328 Tyres

There have been a couple of recent threads on this. I had Pirelli P-7s. They were 8 years old with probably 75% tread. They are a very firm ride. I went with the Bridgestone RE - 11s. A softer riding tire, quieter. you give up some handling/performance I think but I am very happy with this tire so far for my 87 GTS that gets mostly highway and local driving. A bit more comfortable ride was important to me. good luck and search the threads.

 

Pirelli positions the P7 as a tire for regular cars. The P zero range are the sports tyres.

I have Bridgestone SE 050A on mine, but by a mistake of the painter got to drive my car on Pirelli P6000's. And I HATED them. The car felt skittish, roadholding was down the drain. Really, the difference was astounding. But of course P6000's are not P7's. Still, personally, I'd go for Bridgestones again. Love them...

 

hey Iain.,.,ive been on PZEROS for 12 years...i wouldnt use any other tire on my 328,,,im not sure why anyone else wouldnt use them as well, these tires have insane grip when they have some heat in them,,,im a very experienced canyon carver in the 328,,and i cant imagine any other tire on my car,,,i mean the sidewall stiffness of these tires in harmony with the stock suspension on my car., is an absolute fantastic feel ..no body roll whatsoever ,,,and if you have the balls to get into a four wheel slide,,,or to really push the car in the turns,,,the feedback is excellent...just my 2 cents,,good luck...Brett

 

I have just replaced my original tyres with P7,s and can't believe the difference, £400.00 fitted last week, transformed the car.
blackcircle.com.
I hope this helps Iain.
Regards, Roy

 

What the experts are saying:

Pirelli P7:
http://www.reifendirekt.de/review/110/Pirelli_CinturatoP7_reifentestcom.html

Bridgestone Potenza S02:
http://www.reifendirekt.de/review/110/Bridgestone_PotenzaS02_reifentestcom.html

Bridgestone RE 050A: http://www.reifendirekt.de/review/110/Bridgestone_PotenzaRE050A_reifentestcom.html

(no P zero, unfortunately)

Based on this, I'd go with the S02's...

 

You absolutely have to consider your driving. If you do high speed runs on smooth highway, a stiffer tire will give you better response.

I went with the RE-011s also.
The export market RE-11s were tuned for Auto-X, so they were really intended for lower profile applications.
In the stock 328 sizes, they do give up a bit of turn-in response, compared to the S-03s I used to have.
But, for my mostly city driving, they have the advantage of having good grip when cold.
The old Eagle VRs and the S03s were pretty loose until you warmed them up.
Which wasn't good, here, because they'd go cold sitting at the long local traffic lights.

 

I'm running Michelin exalta - first set lasted well over 30K miles... ok they were a bit like slicks at the end... but I like Michelin.

Other tires mentioned as well are very good. I chose the Michelins becuase they actually come with a 20000 mile tread warranty!!!!

 

unfortunately, the Pilots are NLA in the sizes that we need...

 

I got a new set of Michelin all season sport tires. Great in the mud and snow but it does give up some cornering sharpness, but that may not be what you are looking for.
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If you can get another set of the Goodyears - get them!

 

My last tires were Michelin Pilot Sports (purchased in 1999), and two years ago, although they had a lot of rubber left, I replaced them with Dunlop ultra high performance tires. Both tires were good.

 

I'll throw out another name. Kumho MX Ecsta. They are excellent tires on a 3x8. They are reasonably quiet, not to rough, and have more than enough grip that's still consistent with the grip of the best tires when these cars were made. I have heard of people's breaking stub axles in these cars and always wonder (I could be totally wrong) if any of it is due to overly sticky modern tire compounds. Also, when I had the 355, they had some super sticky Goodyear F1s and they used to throw so much crap up it would sound like I was driving down the street on a set of a maracas. I switched to the Kumhos for that car and haven't looked back since.

 

I had PZero's on my 328 which had about 50% tread left on them when I got my car and the front would tram line when I would drive on uneven roads.I thought it was the steering and then I researched and found that others were having the same problem as their tyres would wear.I put on a set of Michelin pilot sports and it handles like it did when it came out of the factory.I was amazed at the total transformation of the steering.I was already getting quotes on a steering rack rebuild.

