The question of tires always seems to generate interesting feedback. I will add mine. I have been driving ALFA Romeos and Ferraris since 1973, and have put on a total of more than 300,000 miles, many miles at speed in FCA track events. This gave me the opportunity to evaluate many tires. The experience also helped others, as I sold and installed tires. Many are concerned about having original equipment and nothing else. I personally do not subscribe to this when and if they (OEM) tires are available, the prices are exorbitant. And, many of them are justnot that good. I fell into that trap when I bought my GTC in 1975. I just had to have XWX tires. The first time I drove the car in the rain, I spun it on a curve. They wore out in less than 10,000 miles. Ive heard that they now can cost over $150.00 each. I went on to try many more brands, both on Ferraris and ALFAS. Some of the best were the Comp T/A, made, as I recall, by Goodrich. No longer available in the size I use. From a standpoint of overall wear and performance, Yokahama was the winner. That was over 10 years ago and I think they were a Y451 or something like that. 215/70/VR/14. Also, no longer available. An excellent tire for my ALFA Duetto, (14 wheels) was the Vredestein not high speed rated but excellent ride and cornering. My Mondiale was fitted with TRX tires. I did not care for them but had no choice. My GTC now runs on Pirelli P4000 and I am extremely pleased. Im pretty sure they are H rated. I would definitely recommend them for any vintage Ferrari in daily use, as mine is. My ALFA GTV, with 15 wheels and used regularly, runs on Continental Touring Contact, H rated. I searched for a tire to replace the Pirellis that were on the car, 175/70 /15. Not many of that size out there. The Continentals are H rated 65 series and they are FANTASTIC to date, the best tire Ive ever had on any ALFA. One comment I will make I drive my cars rain-or-shine and the wet weather performance of the present tires is fine. Snow is a different matter. No comment as my cars do not see snow. Where to buy? The absolute best supplier Ive ever dealt with is the Tire Rack. Worked with a lady named Rae and could not be more pleased with the service. Bob Zambelli ps Ive entered and won quite a few shows with my cars I NEVER heard a judge comment about the originality of the tires.
It's interesting to note that the PO has put Goodrich Radial T/S on my '77 308GTB, in the stock 205/70/14 and they ARE V rated..I don't know when he bought them but it appears they are trying to address this "niche" size requirement.. I'm a Goodyear guy as I have a "relationship" with them, and they offer only one or two tires this size, one if which is the Aquatread 3. I'm thinking of trying them. Wet weather hod rodder here, as well,......yeeeeeee haaaaaaah. Speedy"Give me room to slide"308
Eight months ago, I got P4000 Super Touring 215-70 WR 15 . My old XWXs were like ice skates - with the help of Carl Jones in Australia, we figured out that the 4 XWXs I had were manifactured in 1977, 1977, 1980 and 1990!! no wonder
I put new P4000 Pirelli's in 205/70/14 on a Dino Coupe and hated them. The ride quality was ok but they were so noisy when cornering. They would start to squeel well in advance of the break-away point and so just about every corner I'd hear them. It made others think I was closer to the limit than I really was and having them think I was therefore a danger to them on rallies wasn't exactly fun for me. A friend had them on a well performing fiat spider and had the same experience. If you intend on just driving your car mildly to and from events, then I guess they are good tires since the price is quite reasonable and availability good, they look ok and the name Pirelli seems to go better with an Italian car than a name like Yokohama or Goodyear. But for spirited driving, I hated the sound. BTW, the reviews for the BF Goodrich T/A series (there are so many varieties) at tirerack.com are very good and I may try them in the future. Has anyone used them?
I really like my XWX's on my 330 GT. But, then again, I haven't compared them to other tires on the same car. --Matt
I will point out again that the current XWX which Matt is running is made by Coker Tire, they bought the molds from Michelin. Coker is the largest producer of classic car tires in the world. Coker told me that the compounds they use on the classic pattern tire is a modern compound and that the XWXs are far stickier than they were when new. They understand that these are tires for performance cars. The big difference with modern tires vs older styles is in rubber compounds and in the equipment used to make the tires (process control). Also, if you're running 10 year old and older XWXs or ANY tires, they're going to be like bakelite.
Bob - I love the Pirellis - it's probably not fair to compare them to the old XWXs since they belonged in a museum. I drive a Queen Mother, so I'm not flogging them like I might in Slim's Dino; but on some big sweepers, I've chugged along at 90 or so and have had nice grip and not a lot of noise. It's hard to really measure/notice tire noise when that big freakin' V-12 is making its music.
Me too on liking the XWX's on my 330GT. I like sliding around corners and juddering over imperfect pavement unttil the tire catches. My other car is an Audi S4 and that sticks like glue, I prefer that 1960's driving experience, it is one of the things that is fun about these cars. Yale
When I bought my 365, it was running XWX's from Coker. They weren't new, but had some life in them. They went away pretty fast. The car is running P4000's now and we tracked it last year with them. Very predictable and no screaming going into turns. But the car is quite heavy so they are carrying more load than a 246. I'm happy with them and I think they were about $160 each.
I'm running Sumitomo HTR 200 on my 246GT. They handle great, are quiet, and are a bargain at about $40 a piece. My mechanic at Algar loves this tire. He was sceptical when I bought them, but he's put quite a few miles on the car durings its mechanical rebuild and thinks they are fantastic, and not just for the money, but a great match for the car. I also ran Sumitomo HTR-Z's on my 911. Was at 12,000 miles and counting on those when I sold the car. Once again, the mechanic who worked on the 911 thought they were an excellent tire, and I had great results with them. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Sumitomo&tireModel=HTR+200&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=97HR4HTR200&fromCompare1=yes
