Corvette Tech: C8 Z06 Engine Ticking, C8 Alignment Woes, Carbon Fiber Wheel Care, & More!

Corvette technician Chuck Metts covers a wide range of owner submitted tech questions that many of us can benefit from.

The Corvette is a tremendous performance car, but it is also a complex one. And although the C8 generation has been out for a few years now it is still relatively new in the grand scheme of things. With the new layout, and technology of the latest generation came a slew of questions and concerns from owners. As the miles pile up and as more and more cars hit the streets the questions keep coming. Thankfully we have someone like Corvette technician Chuck Metts to help us address some of these tech questions.

Recently a new video was posted on the Rick Corvette Conti YouTube channel. It is another installment in the Tech Tuesday series that has Metts and Rick Conti reading and answering viewer submitted tech questions. This installment focuses primarily on the C8 cars, but the C7 crowd is not forgotten either. If you have one of these cars, or are considering one, this video is well worth watching. Several different topics are covered, so let’s get right into it.

C8 Z06 Engine Ticking

We start out the tech questions by hearing from an owner that has several C8 Z06s in his local Corvette club that are dealing with the engine ticking noise. It is a known issue that Chevrolet has issued a TSB on already. The issue is that the camshaft caps are misaligned. The fix is to realign them. If the issue is on the driver’s side the engine does not have to come out for this work according to Metts. But this is still not a quick fix and will take a couple days. If the issue is on the passenger side the engine and transmission must be dropped and this is an even longer procedure.

C8 Tire Cupping

A C8 Stingray customer had his car in the shop because he noticed that the inside rear tires were starting to cup. The factory alignment on the C8 is a middle ground between a street setup and a track setup. Over time this setup will cause the inside of the rear tires to wear faster. It is possible to adjust the alignment to reduce the risk of this. However, you should wait at least 500 miles before doing so to allow the suspension to settle. It also needs to be said that the Corvette in the shop has 26,000 miles on this set of tires and cupping is just starting to appear. Getting that many miles on a set of rear tires in a performance car such as this is not bad at all.

C8 Z51 Rear Brake Cooling Ducts

The C8 Z51 rear cooling ducts are a bit tricky to explain. They have two main components. There is a rear knuckle mounted cooling duct that is installed during PDI and can always be left on the car. They are flat and tucked up higher, so they won’t collect debris. The second component is a brake duct scoop that should only be used on track days. The reason is the scoop will hang lower under the car to grab air to cool the brakes. Great for the track. But on the street, they will scoop up debris that will clog the scoops and potentially lead to a fire.

The Carbon Fiber wheels that are available on the Z06 and E-Ray are light and beautiful to look at. Folks want to keep them looking beautiful, so a question was asked about ceramic coating them. More specifically the barrel of the wheel which is white. We get the answer directly from Corvette engineer Josh Holder. Holder explains that he would not ceramic coat that portion of the wheel because it is already coated. The coating is there to protect the carbon fiber resin from heat. It is applied to the barrel and the back spoke of the wheel. Best advice is to just clean them with normal wheel cleaner.

C7 Manual Transmission Temperature

The owner of a modified C7 Corvette explains that when driving 30+ miles on the highway he is seeing transmission temperature readings of 230 degrees and wants to know if that is normal. Metts researched this question and found that GM does not really have any temperature recommendation. The only thing he did find was for the automatic transmission a temperature of 270 degrees is considered overheating. So, no definitive answer here other than the 230-degree reading should be fine.

C8 Headlights Chipping Paint

There have been reports of paint chipping around the headlights of C8 Corvettes. The issue comes from the lights not being aligned properly and as a result they put stress on the points around them and can cause the paint to chip. It is annoying but GM will correct this under warranty. However, check for this condition carefully before having PPF installed on your car. GM will NOT pay for the PPF to be reinstalled due to paint chipping from misaligned lights.

C8 Instrument Cluster and HUD Goes Dark

Another tech question was raised regarding the C8 instrument cluster and HUD suddenly going completely dark. This can obviously be quite unsettling as you are driving down the road. Conti and Metts explain that in most cases the fix is simple. You need to shut the car off and let it go into sleep mode. That can easily be done by opening the door and shutting the car down. Upon restarting the display should come back on. If not, you will need to schedule a service visit.

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