The upcoming 2022 Cadillac Blackwing ultra-high-performance luxury sedans will be fitted as standard with tires specially designed for them. More specifically, the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing will both ride on Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.
The high-performance summer tire features a multi-compound tread composition. In fact, each tire features three rubber compounds. The predominant one is known as “R compound”, and is a high-performance material covering the majority of the tread.
Mirza Grebovic, Cadillac Performance Variant Manager, provided further details during a recent interview with GM Authority executive editor Alex Luft.
“They are TPC [Tire Performance Criteria] spec, which means they are uniquely built for our V-Series Blackwing cars,” Grebovic explained. “So when you go buy them on Tire Rack or anywhere else, it will say TPC, which means they were made for our cars.
What the TPC spec impacts is “the stiffness of the tire and the characteristics of the rubber.” Grevobic explains that “the team went through various submissions of tires to make sure that the steering, the wet performance, and the dry performance was all to our liking, and we picked a specific spec just for us.”
The Cadillac Blackwing models are of different sizes and weights, and have different power outputs. They are also rear-wheel-drive only, since Cadillac decided not to offer them with all-wheel-drive. The resulting variety of performance requirements means that each axle of each vehicle has its own unique tire size.
The Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing has a twin-turbocharged 3.6L V6 LF4 engine rated at 472 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque, and uses 255/35ZR18 tires at the front and 275/35ZR18 tires at the rear.
The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing will be the most powerful model Cadillac has ever put into production, since its supercharged 6.2L V8 LT4 engine produces 668 horsepower and 659 pound-feet of torque. Its tire requirements are clearly different from those of the CT4-V Blackwing, so it will wear 275/35ZR19 rubber at the front and 305/30ZR19 at the rear.
As of this writing, both Cadillac Blackwing models will go into production at the GM Lansing Grand River plant in Michigan on July 5th. Starting prices are $59,950 for the CT4-V Blackwing and $84,990 for the CT5-V Blackwing.
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Comments
Some things………….the tires on the CT5 should be bigger…like 305/25ZR 19’s at the front, and 315/20ZR 20’s at the rear, and they should be Pilot SC4R’s….
This is some serious horsepower, and the CT5 Blackwing will underperform wo the best tires…
The Camaro ZL1 1LE ETR comes with 305/325 PSC4R’s on the car …it has the same engine with only 640hp. and it is a beast….
Cadillac is trying to straddle the middle between softer ride, and top dog performance….I built a CT5 Blackwing the way I would want it and it topped out at $118,000+. This is some very serious money for a car that is in the same segment as a C class MB, 4 Series BMW, and Audi 4S…
Keep in mind that this is “older” engine technology that has been in the ZO6 Corvette for years…
Then, buyers will probably be dropping $40/50 grand on after market parts…i.e. intake, exhaust, wheels, etc….I love LMR in Texas, they will squeeze 800-1000hp out of this baby Caddy………….
All of you morons who think the tires should be wider clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.
First off the engineers know very well what they’re doing here. They could use any size and they selected what they did because it is what is needed, not because they’re chasing some random number to have the widest tire here.
Second, a wider tire results in more noise particularly on the highway. These are luxury cars, so keep that in mind.
Also you complainers should know that the CT5-V BW has the widest tires in its segment. Don’t let the facts get in the way of reality.
Jake,
We’ll get you a set of 235/75R15 run flat performance tires for Christmas.
Dude
I’d say the CT4 lines up more against the C class, 4 series, etc. and the CT5 against the E, 5, etc..
Incorrect. This has been reviewed many times.
CT4 is c segment.
CT5 is d segment.
Both are larger than other models in the segment for a reason called strategy.
Pricing and consideration fits with each segment.
I know the strategy well… however, consumers and auto reviewers are by and large comparing the CT5 to the mid-size Euro sedans and the CT4 to the compact luxury sedans (think A4.) Yes the strategy is interstitial but in reality these are just the smaller and lighter cars in their actual comparison class. Which is how they compete as the value-priced competitors in the domestic market where foreign nameplates carry more equity/badge appeal (for now, EV world will be different fortunately.)
Only keeping that rubber until 2022.
Then the CT4, CT5, and Camaro are canceled just like everything else at GM.
Do you have a source or was this just hyperbole?
Thx
Just FUD. He never has any clue what he is talking about.
I agree, the tires should be wider, but these are heavier highway cars. Hopefully the R compound is real soft with a treadwear rating of 40. Then there is the problem of not being able to drive the tires in cold weather below 40 degrees F (5 degrees C). Nobody likes that restriction. These tires may only be good for 10,000 – 15,000 miles.