Just a little heads up for you guys that after only 4500 miles on my Cobalt, I've already worn out the front two tires. My service guy at my chevy dealer said he has never ever seen tires wear out that fast, ever. Lots of people said it looked like I took the car to the drag strip, that's how bad my front tires were.

The thing is, I don't even drive all that hard. I have fun when I drive, sure, but I rarely speed and I rarely race and I rarely spin the tires.

So keep an eye on your fronts, and make sure you check your tire pressure. It matters.
-Aleckor

P.S. (Since the guys at Chevy couldn't believe how fast I wore out the tires, they replaced them free with the warranty covering defective tires and made me promise to take it easy the next time or they wouldn't replace them again)

P.S.S. I'm running the stock LS tires, Touring Continental 15"s

 

I'm really surprised of that on an LS. I have 7500 on my Pzeros and I drive the car spiritedly and I only have 35% wear on the fronts. That's not bad IMO.

 

You must be taking the highway ramps 20 mph above the reccommended EVERY day.

 

Actually, I think it was a culmination of wanting to go 0-45 at EVERY single traffic light/stop sign ever for the first 2000 miles of my car (Never had a brand new car before!) Mixed with the excitement that I just got the car I've always wanted (minus the SS/SC), The Cobalt!

Then on top of that, having that exact same "Oh my god I have a new car and it rocks!" feeling whilst being employed as a newspaper carrier.

Middle of the night + Tons of corners + New car = Bald front tires.
-Aleckor

 

Those tires are ****. Its not a surprise that they wore out quick. The best mod so far for me was buying better tires. Worth every penny.

 

The 15" touring continentals are ****? Why? - Which tires did you up to? Did you go to 16"s?
-Aleckor

(Very interested in new tires)

 

I hear Nitto has some good tires that should fit on the LS. Just as grippy as my Toyo Proxes4--about the same treadwear rating (pretty soft tire), and they're actually a little cheaper than Toyo I think. I've had my Proxes4 tires on since March when it stopped snowing (I run Yokohama IceGuard snow tires in the winter on some 17" cheapo Konig wheels)--and I haven't had a problem yet. I do autocross on these tires, interstate driving, canyon runs, daily to-and-from-work driving in these tires and haven't had a problem yet. Maximum grip for the budget. I would recommend Toyo Proxes4 or Nitto 555, if you have the budget. it should be noted that these are pretty much spring/summer tires only--in colder temps, I would run snow tires or all-season performance tire.

 

I don't really like my 15"s I fell in love with the 18"s I saw on the SS/SC and I've been wondering how hard it would be to get 18"s safely on my LS. I might have to go with 17"s instead. Do any of you know about this?

I was at the dealer to replace my two fronts anyways, so I walked around looking at all the other Cobalts and their tires/rims. Only the SS/SC stood out as anything worth looking at, to be honest. I hate all of the 15"s and most of the 16"s I saw.
-Aleckor

 

Do you have 5-lug or 4-lug wheels? I know 07 some of the 2.2s had 5-lug but I think they were the ones with 16" wheels. If you only have 4 lug it's not going to be worth doing all the work to convert it to 5-lug. You're better off going with aftermarket wheels.

 

Quit drivin like a maniac..........

Christ, where do you folks come up with the cash for this stuff? Frying tires , clutches, rotors........on and on. $5000 mods here and there.

Daddy?......Mommy?

Jesus, get them to buy you a 911 and be done with it. It'll be cheaper in the end.

This is a cheap car. It's meant for people that can't afford anything better.

 

First of all, I wasn't driving like a maniac. I've never had a new car before, and so yeah I drove it hard for the first few thousand miles. I wanted to test the limits of my new car and see what it could and couldn't do.

Secondly, I can't afford to "fry my tires" - That's why I went to my dealer to find out about my tire warranty. They replaced my two fronts without me even asking them to. It was kind of like a gift, because they were baffled as to how it happened. I promised to take it easy, they replaced my tires. Simple as that.

Daddy? Mommy? I work 2 jobs - one part time, one full time, and go to college part time. I purchased my Cobalt with 100% My own personal credit, with NO co-signer and I am 22 years old. I've never gotten a ticket, and I've never been in an accident - My fault or otherwise - *knock on wood*

So I resent your comments, and I'd appreciate not being generalized and stereotyped into the category of the "Mommy and daddy" racer/ricers out there.

Maybe if you actually had a clue what you were talking about, you could contribute positively to the discussion at hand instead of just making yourself look like an ass.

kthxbye
-Aleckor

 

You might be able to pick up some used rims in the classified section.

 

7300 miles on my car, and i just checked tread wear. ive got 9/32 up front and 10/32 in the rear and trust me, those tires seen too much abuse. but i was expecting to have like 7/32 up front.

oh well, tire rotation time. and FROM FACTORY!!!!!!! one of my tires was counter balanced. yeah for retards behind the balancing machines.

 

can u say front end alignment

 

I told myself I won't replace the wheels untill I wear out the stock tires. I have been doing everything I can to try to wear out the tires, but its just not happening. autrcross evey chance I get, push most turns a little faster than I should, I have fun with the car without abusing anything but the tires. the tires still look brand new... I think a round piece of granite would be softer than them, and wear faster...

 

Ship them out to me. My tires were fried, completely bare, before 14,000... (Thankfully! Shitty tires!)

Get Potenza G009s, it is a night and day difference between them and the Contis.

 

glad i got rid of my stockers! Falken FTMFW!!

 

17s fit with no problems though anything above that and you will be into a little more work.

 

cause they dont grip in the wet...or snow...or dry, they just suck, i got 17" goodyear eagle RS-a's, they grip a ton better

rim size dosnt matter much, its the tire size...people have fit 20's on our cars

 

Those tires are total ****. Talk about risking your life. I have 17" Federals on right now. Will be getting a new set of snow tires when the winter hits. Probably Good Year Eagles with studs.

 

good idea. well what do you expect when you buy a base model cobalt, as long as it runs, warranty, and gets me from point a to b safely and fastly (well compared to a 93 lumina)

 

Safely? Not on the Continentals! You'd be better off running on bald tires found in back of Firestone!

 

I have to disagree on the snow part, sure they are horrible if they get a little wet, and on dry pavement they just slide around a lot, but in snow I was VERY impressed with them. I don't know if any of you paid any attention to the weather channel, or bothered to remember, but last winter in colorado we got about 3-4 feet of snow. I'm talking snow, not drifts, it was litterly 3-4 feet everywhere, with drifts around 6 feet. no one went anywhere. The army and national guard were out in tanks and hummers to pick up stranded people, and there were a TON of them. the day after it cleared up I had to go into work, it didn't matter if i snowshowed in, I had to go. so i figured why not try the car. my driveway was clear so I got a good run at the snow, hit it and never slowed down. I must have passed 10-15 4x4 trucks stuck on the side of the road. none of the roads were plowed, most only had one or two tracks in them from other cars. It was really snowmobile weather but with the factory tires I managed to make it to work, and back home, without getting stuck once.

I'm not expecting the same luck this year with my car being lowered, but the tires did very well through snow, but in deep snow it's 90% driver ability; not to brag any...

 

Exacally. And as they are trying to grip they are melting away before your eyes.

I think its tirerack.com that you can go on and actually read reviews on tires from people who have baught them. Might be of intrtest to you.

Good luck.

 

they are that bad? i have not driven one long enough to know that they must suck badly...hmmmm thats ashame