2007 599 GTB. I find the ride quality resulting from the Pirelli PZeros from the factory to be a little harsh. Does anyone agree? Unfortunately, in the 305/35-20 and 245/40-19 combinations, only three tires are offered - the Michelin PS3, Pirellis, and god-awful Bridgestone run-flats are offered. (Okay, and one set of winter tires also). I am thinking of stepping down 10mm in tread width front and rear to 235 and 295, respectively, so that I can use the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, which are great tires and ride very comfortably. I have those tires on my 355 and love them. This will lower sidewall height just a tad and lower the ride height by 7mm front and rear - but I am okay with that, since the HGTE package lowers the ride height by 10mm. Any thoughts?
I am on Pirelli PZeros my self. Changed all four about 4 months ago. I have the challenger wheels. 245/40 in the front 305/35 in the back. The ride feels better on this fresh set than before but its the same brand/ size.
Gotcha, thank you. Am I being too sensitive? How do you judge the ride quality of your 599 with the PZeros - is it a roughy ride or just fine?
I would NOT recommend a more narrow tire on the back....unless you don't mind losing traction and killing yourself or someone else!!!! Seriously!!! I'm going to a 315 on the rear this spring.
I hear you. I don't drive the car very fast or aggressively... I'm actually afraid of the car, and I drive it accordingly. Well, let's ask this question. If we go to 315s rear and 255s front, we have increased the overall tire-wheel diameter by exactly 8 millimeters... Will 255 tires fit in the front? They are 10 mm wider and 8 mm taller. Will they make contact with the fender or other part of the wheel well?
Dave- I would tend to agree with Lew and go with 315s on the rear rather than smaller. Smaller fronts will tend to give a slight bit more understeer, which will probably not bother you too much. Smaller rears with all that torque will tend to give you more oversteer, which can be uncomfortable in some situations. Those small changes will not bother your ABS system. Michelin was expanding the sizes for the PSS, but that seems to have slowed or reversed now. PS3s would not be a good choice.
Thanks Taz... I really think if I go up in overall diameter in the rear, I should do the same in the front... hence my question about the front wheel wells... Your thoughts? Should I just leave the front size alone?
Dave- Affirmative, I would go with the stock 245/40 19 front tires and the slightly larger rears (GTO size). The less than 1% difference (28.68" vs 28.41") in diameter will not affect ABS. The wheelwells on the 599 are huge and the GTO wheels at 9.5Jx20 F and 11.5Jx20 R, with 285/30 20 F and 315/35 20 R tires, fit a 599 perfectly, according to Ferrari.
Need help on the wheels, will it affect the pick up of 599 if I change the wheels, front 20 245/35 rear 21 355/25 on HRE ps101 rims.
Do you mean acceleration? By a marginal amount, yes. There is more surface area on the road by 50 millimeters, which creates additional friction and hence some drag. Will you notice it? Probably not. What you should also be concerned about is ride height - you are lowering it by 10.6 millimeters (overall diameter), but in the rear only. Image Unavailable, Please Login
No problem. When you say "best tire size" - What is it that are you trying to accomplish? For what purpose are you altering the stock size setup? Tire rack will show you original tire sizes, and the tire size calculator at 1010tires.com is useful for calculations.
That I meant is not to have too much drag, also by dropping the rear by 10.60mm like you said, is there any problem? Thanks
84- What you want to make sure is that the front to rear differential from OEM is not more than about 4%. The calculations for tire diameter are really simple and can be done on a hand calculator in about 15 seconds per tire. Takes me a lot longer to type than calculate. OEM (305x.35x2)/25.4=8.41"+20"=28.41" AFM (355x.25x2)/25.4=6.99"+21"=27.99" That is 1.47% difference shorter, which will be negligible on your odometer/speedometer. Since the fronts you are talking about are OEM size, 245/35 20, no problem with this set-up. Or, like Dave said, use TireRack.com and their spec sheets have all the diameters and wheel widths listed. I can usually calculate it faster than looking it up.
I don't get the point of this entire discussion ... Why not just go with what Ferrari recommends in the owner manual and finish the story? IMHO, 315 will not look different than 305 and it would save you all this hassle of figuring out what fits and what doesn't and if it will have any undesirable effects or not. Page 23 of the owner manual attached below. Also the Pzeros are just fine. A fresh set feels slightly better as the old ones were worn out a bit but that's it. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mario- The Michelin PSS is the best tire available for street driven high performance cars, including Ferraris. Superior in all tests I have seen to the Pirelli P Zero. Since the 305/35 20 size is not available for the PSS tires, Owners want to know the next best alternative, and that is the tire fitted to the GTO, the 315/35 20. The other owner is fitting aftermarket wheels. So that is the point of this entire discussion. If you are happy with P Zeros, great, but some owners want better tires.
Find a way to put on the PSS like Terry says. The damping characteristics of these tires really helps tame the "brittle" ride. The rears come in 315 not 305 but they fit and work and also look awesome. Also, the PSS has much more grip than the other tires so its easier to put the power down- so long as the road conditions permit.
I agree with several others...I upgrade to the challenge wheels. 20x11 in the back with Michelin pilot sport 315s. I am much happier with the look and feel
Terry I personally don't like the Michelin PSS as I find them too hard on city roads (I.e roads with potholes, speed bumps, etc). Granted they might score better like you said on some of the tests (by a small margin) but I am always more comfortable going with what the manufacturer suggests because I know that those slightly higher scores will not give me any real advantage on the road. Again this is just my opinion because I am always very pragmatic about this type of things.
As mentioned before: I did. On my wife's 911 4S. I changed the tires last year and the guy at Michelin suggested the upgrade. I didn't think much of it at the time and went with it but the more I drove it later the more I felt that it was different from how the car felt before.
Mario- That makes you about the only owner I have read about who has not loved PSS tires. I cannot wait to get rid of my P Zeros and install PSS tires.
Tire Rack tested these head-to-head, with the PSS coming in first and the PZero 4th out of 4. The quote about the Pzero: Conclusion: An older but still capable tire that can't quite match the capability of newer tires. The quote on the PSS: Conclusion: This is the new super star in the Max Performance Summer category. I have the PSS on my car. Their great, but hey, YMMV.