Tires 328

Must be a different tyre to the Pilot Sport 4s I'm using. I had 2 sets of the Good Year F1s with the Gatorback tread, then the P7Cs & now the PS4s.

The Michelins are the best of the lot.

 

Pilot Sport is one tire. Pilot AS is a different tire. Tires shown as currently available are Pilot AS. I have had them on our AMG because they are good in the rain. Don't care about that on the 328 because I dont drive it in the rain. In the dry its pretty average.

 

Never once argued differently. Do you speak English over there? You guys are reading a lot into something I am not saying. Can you site one instance I said differently?

 

...except, but this is an aside, on the french-delivered 328s, which reverted, about the middle of the production run (at the time when the "88.5" cars appeared with the revised suspension and bulged wheels) from Goodyears to Michelins, with a rare tyre, the "MXX" (nothing to do with the TRX) which does not exist today anymore.

Rgds

 

It's always good to hear the opinion of someone who checks tires regularly = =

 

Now, now Brian !

I'm not reading anything into what you said. All I said was that the PS4s are great (and that's been in the wet or the dry)

Not everything with the "Pilot" branding is questionable.

I try not to drive my car much in the wet either (mostly because I'm not that keen on washing it!) but over here at least sometimes it just sneaks up on you.

 

Folks. Purchase Michelins, They are closing one after another factory over here leaving behind thousands of unemployed.
Without kidding; my current Michelin Exalto PS2 are the best tyres I had in 30 years on my 308's 16" wheels. Pilot Sport 1st gen. came second.
Pirelli P Zero Nero were the worst.
Goodyear Eagles were on the car when I bought it. Don't know if it was the age of the tyres or typical for them. It was an uncomfortable rough ride.

Best
Martin

 

Hi

If it is Longstone tyres that is being quoted here there have been some seriously important misinterpretations in this post which i hope to set straight

It isn't that the Cinturato P7 was designed for the 328. It is the other way round. The 328 was designed to go with P7, well OK; The 328 was deigned for the Goodyear Eagle. What i really mean is that cars of that period were designed with that kind of tyre carcass. They compliment each other.

I had better explain myself a bit better.

The important thing in a tyres suitability to a car is its carcass. Compounds and tread pattern, are not so important as having a carcass structure being suited to the chassis design. As ferrari were developing there cars, tyre technology moved on. Car manufacturers would subtley tune their geometry to take advantage of the new advances tyre manufactueres made. (And it did also work the other way round, in that tyre manufacturers tuned the tyre carcass design in relation to car manufactures chassis being able to keep the footpint in contact with the road and the steering being able to handle the levels of grip). This is the period where massively wide low profile tyres were being developed. Car manufacturers, specially Ferrari, were finding these huge new levels of grip something that they needed to get their cars able to take advantage of. but you wanted loads of grip, yet still maintain some progressive handling and it is this suble area where you get toward the edge of the grip where a car lets you know it is about to brake away before it actually just lets go. That is the bit we are trying to maintain. Progressive predictable handling, which is best provided by a carcass design, suited to the chassis geometry.

don't think a modern tyre is better made than the current Pirelli Collezione Cinturato P7. These Collezione tyres are made in the best of Pirelli's own factories to the highest standard.

Don't go thinking that a modern tyre has better gripping compounds. They don't. These are Pirellis upto date modern compounds that really move the water. Which is why Porsch have homologated them and now Ferrari have homologated a P7 for the 288GTO and TestaRossa. Have you seen the tyre tests done by the German magazines.

Are modern tread patterns better? they, might move water better? I doubt it, without being a specifically designed wet. The P7 design is nice and open, and has the lines round it like a modern tyre which is suprisingly advanced for period. Will a modern tyre have better fuel economy, well maybe a little bit. P7 didn't benefit from the computer modeling that modern tyres use to resolve that, But that isn't a Ferrari Concern. Computer modeling would also apply to noise, but again they were very advanced in that all the tread blocks are slightly different sizes so they dont reverberate. Again not a Ferrari Concern. The P7 was an incredibly advanced tread pattern for its period, and yes computer modeling might very slightly improve some of the lesser imprtant factors to a Ferrari owner, but more importantly they look right and handle better.

The P7 gives the right feel and progressive performance. the fact they look right is an added advantage, The P7 carcass presents the tread to the road in a way that perfecttly suits the 328's chassis geometry. better than that of a modern tyre.

(if you are going racing and have modified the car to suit modern tyres that is different, and it won't make as nice road car. horses for courses.)

They haven't had issues, but they haven't handled as well as the Collezione Cinturato P7 would do.

The only advances that modern tyres have are not appropriate to a 328. These advances are to make tyres that work in a different enviroment, on a modern car with very different camber and caster, and very clever modern power steering that overcomes the difficulties that these geometry changes cause. and very clever suspention to keep that footprint on the road, all of which is not present on a 328, and would be derogatory to its steering responsiveness and progressive handling.

You could buy 2 TVR's for the price of a Ferrari, because a Ferrari is better, and more bespoke, with less regard to what it costs to make it the best thing possible. Thats what makes Ferrari and thats what makes a Cinturato P7.

Well they handle 'OK' on a modern tyre, but If the handling of your 328 as a road car is most important to you, fit the Pirelli Collezione Cinturato P7. That way you can be pleased that as well as handling better than anything else on the market, it handles and feels the way it should. You can be comfortable knowing it is made with the very best materials and quality control systems, and that the compounds you have give extrordinary leveles of grip. More than they did in the day and more than the majority of the modern tyres on the road.

the fact they look good is a bonus

 

Last week, I had Continental Extreme Contact Sport 2 tires installed. I went with stock sizes (205/55 R16, 225/50 R16). A massive improvement (less road noise, no more tramlining) over the previous set: Pirelli P0 Rosso Classic. I didn't realize how horrible they were until now.

 

I also went with the Continental Extreme tires and really like them, and they are reasonably priced.