Need 1 Avon CR28 Size: 220/55VR390

Tracked my car for the 1st time yesterday!! Had a great time, except that at one point managed to put a flat spot on a a front tire. So I need a replacement.

My current tires are only a couple of years old. They were about the last CR28 Size: 220/55VR390s before AVON stopped production. I'm hoping someone knows of a stray tire that's less than 5 years old & has plenty of tread. The other 3 tires still have plenty of tread.

I don't really want to have to buy a pair of Michelin TRX's & run miss-matched front-rears.

I'm saving to buy 16" wheels, but have other maintenance expenses planned & badly need these CR28s to last 3 more years.

Unless someone knows of a set of 16" wheels I can get for less than $1k. Would be willing to repair curb rash, but can't be bent.

 

Am willing to pitch in $50 towards the new Avon tire or (better still) new rims/tires as Verell has been VERY HELPFUL over the years. He has saves me $$$$ with excellent servicing advice and some personal help so i feel it is the very least i could do for him. While i realize Verell may feel a bit taken aback by this offer, he is truly a jewel here on Fchat who freely provides help to us all.

Would it be too out of line to start a Verell fund raiser for new rims and tires here on Fchat? In high school i spent many a weekend washing cars, sold $1 candy boxes, etc to pay for marching/jazz band field trips. The small $50 is barely more than a tank of gas, let alone a single hour of labor to a Ferrari mechanic and Verell has freely given me MANY hours of help.

 

Verell, you are not going to believe this but I came across one today at a car show. the only problem as I see it is that its in the UK, sorry about that !

 

Verell, check Ebay. I saw some 16" 308 wheels + tires for around $1000 yesterday!

Now that I've helped you, would you check out my post in the tech section concerning my non-operative A/C compressor and give me your advice?!!

Thanks,
Greg
1977 308
(new Sanden A/C compressor)

 

I will contribute towards any fund for getting Verell some wheels! How many times has Verell saved my bacon? More than I care to count. A set of Superformance QV wheels was about $1600 last time I checked. Lets get 16 people who have all been greatly assisted by Verell and each kick in $100 to buy him some new wheels! (If we buy the wheels, he can buy the tires!)

I'm in for $100 and I'm upping Steven's donation to $100 too. (You don't mind, right Steven? ) OK, we only need 14 more donations!



Birdman

 

Count Me in on the fund for new tire/wheels for Verell, He RULES and has been a Godsend for ALL of Us Ferrarichaters!

 

Yeah! Way to go! We're up to $300 for Verell's wheels!

 

Just an FYI, that's how much the extra set of wheels and tires for the Mondial set me back (with shipping).

 

Hi Verell,
Cooper tire bought Avon a while back, their head corporate office is below, along with Avon's UK contact info. They may be able to check if they have any warehouse or dealers with some laying around. I would imagine if they find any, they will be a few years old. Probably the best chance would be to contact the UK, they might have supplied them a bit longer to Europe vs US. I do know, that there were quite a few Avons sitting in a warehouse in a southern state, which is where I found the ones on my 365. I called down there but they could not answer my question today, the person that could have, already went home. You could try the Findlay Ohio number, they have been very helpful to me in the past, providing stock, location, info on how to get grubby hands on them.

Good luck,
Bill


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Avon Tyres Racing
Bath Road
Melksham
Wiltshire SN12 8AA

Phone - +44 (0)1225 703101
Fax - +44 (0)1225 707443

[email protected]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Contact Information

The Cooper Tire & Rubber Company
701 Lima Avenue
Findlay, OH 45840
419-423-1321

Cooper Tire: 1-800-537-9523

 

Birdman,Steven,sp308qv
Thanks for your generosity! Hopefully I can track down a CR28 & won't have to take you up on it.

greg328,
Unfortunately, those eBAY wheels are metric TRX rims like my current ones. Have had a running search for an eBAY bargain on QV/non-ABS 328 16" rims for almost a year now. So far they've gone for more than a set of new repros from Superformance.

bill365,
Tnx for saving my having to look up Cooper tire's contact info. Called the Findlay, OH number. They immediately told me "Avon tires are only sold thru Tire Rack & gave me Tire Rack's 800 #." When I bought my CR28s 3 years ago, Tire Rack wasn't carrying Avon, so I'm very dubious.

My son works in a BMW dealer parts dept. He called all their tire suppliers to see if they could locate one. They could only search their own warehouses & Cooper's nat'l warehouse - no luck. So I hope your southern warehouse still has one lying around somewhere.

