14inch wheels v 16inch on an early 308.

What about the Bridgestone RE-760? That's a tire that I really like on the 308 16" wheels. Very modern tire and compound, but not so grippy that it overwhelms the chassis.

Of course, the Bridgestone RE-11 (and RE-11A) are available in the 16" sizes as well. I put the RE-11A on my 328, and even though it looks great, it's too much grip for the car. In other words, there's no way that back end is breaking loose.

 

That's a REAL cool ad!

My hope in addition to the common 205-16 n 225-16 is that they will do the odd sizes too like 265 50 15 n 285 15 for the mid size gr4 10inch offin spoke wheels. I recall some of the p7 came in a rare 60 series too in P7R spec. I've seen 205 55-14 P7R's on the 7.5 rims and it fit pretty well despite the lowered height. R&T test with bonderant ran with 225-50-15 on a stock FG Gtb looks to fit nicely also. the 205-70-14 is a real tall tire! There are advantages with lowering a street car with tires rather than springs in terms of geometry.

The cn36 did come in butch sizes too like 215 60 15 and 235 60 15. So sad the boxer 15 inch wheels with the centerlocks to don't bolt right on a 308. Both xwx and cn36 look wonderfully period correct for cars of this era. nearly all of the upper echelon cars came with one or the other before the low profile P7 era first introduced by the fiat abarth 131 followed by the Silhoutte and 930. TRX came in 75 also but didn't find it's way to a production as quickly. Anyone know which was the first TRX car? My brother bought a new ford cobra in 79 and it came the TRX's. In assuming it would be a euro or a French car that would be first.

To these eyes anything over 16 looks wrong on the classic but with the tire availability, huge performance gains and cost we can see why folks go larger

 

Well to my eyes at least the finest iteration of the 308 body style (from a design perspective at least and which of course was also designed by Fioravanti) was in fact the 288 GTO which of course came out 8 years later..... : )

 

Nice and desirable as the 288 is, I still prefer the styling of the original 308. Even in 2015

 

+1

 

Another fan of the 14" here - when I bought my car 2 years ago it was on the original rims & (I'm pretty sure) tyres! The sidewalls were all cracked & the tread rock hard - I went through this dilemma of new 16" rims & low profile tyres v. a set of 4 Michelins (the price was roughly the same!). As I had negotiated the price of the car down to factor in a set of new Michelins (amongst other things) I eventually plumped for them, mainly to keep it as original as possible. The difference between the the new tyres & the old ones was, as the OP says, like fitting power steering! It was also like a handling kit had been fitted when cornering & everyone who gets a ride in the car marvels at how flat it is through long sweeping bends yet retaining such a compliant ride - the exact characteristics I had read about & expected when I purchased the car....

 

Sorry, no experience with this tyre.

 

No affil. There appears to be a decent matched set of Cromos on Fleabay date coded 77 I think. About $750 at the moment...

Best!

 

description says recently refinished. I think he might have made that bit up. They look pretty rough to me.

Spray can maybe?

Thoughts?

 

Agree, all crackly. Don't look all banged up at all though. Might be good for someone who lost them back in the day.

Ciao!

 

A bad refinish can do more than ruin the look.

Be careful....

 

Well, I will let you all know, as I just bought 'em! They are all matching date coded '77s which is better than my current matching set of '78s. If they are as good or better than what I have, I'll sell my current '78s that I bought to replace cruddy BBSs (the gold Belgian waffle style ones).

Ciao!

Hannibal

 

Are you looking to sell your 16'' Speedline Wheels. Looking for a set. Dave


I swopped the wheels over today on my 79' 308 dry sump from Speedline 16 inch fitted with Bridgestone S-02's (205 and 225), to the original 14 inch wheels with XWX's fitted.
Unbelievable difference, the immediate sensation was that I had just fitted power steering as it felt so light to manoeuvre the car at slow speed, then when driving the car felt so alive.
I am sure that ultimate grip levels are not as high, but clearly the car was designed for this setup - its just fantastic.
On the Bridgestone setup the car felt very planted, grippy, heavy, more modern in the steering feel, but not how I remembered my last 308 which I sold about 20 years ago. Interestingly although I was told that both setups have the same rolling radius, the ride height has increased slightly (the car is fitted with lower springs) which helps on the speed bumps.
At first glance it looked weird with the smaller rims and lots of sidewall, but stepping back it looks so right.
The 14's will be staying on the car for sure, and I will now fit new XWX's as the ones on although looking like new are around 12 years old (stored off the car in a cool dark dry garage).
I think for track use there is no contest, but for day to day road use the 14's win.[/QUOTE]

 

My 1979 308GTS had Compomotive TS-16 as I bought it. I'm quite happy with them. But I'm not sure how the original 14" would look like.
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I've just pulled my set of 328 wheels off my car in favor of 16" Speedlines. It's a little more of a traditional look I think. Anyway, my 328 wheels are for sale if anyone is looking. They're in the classified section.

 

Does anyone have any advice on where I can get the 'best' tire available for the 14" wheels?

 

Interesting to ponder, even more interesting that the consensus was that 16 inchers looked better than 14's 'till the market rose. As if the market determines not only value but beauty.

Car is beautiful either way. To my eye the 16's still look best so the reproduction 16's stay on mine and the original 14's stay in the garage.

 

I wonder how far this originality thing will go? Will we start hooking the air pumps back up and taking off the aluminum pedals?

 

If history is a guide, yes. When values go up originality trumps useability.

 

Michelin XWX from Longstone Tyres, one of the sponsors here.

 

Dear all, knowing some members here would have more than 1 sets of 14" x 6.5" wheel rim, don't know whether you can let go a set me, I have 16" set at the moment and would like to try 14" as well. Please email [email protected] to discuss.

Thanks a million.

 

Any particular reason for 6.5 not 7.5 ? My sense is most cars had the latter and certainly most I see for sale are

Also you may find you get a better response to your queries if you put a bit more geographic information in your profile

 

Hi Greyboxer, thank you for your recommendation. You are certainly correct that 7.5 may be widely used and accepted for most 308 users, but checking the manual again, the standard wheel size is 14" x 6.5", and I currently have 16" x 7" front and 8" rear set, just see whether using 6.5" would give even better response for controlling.

I am from Hong Kong and not sure whether members here would part with their spare set and help me to send such long distance.

In case only 7.5" is offered, I would certainly consider.

P.S. the admin would not allow me to post at Classified section, that's why I need to post here.

Thank you all.

 

I agree.

 

The car had 16's on when I bought it, I then located and fitted 6.5 x 14 rims six months ago, used those until this morning when I fitted a set of fresh 7.5 x 14 that I located.
They fill the arches better than the 6.5's which particularly on the rear looked too narrow.

I have also just refitted an original factory single pipe instead of an aftermarket 4 pipe system, and had new springs and Konis fitted along with a full brake rebuild.
The car is now pretty much as it came from the factory, and is a dream to drive.
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