Has the Pirelli P4000 been discontinued ?

I've had P4000s on my 365GT for the last nine years. I'm switching to XWXs.

 

Tire Rack says they are, they were a great tire. Not much left in speed rated 15" tires.

 

I run P4000s at the moment on my Daytona. My Dad has switched his Daytona Spyder onto the Vredestein Sprint Classic tyre. The latter is a more pleasing tyre aesthetically IMO and gives slightly less road noise. I've not driven the Spyder hard enough to compare grip levels although I've never found the P4000s that great especially in the wet.

 

I have P4000's on my Daytona mag wheels and XWX's on the wires. The P4000's drive better, the XWX's look better.

Drew

 

Spoke to Fossil Motorsports Inc. They are in the middle of having a special run of 20 done size 205- 14. They are going to be around 600 euro + shipping and tax a tire, (which they agree is ridiculous but unfortunately that is what Pirelli is charging for the SPECIAL RUN) They have no specific delivery date except most likely this year, and most of them are spoken for so I suggest to contact them if interested or maybe then can add to the order.

 

Remember when 15 inch rims were the top-of-the-heap. Wow, you have 15 inch rims, now a cancer. 16s are not far behind either. Very sad for us older guys.

 

Someone needs to make aftermarket rims that look like the original but are 16 or 17 inches. The cars with 5 lugs have options but single lug have no options (that I know of).

 

Group 4 Wheels have what is described as a 17" rim replacement for Boxer wheels on there website. Group 4 Wheels - Reviving historic rally, road and track motorsport wheels It will fit other 365 cars as well (presumably the Daytona, C4 and 365GT 2+2).

However it has been described as coming soon for at least a year.

If you've seen any of the Magnus Walker Porsche videos he uses Group 4 wheels on his cars.

 

Don't forget the Avon CR6ZZ. This is also a nice classic tyre and is still available I think

 

Thanks for the link. Excited about the possibility of more modern tire size on a vintage looking single lug wheel.

 

Are the XWXs fresh? ie less than 3 years old. I went from P4000 to a fresh set of XWXs and felt they were much better, especially adhesion in the wet

 

Drew -- I'm curious about the freshness of your XWX's as well. In the vintage tire threads over the years (on Fchat and elsewhere) I've seen comments from some who say XWX's are terrible and they will never use them again, and others who say they're great. It seems like on older threads, more thought they were bad than good, and more recently more think they are good than bad.

Part of the problem with evaluating tires is that new tires always feel better. On our daily drivers, I usually replace the tires with the exact same brand/model, but the new tires always feel a lot better (even though they are the same). So, in evaluating tires on vintage cars, it seems like it's difficult to know how much can be attributed to the design/quality of a given tire versus the freshness of the tires.

 

The P4000s I had were 3 years old when I went to XWX. I had just bought the car and the Pirellis were the previous owners choice. The main motivation for changing was that they are so damn ugly with that big sidewall lettering and an absolute eyesore to me. I had fitted fresh XWXs on two other classic Ferraris I had owned so it was a no brainer for me that they are a better tyre

 

No, read my original post. Much better adhesion in the wet. I found the P4000 tend to tram track which the XWXs don't. Ride quality also improved. I don't think XWXs are expensive at all considering the value of these cars. I've seen a 275GTB on Pirelli P4000s, ridiculous!

 

I agree the P4000 is terrible when it's wet.

 

Thanks Greg, this is great info. I have P4000's currently and am happy with them, but I don't have much to compare to. I agree that they aren't great in rain. I will probably go with XWX's next time, but had some concerns from the occasional posts on Fchat in the past about disliking XWX's. Those who disliked them seem to really dislike them, so I'm guessing that those experiences were with older tires.

 

Hats off to you guys who drive these cars in the rain.

 

Living in the UK I don't have much choice

In actually fact I prefer not to drive the Daytona in the rain, aside from the tyres the wipers are terrible. Sometimes though you're out or away for a weekend and just get caught.

 

In that respect it sounds like Florida.

 

Hi

I believe the P4000 has been discontinued

The P4000 will give a more harsh ride than the XWX as it has a flatter side walls and less give. the shoulders are squarer so they won' be as progressive as a period tyre like an XWX

When the P4000 was fitted to the series 3 XJ6 Jaguar they softened the suspension slightly to make allow for the stronger more modern carcase of the P4000.

P4000 was a great tyre but would never suit a vintage Ferrari. they will always handle better on a tyre that is designed to compliment them such as the Michelin XWX . Unless your car is modified to suit the more modern tyres.