Am going to start calling the places that part out 308s to see if they might have one in reasonable shape & not too old.

Appreciatively,

 

Have contacted the places I'm aware of that part out 3x8s:
George Evans, FerrariPartsExchange, TRutlands, & Butch Hooper

With no luck. Only Ferrari Parts Exchange & TRutlands knew that Avon made a 308 TR390 tire!

Brian Keegan did suggest that I see if there's enough tred remaining for a race shop to shave the tire back round. Will take a look tonight.

Will call tire rack later today.

bill365,
Any word from your southern tire warehouse?

 

Verell, judging from what i saw at the track the tire is pretty much spent

 

went through all that like six months ago and only thing I could find was those damn TRXs are tirerack. $200 a friggin' tire for cryin' out loud. I'm doing 16" wheels next time.
Good luck V, I'll chime in with the rest of the fellas, you have helped a number of us.

 

bill365,
Your 'southern tire warehous' is my last hope...

Just called Tire Rack, who told me they never carried the Avon CR28s, just 3 models of the new Avon performance line. Said that Coker should have the CR28s tho & gave me Coker's phone#.

Called Coker, with expected results: Never carried Avons, offered Michelin TRX's at a mere $323 + shipping.

BTW, TRutlands is out of the Superformance 16" wheels, aren't sure when they'll get more in as Superformance has been sold!

 

Verell, stupid question but is the spare the correct size and brand or is that a Michelin?

 

Interesting reading, as I am looking for 2 new Michelin TRX tires in the same dimension 220/55VR390 as you (not for my TR, but for my BMW M5). I will check the adresses mentioned, as these are impossible to find here in Norway, and I was afraid it was very difficult abroad as well.

 

Interesting, wonder how that will affect things.

 

LVG,
Tire Rack (www.tirerack.com) has the best price on Michelin TRX 220/55VR390 tires & they had them in stock yesterday. $211 USD/tire.

Coker has them, but price is over $100 USD/tire higher!

Spider348,
No cigar, spare is a Michelin of sorts... I've got the Euro space-saver spare with 22 year old Michelin rubber on it. Hope it'll get me home in an emergency, but sure won't be driving fast!

Am going to discuss $ for a set of 16" wheels with Cindy tonight, will call if I need a place to sleep afterwards (LOL).

 

Pretty much what I found out last time. You have SO many more tire options with the 16" wheels. Plus I like th elook better than the 390s.

 

Umm,
Can you really see the difference between a 390 (15.35") & a 16" wheel? I can't, even when they're side by side. 14" vs 16" is noticable difference.

 

To me its the sidewall and slight lowering of the car. The first pic is mine, the others an '85 Euro with 16" wheels.
Maybe not a huge diff, but a diff. Maybe its these damn glasses!
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I've given up on finding an Avon CR28. Am going to start shopping for a set of 16" wheels.

 

Verell,
A pair of Michelin TRX from tirerack is still "only" going to cost $450. It's a lot, but cheaper than a set of 16" wheels+tires.

Of course, I would get the new wheels, if Cindy won't kick you out!

Birdman

 

Birdman,

The problem is that Verell will occur this every time he needs new tires. This is why i (literally) threw in the dumpster the metric rims that were here. Other than concourse, they are total crap IMHO for any REAL use. The rubber that fits the metric tires... WAY OVERPRICED crap. For $200 a tire you can get the amazing Mich Pilot Sport PS2... or cheap out and get $100 Kumho that is STILL better than the metric rubber. Agree the initial investment is $$$ to go from metric to 16 (or 17 in my case).

So Verell, shall we all PM you to send our checks? Seriously Verell, get 16-inch rims or some others that take standard rubber. The LONG TERM value is well worth it IMHO as will be the tire selection and quality capability. Add to that you can then uprate the brakes...

 

No it isn't.
I'n my 1st post I said that I was saving for 16" wheels when this set of tires wore out. It hasn't been a question of me getting 16" wheels, just when.

Umm, That isn't fair to the Avons. The Avon CR28s are(were?) an English race tire that just happened to be road rated. If you do a web search for Avon CR28 you will discover a lot of purpose built racers & some other European race classes ran the CR28s. That plus they were only $100/tire is why I chose them over the Michelin TRXs.

Anyway, It doesn't look like I'm going to find a lonesome CR28, & I don't want to spend a big % of the price of a set of 16" wheels on Michelin TRXs, so am starting to price shop for 16" wheels.