No Rear Testarossa Tires Available Anymore?!

It's really not, it's just a special distribution network, to my understanding, in case you need some wide whitewall baloon tires for something...

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, wide whites on a TR................................

 

I'll keep checking for Gatorbacks..
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don't take tirerack word on if they are out of stock.

i was back ordered for 6 months for some pirelli corsas. happened to check with a local dealer by chance - had them next day.

dealer said it has something to do with the way they purchase from the manuf.

 

Okay I am not bashing TR here, I am just saying from MY OWN personal experience, be very careful where you buy your tires. The last set I got from them were "dry rotted" , needless to say it is the "last set" I will buy from them. When buying tires for a car that sits a lot more than its driven this is especially important. Idk how long they sat on the rack before I bought them, and silly me just thought the dry rot "was normal" for this particular tire because it doesn't go on a lot of cars. Anyway the great deal I thought I got wasn't so great. I have bought other tires from them in the past and had no complaints, this happened about 2 yrs ago, and I really hope they took my complaint to heart and did something about it. But if they didn't, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that deal.

 

That is a sad event Alan. The pilot died in that crash after saving his passengers..

 

All good points.
I have heard of a number of people on here that actually request date codes when buying tires, even from Coker. I have heard of some pretty old tires coming from them as well, mainly because they produce in sporadic batches.

I have gotten many fresh tires from Tire Rack and have been quite happy, but these were common sized tires of which they made millions, used by millions. I have no doubt your scenario will occur with the less popular and obsolete sizes out there.

I think the guys in this thread that have made recent purchases should check the date codes on their "new" tires and give us an idea how old they really are, especially the Kumhos.

 

tire rack has bfg g-sport ultra hi sports,in 255/50/zr16,for $121.00 each

 

My Kumhos, purchased in November 2010, have date codes ranging from 34th week of 2008 to 41st week of 2008. I dunno what constitutes "old" but 2 year old rubber seems within an acceptable range to me. Visually they were/are in great shape.

Then I took a peek at the PS2s I bought for the F355 in September 2010. The rears were 2nd week of 2010...ok, cool. The fronts were mid-year 2007!!! Wow. PS2s?!?!

FWIW, both sets were purchased from TireRack.

 

Some new car dealers if the car sits on the lot for a year will put brand new tires on the vehicle when they sell it. I guess it is because of liability issues.




Ago

 

I am a new car dealer and we have never done that, nor have I heard of another dealer doing that. That is way overkill - there are no liability issues. Passenger tires have a safe life of at least 5 to 6 years. All the tires I have seen on new cars have very recent manufacturer date codes.

Tire Rack has several warehouses. When you order a tire(s) from them they have the ability to see the date code for the last tire sold from a particular warehouse on a particular size/brand/model of tire. That will give you an idea of the likely date of the next tire ordered from that warehouse, but they do not guarantee a date code range. You can always refuse shipment when they arrive if it is not acceptable to you.

 

ESPECIALLY important for you, considering the way YOU drive!

 

Too bad the compound wasn't a little softer on those. They are just too hard for the driving I would like to do in the TR.
Hitting the twisties at speed I get pronounced scrubbing and complaining from the fronts, on occasion a bit of a push.

 

Originally Posted by ago car nut View Post
Some new car dealers if the car sits on the lot for a year will put brand new tires on the vehicle when they sell it. I guess it is because of liability issues.



A Friend of mine owned a Chevrolet dealer in western PA. He told me Detroit was behind the change of tires. This was in 2002. Thats all I know.



All

 

YES! Sticky fresh tires preferred over old 400 treadwear rubber. The PS2's last 13k miles on the rear of the M5 - and that is with traction control on all the time! It's better that way anyway otherwise I would feel bad replacing "new looking" tires every 6 years.

 

Falken is what I just put on my '85

 

I know this is an old thread but...

I finally found a source for the proper size front and rear tires in a matched set. These are Michelin Pilot Sport tires made in France by the real Michelin company. (not a cosmetic reproduction of a tire made by a third party with a license).

The only sizes offered are the Testarossa sizes! Michelin is accommodating this magnificent car exclusively with this tire. This is a proper supercar summer tire with a soft compound. Treadwear rating is 220, exactly the same treadwear as the original equipment Goodyear ZR-50 tires.

Front 225/50zr16
Rear 255/50zr16

http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/page/Ferrari_Tyres

Front
http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/page/search?searchMethod=term&searchTerm=225%2F50+X+16

Rear
http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/page/search?searchMethod=term&searchTerm=255%2F50+X+16

This dealer also sometimes has them:

Front
http://www.vintagetyres.com/display.asp?K=20110725_1952_000287&m=17&dc=28&sort=sort_size&mw=1&st_01=225&sf_01=keyword

Rear
http://www.vintagetyres.com/display.asp?K=20110725_1952_000292&sf_01=keyword&sort=sort_size&st_01=255&x=5&y=13&m=5&dc=7

It might be worth trying to special order these from another michelin dealer.


