Rear Tires, 355 Spyder

Can't go wrong with Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Great tire.

 

Gary, I put the Michelin Pilot Super Sports on earlier this year....I like them.

 

agreed superb tyre but I wouldn't change just the rears for these. They wont be balanced. I usually sell the old fronts om ebay and get a new set all round.

 

I'm also looking for some new tires for the my 355 GTS.
I put a post in another thread asking about the Hankook Ventus R-S3, seems like a good performance tire.

 

They kick butt along with a few others. If you have 2 sets of rims grab Mich for daily and some reall sticky ones for "spirited" driving in summer

 

One thing that's good to know is that the Michelin PS2's in stock rear size for a 355 are, for some reason, narrower than the same size original tires (well, narrower than the original Bridgestones, in my case). So you don't get as much curb protection. Hasn't been a problem for me so far.

On my Boxster, the stock size Pilots give a huge amount of protection from curbs. If I ever need to buy another set of rears for the F355, I might go with one size wider. I'm usually not a fan of doing anything un-original, but in this case, I think the actual dimensions would be closer to stock, even if the numbers on the sides of the tires are not stock.

 

Put the Michelin PS2 on with 295 35 rear and 235 40 Fronts. The car looks great and drives great.....Only one of those sizes come in the Super sport, thus the reason I stuck with the PS2.

 

Gerry

What is the improvement felt whilst driving a 355 with the wider tyres you suggest?

Any drawbacks?

Howard

 

Hi Gerry, do you have any pictures of your car from the side and from the back? I am thinking about putting 295's on the back. I think the 265's look a little narrow. I have seen a few pictures on the forum of one car with the 295's and they came to the fender lip or slightly past it. The car might have had spacers on it by the way the tire/rim combination sat, but just guessing. I don't want the tires to be this flush or sticking out slightly past the rear fender. I would not be running any spacers with them. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jimmy

 

I have 295's on my car & they fit perfectly with stock suspension setup. They were installed by Ferrari dealer & am now on second set of Pirelli.
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I have had these tires for a while. They do not hang out past the fenders at all. They look just like Marios in the pics above. The ones that go too far out have spacers and I dont know why they do that....its ugly. Also the make of tire has lots to do with the looks. I like the Michelin because of its square sidewall. Some of the tires have the sidewall tapering inward which again is ugly and exposes the wheel to curb rash...not that I ever get that close to the curb. . The 295 gives you a better handling and feels great when cornering.

 

Thanks Mario for the pictures. The rear end looks great with the added tire width. Beautiful GTS by the way. My guess was right about the other car having the spacers added, which I think detracted from its looks. This is the look that I am going after, however my Michelin Pilot Sports which came with the car are still in very good shape. I like the tread design of PS2's better than the Pilot Sports so maybe I might just bite the bullet and get them.

Gerry thank you for your post. It is good to know that not only will it look a little more aggressive but will improve handling as well.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays,

Jimmy

 

Continental Extreme Contact DW. Inexpensive? Perhaps, but they are fantastic tires.

 

I just put the Continental Extreme Contact DW on the 355 spider this summer. Excellent tire...in fact a friend put them on his 360 and I put the DWS on our Audi S4. I like the tire!

 

With a high performance automobile; you have exactly two choices when it comes to replacing tires.

A) you can replace both tires on an axel with the same make, model, and size as the tires you take off.
or
B) you can replace all 4 tires.

Mixing and matching tires in a high preformance vehicle is asking for body work to be needed.

 

Dang in that size it's one expensive tire at tirerack, $445 a pop.
Just saying to rich for my blood when it comes to rubber.

 

I have slightly wider wheels than stock, so the dealer put on 285/35's rear and 225/40's front. The are Michelins and fit the wheel wells perfectly, not outside them at all.

 

Yes it is. But that only costs $200 more total over the factory size for both rears(ps2). Very little to pay for the extra performance feel. Its worth it just to stand behind the rear end and stare at it. The looks alone is worth it.

PS...if you run the 355 challenge wheels.....the feel is even better with the lesser unsprung weight. Also the front challenge wheels are a 1/2" wider than OEM wheels thus keeping more tire on the road on cornering and if you go the 235 40 on front...even better. The rear OEM wheels and challenge are the same width.

 

What are the differences between the Michelin Pilot Super Sports and the Michelin PS2's?

 

Pilot Sports came out first. It is a directional design with two channels in the center. The PS2 came after the Pilot Sports and the tread design is more asymmetric with bigger blocks on the outer edge and bigger channels in the center. I like the look of the PS2's better. Recently Michelin came out with the Super Sports which looks similar to the PS2's but is supposed to be an improved version with improved wear, ride, noise. Check out Tire Rack or any online tire dealer, they have pictures of the different tires showing the tread design.

 

I wonder why the Super Sports are less expensive if they are an improved tire over the PS2...

 

That is a good question. The prices are definitely higher on the PS2's. If you check out Tire Racks website there is 3 small paragraphs written about the PS2's and about 8 paragraphs written about the Super Sports and how they improve handling by reducing unsprung weight and how they used less tires and tire changes during races. Info is written under product description for each tire.

 

Gerry

do you have a pic of this setup? I'm assuming you are a 355 owner...?

Chris

 

I got the hankook evo from discounttiredirect dot com and cost less than 1000$ shipping included