 

Pirelli says that the principal feature of the new tire is that it “guarantees optimum performance in wet or dry conditions throughout the lifetime of the tire.” Many performance tires do tend to lose some of their best characteristics as they wear. Tires are technically complex, but some of the main benefits this tire offers, according to Pirelli, are based on the asymmetric tread design, nano-composites in the tread compounds and a hybrid cord system that allows the deformation of the tire profile to be controlled right up to speeds of 370 km/h. Acoustic comfort (low noise level) is another benefit and certainly our tests revealed a tire that didn’t squeal under heavy cornering loads. We didn’t get to try the tires on a freeway to discover anything about noise levels in normal use. The tire is claimed to provide optimum performance even during the first few kilometres of a drive when the rubber hasn’t warmed up properly. No more spinning your Ferrari two blocks from home because of cold tires!

Said Pirelli CEO Francesco Gori: “This tire represents the state of the art of the P Zero collection. The new tire has been designed and developed to control the ever-more-extreme performance of supercars and to offer even higher levels of driving satisfaction and safety for the most demanding drivers.”

We were able to try the new Pirellis in all kinds of situations at the Dubai Autodrome – including high speed wet-track tests on a skid pan. We used Audi TTs for this exercise and also tried cars with a rival product from Continental. Certainly, the Pirellis performed best when the surface was wet, possibly aided by the new asymmetrical tread design. The cars we got to drive included many of today’s most praised sports models and sedans, including products from BMW (including M-models), Audi, Mercedes-Benz AMG, Porsche and even Ferrari and Lamborghini. We used Mini Cooper Convertibles for a timed slalom segment and it was something of a surprise to me that you could buy P Zeros for a Mini.

Evaluating Pirellis New High Performance P Zero Tire auto product reviews
Pirelli had this Ferrari on hand for track testing. Click image to enlarge

My personal “dream car” was there in all its splendor – the new Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Sadly, we didn’t get to drive that one, nor an Audi R8 and Aston Martin DB9 they had on display. Pirelli had a trio of race car drivers on hand to show us how the P Zero performed at racing speeds in Porsches, Ferraris and Lamborghinis. It was quite an experience to be riding around an F1-capable track at near-competition speeds on what are basically road tires.

Very few of us will ever write out a cheque for a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, but it’s good to know that if we do, the rubber between the car and the road has been the subject of endless development time and a legacy of 100 years of competition experience. As always, top tire manufacturers aim for the optimum combination of grip, refinement, safety and tread wear. The new Pirelli is also said to be very easy on the environment and actually meets a European law associated with materials used in tire manufacture that doesn’t come into effect until 2010.

Of course, you don’t have to spend several hundred thousand dollars on your new car to get the new P Zero tire – there are lots of affordable cars that come with these products as standard or your tire dealer can probably find you a set for the car you have right now. Interestingly, Pirelli has also developed a new wheel bearing its brand name – something that hasn’t been available for many years.
These P Zeros are far from an economy buy – especially in the more exotic sizes – but for owners of high-end, high-performance cars, anything less is false economy.

Related posts:

1. Tire review: Pirelli P6
2. Auto Tech: Preparing for the winter tire season
3. Consumer Reports rates Goodyear Fortera tire best all-season light truck tire
4. Winter tire test, Part Six – Pirelli 210 Snowsports
5. Auto Tech: The science of tire-testing

Review by Autos
Posted on April 17, 2007 by Autos

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Over the last 10 years I've had Pzero then S-03 now S-02 on my 328. I prefer the feel of the car on the Bridgestones and I also think the slightly higher profile fits the look of the car better.

Edit. The Pirellis were Corsas

 

Out of interest the RE50A review in post 7 seemed quite positive - any reason to discount them ?

 

Any of the "extreme performance" tires are going to be summer-only compounds.

I got the RE-11s for their "cold" handling, but "cold" is relative to "warmed up". I still don't use them at ambient temps below 40F (4C).
(The RE-11s are the consistency of a gum eraser, except when the ambients drop -- a bit like the old Phoenix Stahlflex 3011 auto-X tires.)
And "extreme performance" will have limited wet handling. (The RE-11s aren't quite as good as the S03s in the wet.)

An all season tire (something you can run below 0C) is going to have less overall performance.

As you've noted, max performance tire compounds will age out before you wear them out, unless you do extraordinary amounts of driving with an 3X8.

Unless you do a lot of driving in winter or in the rain, then I'd just pick the compound that matches your driving: softer for in town, harder for the track.

Unless you want to have Pirelli make you a selection of hard / medium / soft / supersoft marble makers.