tyre help !

Welcome to the group Mike. I'm up the road a bit in Alice Springs.

Pay the extra & go for the XWX's.
I fitted a set to my 400i a couple of years ago & they handle really well & suit the car. My car had a mixture of Goodyear & Bridgestone when I bought it & one of the rear tyres snapped a belt under acceleration. The XWX's also gave me that little bit of extra clearance to get over speed humps without scraping the extractors.

Cheers Al

 

Welcome, Mike.

The metric tyres are worse, so count your blessings! The cars really do work better on the original style of tyre (not that I can talk). If you do locally source a set, make sure that they're not old stock (check the date codes).

 

Sadly affordable 215/70R15 with good grip and correct W speed rating does not exist. The only one I can think of is the £99 offer Pirelli CN12 from Longstone Tyres. These are without DOT and E markings - hence the price.

If You're not that picky about the correct speed rating then there are the BF Goodrich Radial T/A and Cooper Cobra Radial G/T - both in 215/70R15. White letters on one side but not directional - so can be flipped. Don't know if they handle turns though...

Other then those there's only cheap van tyres and other non-exiting options.

Good correct tyres starts at £250 and up to above £320. XWX are AUS$523 bought directly from Longstone Tyres. Personally I've been considering the Avon ACR3 in 225/70R15. Originally for the Aston Martin DBS & V8. A bit cheaper then XWX but not a bargain. They can handle the speed and weight of the car and will lower the rpm by about 2%. Perfect for the low gearing in these three pedal cars

 

Congrats on the car, as others have said there are really no options in that size / speed rating except the Michelins or Pirelli, the Michlin where the OEM fitment and work well with the car.

Stuckey tires in Melbourne are the distributor for the Michelin classic tires
Michelin Classic Tyres Return
Also get a quote from Longstone Tyres in the UK, they are a sponsor here.

 

I went through Longstone and they were great to deal with and the tyres were only weeks old. Delivery was quick and to my surprise the tires turned up at my local Post Office - they passed them through the parcel collection hatch to me.

 

I suppose 19021 still has the Michelin MXV 215/65x15 on it as when I owned it.

The rolling dia. of this tyre is a tad small so the ride height is a little low.

There are tyre choices available that meet the load and (legal) speed requirements, but you have to ask yourself whether it is worth compromising originality to save a relatively small amount of money compared to the value of the car.

One is Pirelli P1 215/70x15 - a passenger (not SUV) tyre that is available at AUD175 and meets the load/insurance requirements. However it has truly awful sidewall graphics and would look horrible on a 365GT4.

I suggest you suck it up and fork out for XWX's. You won't regret it in the long term.

Also, the spare on your car was a "never roaded" XWX that will match new XWX's (even if it is quite old). The spare rim on 19021 is special - It probably has never been fitted on a car and is a great reference for the correct Ferrari wheel colour for the period.

Regards

WM

 

Thank you for the kind words.

Here is the link for the 365 GT4 2+2 Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 | Longstone Tyres

My feeling is that i can justify the price of these tyres, but when you add up the cost of a set of these tyres then it just comes to a large dint in your credit card.

the good news is our carriage is very cheap, often free, and they get there pretty quick.

You can also choose your currency to a certain extent.

And yes Stuckey is the dealer in Aus. He is very good.

currently the Cinturato CN date code is 1717
XWX is 0317

The massive bargain is the Non emarked a DOT marked Cinturato CN12 215/70VR15 PIRELLI CN12 (Vintage Car use only, no DOT or E Mark) | Longstone Tyres witha 4215 date code. Please read the page carefully before you buy.

The large print giveth
and the small print taketh away