When I purchased my car, it had 16x8 Gotti wheels with Pirelli P7 225/50/16 tires on all four corners. Image Unavailable, Please Login I sold the Gottis and purchased the knock offs of the original wheels from Superformance so I now have two 16x7 (front) and two 16x8 (rear) wheels. Image Unavailable, Please Login From research, it appears that the recommended front tire is 205/55/16 with the 225/50/16 on the rear. Are there any hard opinions on whether to use a 205/55/16 OR a 225/50/16 on the fronts? It seems like using the smaller front might make for easier maneuverability with no power steering and the staggered sizes could help with the look??
Hello Ferrari friend, we are in the same boat,, I had to start with what is out there. ( Note; size 16” tires, are not that popular.) Love that color, Good luck.
350HP - I've been watching your progress and your paintwork - Black is also a killer color on mondials! With all the opinionated people in the world today -- and most of them living on the internet -- I thought there would be more opinions on the 205/55/16 vs. 225/50/16 front tire question...
I think Ferrari changed the tire sizes since the Mondial was introduced, looking for the best compromise for steering effort, tramlining and oversteer/understeer behaviour. Seems like stock sizing on later models is the best bet for handling the way the factory intended after having real world feedback. The issue is becoming what tires are actually available in the stock sizes.
Joe the "original" car had the same sized tires all round with their suspension geometry settings. Later cars had staggered wheel sizes and a different geometry settings. Ferrari obviously thought the later car's setup was better. Other than lighter steering forces, aquaplaning tolerance probably increased as well. For some reason, my car has got the later, thicker front anti-roll bar and 3.2L rear hub carriers (larger bearings). I updated my car's suspension settings to the newer data, using the tire sizes you mentioned. It works very nicely.
AB - thanks for your input - these cars are a little Frankenstein with some Mondial 8 features, some 3.2 features, etc. My car also has the heavy front anti-roll bar and the larger bearings in the rear hub carrier. I think the car was manufactured in December 1984... I will go with the 205/55/16 fronts and 225/50/16 rears. As for selection, there seem to be many tires and several high performance options available in those sizes on Tire Rack - Continental, Michelin, Pirelli +++ take your choice
I am running Toyo tires; they do a very good job for my driving patterns and the climate here. My favourites would be Michelin
I've got a set of four 8x16 inch Superformance rims and have ordered some Pirelli P7 tyres that should arrive tomorrow. I went for 205/55/16 front and 225/55/16 rear. I went for the narrower fronts with low speed manouverability in mind. I went for 55 profile rear rather than 50 because the 50s were not available in the Pirellis. I presume the larger profile may impact the speedo and odometer. Although my speedo is alreay 9% out on the standard rims and Michelin TRX, so we will see!
Richard, you can easily adjust the speedo readout. It's on my thread somewhere... a pot in the back of it.
Not sure they are NLA but maybe just on back order? I have gotten good service at SP from Chris Fisher Tel. +44 (0)1992 445 300 - maybe give him a call to ask when they get them in stock again Image Unavailable, Please Login
The proper period 16" tires for the Mondial are available through Lucas Tires in the US https://www.lucasclassictires.com/Ferrari-Mondial-Tires_c311.htm dont mistake this classic P7 with a better suited carcas for the noder P7. Though a great tyre the modern P7 is desighned to work in a different enviroment. yes the thinner front classic P7 will give lighter, more precise steering and the classic car cas will give better feel through the steering while fitting them front and rear will give progressive handling. not something that modern tyres arte designed to factor in.
Here are the Pirelli P7 tyres mounted on the 16 inch Superformance rims. I was in a rush so left off the centre caps for now. I'm mostly happy although the 205/50/16 are a bit stretched on the 8J front rims (I don't have a pair of 7J rims). The 225/55/16 look and feel fine on the rear, and have corrected the speedo somewhat. The handling is like night and day - really smooth now. And much lighter steering at low speed. I realise now that the 20-year old TRX tyres were spent - felt something like semi-inflated bin bags for tyres!
I will readily profess to not being a suspension/tire expert but....those front tires look uncomfortably narrow on that front rim. Picture could be distorting things a bit? The sidewalls and tread look too inboard from the lip of the rim, so I'm not sure how the car would behave during really hard cornering. Just mentioning it as a possible issue of driver safety. Maybe others with more experience can chime in.
Oo no! They don't look right at all. that is the wrong P7 it should be this one. https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/pirelli-collezione/cinturato-p7.html or in the States https://www.lucasclassictires.com/205-55YR16-PIRELLI-CINTURATO-P7-N4-2055516L.htm That is a shame. I'm not sure how much cheaper they are, but that is quite a sacrefice to save a few quid. Sorry, but can i ask why you didn't follow the proper route and buy a suitable tyre? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I have just taken this picture of my foot, and in the back ground you can see the 225/50R16 P7 and 240/55R390 TRX tyres next to each other. Image Unavailable, Please Login I do think the TRX is minimally taller than the P7, but i also think the odd construction of these TRX tyres is crowning in the tread a little which will diminish when inflated, but the diameter is incredibly close. so the radius (which is what really counts when it comes to filling wheel arches) will be half that. I'm sorry but I can't understand why you would just go and buy the wrong tires when these are just available to you.
The picture is accurate. I sgree, and I'm not completely happy with the front tyres. The 205 width is a little overstretched on the 8J rims. Once they become available I plan to get a pair of 7J rims on the front. Currently they're on back order, although the word is Superformance are in the process of identifying a new manufacturer, so it may be a while yet.
This is very interesting, thanks. I didn't think to look up retro 16 inch tyres and only researched moderns. Personally I'm happy enough with the modern P7s, not withstanding the problem with the front 205 width on 8J rims. Good to know this option exists for future tyre purchases.
If you scrol to the bottom of our product pages, such as this one about the 205/55R16 P7 it gives you the technical specification https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/tyres/205-55-16/205-55yr16-pirelli-cinturato-p7-n4.html So for instance this tyre has the recomended rim width of 5.5" to 7.5" rim. now rim width is a funny position. The recomendations that manufacturers give are in line with the standards set by the ETRTO or similar organizations. Within the considerations determining recomended widths is wanting to have a certain amount of tyre overhanging the rim to protect your wheels against curbing. This isnt a consideration on the rsace track, and funily enough over the years Ferrari have been a bit cheaky on that front. Cars like the 250 GT Lusso fitted 6.5" Borrani wheels with 185VR15 Pirelli Cinturato where the rim should be 4.5" to 6" https://www.borrani.com/ferrari-wheels/250-gt-lusso.html Then they did the same thing with the Daytona, which was supposed to fit 215/70VR15 tyres all round, which in 1968 was the hottest new thing, not many cars were fitting these supercool low profile mega wide tyres. Then Borrani went and mad a 9" wide rear rim, which they fitted 225/70VR15 tyres on, where the rim width according to the ETRTO should only fit as wide as 8" Now Ferrari clearly thought that was cool and they fitted 9" rims on the back of the 512BB with 225/70VR15 tyres on it https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classic-car-tyres/ferrari/512bb.html