Goodyear EMT tires

I have no EMTs on the C5, no inflator, no jack, no tire-goo and only a cell-phone, (rationale: I don't carry a spare alternator in the C4 either and those crap out more often than I get a flat tire on the road). As such, I understand that I'm not a player but here's a thought:

I'm reminded back to when we used to "true" tires without load before balancing them. Later in life, we graduated to the "tire matching" game of playing with shoulder flex under near-static loads then balancing them. Both of these techniques were intended (maybe successful, maybe not) in delaying the development of adverse wear patterns, providing ride smoothness, preventing hang-nails and forestalling old age.

The old rule was, "...once a wear pattern is established it will continue and get worse."

I'm not sure if cupping development is caused by spot changes in shoulder flex (a little wear in a turn, then flex changes, then the wear is aggrevated ??? ) Possibly a periodic maintenance procedure like 'tire matching' might arrest the pattern development. I think that for non-runflats, tire matching every 4-5K miles wouldn't pay it's way but for EMT's it might be worth trying. Probably wouldn't sell though--the average guy would see them grinding rubber off the tire and would have a cow.

Hey Dad--just to cheer you up, nothing at a dealer comes in for less than 0.5 hours any more -- Just got dinged 0.5 hours @ $106/hr. to reset the RKE system in mama's barge when my old RKE fob went through the washing machine. (That job was 9 minutes including pulling the car in and out of the TECH2 service bay -- I watched from across the parking area while the guy did the job.) Did get a "free" car wash and a nice piece of blotter paper on the cockpit floor though.

-- PJ

Been all through that and you're right on, once a pattern is started your can't shave enough off to get past the heat effect. Also went to the trouble of "rotating" the tires by dismounting and putting them on the other side, no help. Even went so far as to make numerous relocations on the rim to make the tire/rim combination run as true as possible and rejected 2 tires that had more than 1/2 ounce weight.

Put on the non-run flats and forgot about the tires and enjoyed the excellent ride they provided. Dunlop, made by Goodyear, explain that.

That don't cheer me up at all, if your lawyer charged you for 2 letters and sent one it would be the same kind of padding used by the dealers. I'm sure you feel secure that your lawyer doesn't do that kind of thing with their hours, right?

I think this in the same procedure I've done on my sensors with a $7.00 magnet from Ace Hardware.

"After Kauffman installed the new sensors, we discovered they didn't work. So we visited John Wysocki at Maher Chevrolet, and he walked us through the sequence on how to reprogram the sensors. John demonstrated the process by pressing the option button on the dash until you get the English Language message. When that message appears hold the button. With your other hand press the reset button twice and hold it until you get the tire training message on the dash, then release the buttons. Next, get out of the car and hold a magnet over the left front valve stem until the horn sounds once. Repeat the process (LF, RF, RR, LR) for all four tires. Like magic, we now had our tire sensors working. The reprogramming only took about five minutes."

Thanks for the thought but you need to be aware that this was on the C6, not the C5. Actually I reset the pressure sensors many times when I owned C5s with an old magnet from the bottom of an old transmission pan, works great.

Even at my advanced age I'm more than willing to learn and if you can show me where it explains how to train the sensors on the C6 with a magnet, I'm all for it. I have the manual and I have chased this procedure for over a year with no results other that the transmitter sold by Bartec or your friendly Chevrolet dealer. There was one method for the C6 where you dropped the pressures very low to get the sensors to reset but that didn't work either.

By the way I have a set of 4 with nuts for sale from the '04 for $95 shipped. Note, these will not work on the C6 or the 1998, 99, 2000 Corvette, just the 2001, '02, '03, and the '04.

I may be all wet on this but I think this is one more TECH2 job where the Body Control Module (BCM) has to be accessed. Haven't called everyone in town but to date I've not found an independent shop that can reach beyond the PCM/ECM in the C5/C6 -- no BCM capabilities yet. So far, it's go to the dealer and pay 50-75 dollars every time you need your nose wiped. Ths stuff is simple but way beyond what we do with our laptops on the C3/C4. As the late C5s and C6s age we'll have a greater need to tackle these "small" jobs.

Sounds like a good project for a Corvette Club -- buy one of the aftermarket re-programmers and annual software updates. Probably won't do all the of the jobs the TECH2 does but might do enough to make it a worthwhile investment. Someone bring the programmer at each monthly meeting etc. etc.

Anyone know of a club that's tackled this yet??

-- PJ

Snip

You're not all wet, it takes the transmitter or a Tech2. As for a club doing it I think most are to picky to let someone have something that they can't have when they want it. On the other hand those that drive the older Corvette would see no need to invest in something that they can't use. Ever been in a club that didn't have the cheapskate that doesn't want to spend anything? I know a Corvette owner that still has his '56 bought new, great guy but he would never see the need to spend money on anything let alone something of no emanate value to him. Funny part is he smokes, in other words burns his money in more ways than one but he made it to 80+.

Dad