The Z06 is the big greasy gourmet American cheeseburger of sports cars' and went on to describe that there are many fine foods and gourmet steaks and such that are 'better' than a cheeseburger, but sometimes you just need a greasy fuckin' cheeseburger and nothing else will do. That's how he justified his Z06 ownership to some of his snootier car collector buddies and he said they all nodded and understood. Hell, it makes perfect sense to me. A Z06 is incredibly satisfying, somehow complicated in its simplicity, and pretty cheap compared to a lot of its performance peers. What it lacks is refinement, and that lack of refinement gets worse as traction goes up and the road/track surface gets worse. At the limit with sticky tires the Z06 is a very unforgiving bastard and it takes some substantial changes in the rear suspension and creature comfort of the car to begin to address that. To put it simply, GM was too soft on the rear suspension in pursuit of creature comfort. Pfadt and a few other companies have figured out the formula to mostly fix this, but even those great leaps in handling and improved mechanical grip and predictability is just lipstick on a pig compared to, say, a Porsche GT3RS.


Ultimately a sports car is supposed to make us happy. That is it's only purpose in existence - to put a big grin on our faces, make us linger a little bit at the garage door to admire it before we shut off the light, and make our worries melt away when we go for a nice drive for the sake of driving.

Like guns, there's very much a hardware and software aspect to enjoying the full potential of a car - but shorter lap times are much less likely to save our lives like better and faster shooting just may.

Ultimately I think we all own a few guns just because we like them, and not because of any practical need of it. We could all do just fine with Glock 19's and 4Runners and need very little else. But there's a wonderful world full of HKs, Berettas, Sigs, 1911s, N-frames, etc. A world also filled with Z06's and 996's and M3's and MR2's and Supras and Challengers.
Sometimes we can make a wild car a daily, but it's impractical for all the same reasons carrying a Wilson 1911 is a little ridiculous for an EDC. But life is pretty boring if we all do the same thing, and repeat the same thing, and like the same things.
So, vive la différence!
Just don't be that chode that wrecks your GT500 leaving a cars & coffee meet, and don't be that chode that muzzles half the firing line with your SVI at an IDPA classifier.

I think there's a very real drive to get good 'software' amongst P-F folks and that carries over into our enjoyment of cars. Which in turn contributes to the good signal-to-noise ratio in our various car chatter vs other most dedicated car forums.

[RJ]

Nice C8 review by John Davis of Motorweek.

0-60 in 2.9 for $59.9k list. Wow.

https://youtu.be/JVjKBAob1Gg

[rob_s]

I can’t believe they are already talking about the 2021
https://www.slashgear.com/2021-corve...ents-02615303/

Some key points of interest...

• Magnetic Ride Control suspension Offered as a stand-alone in addition to being kart of a $5k package
• wireless CarPlay support (May seem stupid, but IMO no 2021 car should be offered without it as at least an option, if for no other reason than marketing)
• Chevrolet supposedly opting to make a launch splash with its sub-$60k sticker and then nudge things higher for the 2021 car.

[Bucky]

Nice C8 review by John Davis of Motorweek.

0-60 in 2.9 for $59.9k list. Wow.

https://youtu.be/JVjKBAob1Gg

SO. WANT.


BTW, I was at that very track just over a month ago.

[Doc_Glock]

There is a small part of me that wants to hate on it but that is just my critical nature. There is not much if anything here to hate. GM hit this car out of the park and it will only get better.

BTW I got a ride in a 2000ish C5 manual with 100k miles, a car I have never liked and dang, it was an eye opener from a driving experience. I have been overly dismissive of Vettes in my life. Wrongly.

[orionz06]

There is a small part of me that wants to hate on it but that is just my critical nature. There is not much if anything here to hate. GM hit this car out of the park and it will only get better.

BTW I got a ride in a 2000ish C5 manual with 100k miles, a car I have never liked and dang, it was an eye opener from a driving experience. I have been overly dismissive of Vettes in my life. Wrongly.

Availability? Dropping much of the Corvette heritage? Lots to hate on if you choose to.


I'm mostly curious what the actual price to get one is as I've not seen any for sale at the $60,000 price.

[Bucky]

Took a ride in the Z06 last night, and across from me was a slick looking red ‘Vette. Had to wait for it to drive past to confirm, but low and behold it was a C8! We both did the traditional nod and wave. This was my first sighting in the wild.