If you are going to say this is too expensive, I will say a couple things here. Otherwise just buy them and stop reading now. So you know you aren't wasting your time reading this, I'll say that I am an engineer and car collector, and have owned over 100 cars of all types. Usually 20-30 at a time. Obviously I am a little sick/strange/eccentric, but that does not make the following comments any less true.

1. They cost less than the original tires if you factor in inflation. In 1987, a set of goodyear zr-50 tires cost $880 from Tire-rack. Today, a set of these Michelin pilot tires costs $1718. With inflation, the Michelins are actually cheaper, since prices have more than doubled since then.

Michelin goes out of their way to make these tires for the TR in their factory, rather than licensing the reproduction to a third rate repro facility. This is important in a 180mph car. Reproduction tires are not real tires per se, but replicas of them, made strictly for cosmetic purposes. They come apart at high speed. I have even had them come apart in static display!

2. The only thing attaching your Ferrari to the road is the tires. Are you so cheap that you would put your family's safety at risk, not to mention the car?

Do you skimp on everything for your Ferrari and your family, or just the tires? Would you use chinese knock off brake hoses in the Ferrari? Would you get it painted at Maaco?


3. It won't drive properly with the wrong type of tires. You want it to drive like a sportscar, right? You need real performance tires. Not all-season, high-mileage, hard rubber compound tires designed for a honda civic. Even if all-season tires have a good brand name like Michelin, they will not perform properly or feel the same as supercar type summer performance tires. Cheap asian knock offs of good summer tires won't do either. Cheap asian tires are not really round. They are oval. They cause vibration at highway speeds. They also blow out, separate, and rot prematurely.

4. If you get substandard or mismatched tires, whoever buys the Ferrari from you will deduct $2,000 from their purchase price, so you will actually lose more by trying to save, while depriving yourself of the proper driving experience. Why buy the good tires for the next owner without using them yourself first? Buy them now and enjoy them.

5. Didn't anyone tell you that running a Ferrari is expensive? Didn't they tell you so set aside at least $2500 a year for upkeep? If you can routinely spend $5000 for an engine out service, which won't change your driving experience at all, how can you begrudge a $1700 expenditure for something like tires which you will probably never wear out?

6. Finally...It is a Ferrari! This is the finest sportscar on earth. And it is not a little 308 either. It is a 12 cylinder flagship GT Ferrari. Are you actually considering something other than the finest tires? Maybe the Ferrari is not what you really wanted. Perhaps a mustang or camaro would be a better fit for you. Seriously. Mediocrity was not meant to be associated with the Ferrari Testarossa. And neither was bottom of the barrel cheap imported junk made strictly for the gross enrichment of corrupt multinational corporations at the expense of innocent unknowing ignorant consumers. As Ferrari owners, we should not be involved in the propagation of this type of exploitation of the masses. Especially if doing so would lessen the coolness of our beloved Steeds. Oh, my soap box is cracking. Wait...it was made in china. So I will have to get off of it now, lest it break in two leaving me without perch.

If you still think it is too much money, just pretend that you paid $1,700 more for the car, and it came with these brand new Michelin Pilot Sport tires. Certainly an additional $1,700 would not have stopped you from buying this car.


Someone in the thread did mention the longstone source, but no one seemed to notice.


The following is a description of the tire from Michelin...

The Pilot Sport is Michelin's Max Performance Summer tire developed for the drivers of exotic sports cars and ultra high performance coupes and sedans. The Pilot Sport is designed to extend vehicle capabilities in the wet, while providing progressive handling, exceptional feedback and refined road manners on dry roads. The Pilot Sport is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.
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Well....................................... how could anyone possibly argue with any of the points made above??

 

Kumho Ecsta XS are available in 265/45zr16 for $195 a tire which will fit. The Pilot sports are good tires but they've since been passed by the Dunlop Direzza Z1 star spec, which are about the best street tire you can get but they don't come in sizes close to the TR.

BF Goodrich G-force sports in 255/50zr16 are on Tire rack for $130 a tire, but I'd go with the Kumho's for the little bit extra.

 

So the point is.....?

P

 

The point is, the Kumhos are better in the dry (though not as good in the wet) and cost around 1/3 what the Pilot sports do, and are available on tire rack. If you like to drive your car at the limit a lot in the wet, maybe they're not as good, but for everything else they're better and much less expensive.

If you want to switch rims, the Dunlops are about the best overall tire you can get outside of race tires.

 

I'm sending this to my folks at Goodyear......JUST to pizz 'em off!

Thanks for posting!

 

You better stack a spare set up in the shop, man!!!

 

But you were discussing the Dunlop Direzza Z1 star and as they don't fit the Testarossa I wanted to know what your point was.
I run Kumhos and I am happy with them.


P

 

No need to. We all have choices..........................................