New Tyres On 488, Need Advice!

Hi there,
As you already know, tire selection can be very personal in nature with widely held opinions. Track or non-track, wet weather or dry conditions?
I would caution you about changing the tire sizes as your sensors are set up for your current tire sizes. Talk to your dealer first?
I also have a 488 with the factory spec Pilot Sport K3 tires with 6800 miles on them. There is plenty of tread left and I actually like the way they handle. The factory and in this case Michelin actually spend a fair amount of money testing to see which tires are best for each Ferrari model. I have heard around $300,000 is spent on each new selection.
Also, I believe there is now an updated version of this tire which is available.
My tire vendor believes in shaving replacement tires and I don’t know if I will do that when the time comes as I’m not sure of the benefit.

You say you don’t like these tires but you don’t say why that is the case nor why the tires you are considering would be better for a 488. I would love to hear your reasoning on this.

in any case, enjoy your new 488!

 

4S with K rating - I would personally never fit a none K tyre to my Ferrari, - none OEM tyres may be the same numbers on the side, but the construction is very different. K rating is there for a reason

 

For street driving where the car will NEVER be driven at 10/10th's a K rated tire vs regular production is not going to matter because you are not driving at the edge of grip on a HOT tire like on a track with a experienced driver. If you have the choice get the k rated though as pricing is close.

I tracked Porsche 911's (997-991) GTS GT3's from 2005-2019, thousands of miles of laps at tracks in the southeast USA and never used N rated ( Porsche) tires. However if you are track driving and compare a regular tire same brand/model to a K rated tire like PS4 you will notice a difference at the edge of grip lap over lap with the K rated tire....again you will not see this on the street. There are tests proving this with Porsche N rated on Porsches as an example.

 

PS4S here with larger diameter wheels 21/22. I drive my car very aggressively and they perform admirably. I don't think they are k rated. I think you'd be fine either way.


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I would DEFINITELY stay with stock size.
If I am correct, the K spec in the 488 size is only available for the front (If I remember correctly) and the rear are "generic" 4S tires (or maybe the other way around, I'm drawing a blank). When manufacturers make requests for a specific tweak to be made, it is for various reasons. Sometimes it may be an adjustment to the compound, tread design, belt design, etc. They may want a better ride, a firmer ride, better steering, less darty steering with better on center feel, more responsive steering, different wear patterns, softer compounds in different areas of the tread, or longer life compound in other areas, and dozens of other reasons. Ultimately, these are not huge differences, and most likely much smaller differences than going to a different brand tire. Ideally, it's probably best to go with a K spec tire, but in this case, the K spec tire for the 488 is the regular Super Sport if I remember correctly. So the K spec in the 4S was probably spec'd for a different Ferrari than the 488 anyway. So, you may as well get the generic one or the Porsche one. As others said, for street driving, I'm pretty confident that you will be very happy with the 4S tires. That's what I always use, and I love them!
This is one of those questions that if you ask 10 people, you will get 10 answers. Do your own research the best you can (it's very difficult, I tried. They don't like releasing what tweaks were done for manufacturer) and decide what is best for your situation.

 

In my local dealer's showroom the other day and was looking over a 296 and I noticed it was fitted with 4S and obviously K spec, and are the same stock sizes as the 488.

 

That's good to know. So, it's probably a new approval / spec that didn't exist before the 296 came out.
But.... they are K spec for the 296, and tuned by Ferrari for that car. That doesn't mean it's the best for the 488 as well.
All that said, if it were me, I would probably go with the K spec, and assume it's close enough, and the best tire for the 488 too.

 

Go with Michelin PS4s, don't even think about it. A very good tire in most conditions for almost all high performance cars

 

Nope, the 296 has higher profile tires (35 vs 30) at the rear, so the set cannot be used on a 488.
For the 488, one could go with unmarked PS4S (not K) tires, this is what I did to replace my old PSS K.

There is currently no PS4S with K marking in the correct dimensions for the 488 / F8.

However, before I went for the "regular" PS4S I discussed the issue with a Michelin test engineer; it seems in this case the benefits of going for the newest generation (particularly on wet surfaces) overcome the disadvantages of not having a specific design.

 

My bad I must have misread it.

 

I recently replaced mine on a 488 with PS4s’s. non oem version, as people have said, k spec does not exit for both front and back. No regrets, great tyres. Had them on every car.

However.. they are a 7 year old design now. In current reviews the Conti sport contact 7 appears to do better. Has anyone tried them, on any car?

 

Hearing all good stuff on Conti Sport 7 and a lot of positives on Bridgstone Potenza Sport.

 

Yes I've also heard nothing but praise for the Conti Sport 7's.