Get Ad-Free Access: Just $39/year

Randy Pobst Put Inferior Tires on a C8 Corvette and Track Tested It

Tires Matter, Folks

C8 Corvette

Get Some Good Rubber

Motor Trend’s Randy Pobst gets some of the best tests. He recently had a chance to take a C8 Corvette out on a track, but there was a bit of a twist. Pobst first took the car out with the tires it’s supposed to have on. He did a lap, and then he came back and the team put on some inferior tires. Then he went back out on the track.

The difference, notes Pobst is notable right away. The Michelin tires that were designed specifically for the Corvette perform much better overall.

Pobst notes that straight-line speed didn’t seem to be impacted as much. That said, he did point out that the car slows a lot faster when you just let off the gas. The really notable factor was in the corners, though.

The inferior tires caused the car to be more skittish in the corners. Where the Michelin tires make the car easy to control and sometimes induced understeer, the inferior tires produced oversteer and more difficult to control characteristics in the car.

Check out the video below to see the tires in-action.