Question on Tires for F430

Sounds like "We have a deal with Ferrari that allows us to put a mark on certain tires and charge triple for them because, ya know, Ferrari.."

 

There is a lot on the forum but you would have to search around.

In short the Ferrari code on Michelin is "K". Michelin and Ferrari say they are specifically tailored to Ferrari's specs- I would imagine this involves the compound and maybe tread depth. You will see either K1 or K2. There are other members who know more than I do but I think the number reflects the series, K2 being just a newer series to K1.

In general, I would want the Ferrari specific tire, it might have to be sourced from a dealer, but I think as the cars age then Ferrari allows them to be sold through companies like tire rack.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Super+Sport&partnum=235YR9PSSXL&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&frontTire=235YR9PSSXL&rearTire=835YR9PSSXL&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Ferrari&autoYear=2007&autoModel=F430+Coupe&autoModClar=&autoMake=Ferrari&autoYear=2007&autoModel=F430+Coupe&autoModClar=

 

Pretty much spot on. However, the numbers aren't exactly only about the newer incarnation of a Ferrari spec tyre. For instance the 245/35R20 K1 and K2 are in fact the same "age", but one is for the FF and one is for the Cali/Cali T. So in this case, the number seperates the tryes by model rather than age.

That being said, a K spec tyre does not mean it has to be sourced from a dealer.

Now something important to add is this. The fact that a tyre is Ferrari spec, is not the same as it's the right tyre for any Farrari anymore than any other MPSS is. What I mean by this is, that the tyres are in fact not Ferrari specific, but rather model specific. This has nothing to do with safety, load and speed ratings, and so forth. This is simply because the tyre tread, compound, tread width and depth is made for a specific car model. There's absolutely no problem installing a non-K 430 spec MPSS tyre on a 430, because there's simply no such thing as a K spec tyre for the 430. If you have a Cali, 458, 488 etc where there is a model specific tyre, yes it makes the most sense to use the tyre designed and developed in conjunction between the tyre manufacture and car manufacture.

So to the OP. If you want MPSS tyres on your F430, you can do so with peace of mind. Any MPSS tyre no matter if it,s BMW, Porsche, Merc, Ferrari or non-OE spec will be vastly superior to anything the F430 came with back in the day. And in essence the point Michelin is making, is that when an OE spec tyre is available, then that's what one should use.

A quick word of installing them. If you think you need your dealer to do it, not so. I use a performance shop who do this a lot more than any Ferrari dealer, and they do it for race cars and street/track cars mostly. They balance the tyre to the rim so as little weight is needed as possible. I've yet to see any Ferrari or other dealer spend the time to do this, and I've seen more damage to rims from dealer installations than from the work done by proper race shops. Some of these guys in these race shops live and breathe high performance tyres and take great pride in making sure that part of the system that is a high performance car, is 100% up to spec.

 

Thanks for adding that in DK308, I was trying to remember your user name to give you credit for the knowledge I picked up in another post.

You make a great point that they didn't have MPSS out when the F430 was developed or really when it was even in production. MPSS first appeared on the 599 GTO.

I also agree if you are sensitive to wheel balance issues, which I think most of us who enjoy sports car should be, then going a performance shop is the way to go for wheel balance. Specifically I think you are referring to road force balance, which is really nice to have. I will say I have had varying experiences at different Ferrari (and other marque) dealers. Some are focused on moving everything along as fast as possible and that doesn't leave time for road force balance. Some have techs that really do understand this is important to many of us and they really do spend the time. Sadly, I have found, at least in my area, over time the trend is towards more quantity of business over quality. And that is just what drives many to the better independent shops.

 

Porsche and Ferrari have named tires in the Michelin and Pirelli selections. I have seen somebody confirm on Rennlist that they indeed have slightly different rubber composition.

Keep in mind that the MPSS already mixes two tire compounds. The outer 1/5th (from the last groove) is softer than the rest. So now you have two recipes to mess with.

I might doubt that it can possible matter, though. Just the random temperature and random street surface the tire sees will place that right in the noise. Maybe it is specifically optimized for some specific surface. IMHO it is more likely that in the car engineer's opinion the regular tire is simply "wrong" in some way and they way it modified because it will make the car perform better on a specific measurement that affects (car) sales.

ETA: looks like Aston Martin also started that business now.

ETA2: holy snap the Trofeos are expensive now. Are they really better?