No Rear Testarossa Tires Available Anymore?!

My 91' testa have rear michelin 255/50/16, i think that michelin makes this tyres today. regards.

 

Antonio, Michelin do indeed still make the original Testarossa tyre but unfortunately it is about 3 times more expensive that the other manufacturers.
For example:

Michelin £350
Kumho £65



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That was for those that are going to different sized rims, I guess I should have specified. The Michelins are good but are overpriced by about 3x (Ferrari markup?) and have been surpassed by other tires - though that 'ode to Michelin' above was amusing.

 

Anyone with the Kumhos have a picture of the car with them on? Preferably from the rear

 

I'm off into the garage this morning as soon as I drink my cup of tea
I will take a few photos for you Ron.

Although the Kumhos are the same size tyre, they look wider as the Kumho has a much squarer shoulder unlike the ballon shaped Michelins.

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Ah yes I see what you mean.
Unfortunately for me I have the single centre lug wheels and to change wheels means a lot of expense. It could even mean changing the hubs and I am sure they will not come cheap if available in the first place.

The Michelins are approximately the same price wherever you buy them but I can imagine that if you bought them through a Ferrari dealership they would add the "F" overhead to it


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Here you go.....


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Thanks for the pics. They don't look like the tread pattern of the Kumho Ecsta XS tires, are they the MX XRP's? A lot of you are talking about the original tires being the Michelins. I have the Goodyear Eagle 255-50-16 but I'm thinking of going with the Kumho 265-45zr16 if they'll work.

 

Those Eagles haven't been made for a long while. Time for a change.
The Kumhos will work. They are within 1/10 inch (.10") overall diameter to the 255/50-16 BFG tires (and slightly wider). Softer compound, speed rated and better grip.

 

The only place I found that had the Kumhos is Tire Rack. The only problem is that they are all 2008 production codes. When are they considered too old considering they could be on our cars for years?

Discount Tire Direct says they are on back order forever with no suggestion of delivery. They say that Kumho has not officially disontinued the tire.

The G Sports are generally felt to be too hard.

I do not want to spend big $ on repro old technology tires.

What is a poor TR owner to do?

 

I was unaware that the date codes were that old.
I would buy them anyway if the date codes on my BFG's were older by a large margin.
That would suck if Kumho discontinued them.
I guess it would give me more incentive to just buy 512TR wheels and be done with it. Not much worse than buying a set of new 16" Michelins.

 

DOT = date-of-tyre ---- > was explained to me by the local tyreshop Kwik-Fit.

Shows week and year of production...

In Europe, tyres with a DOT of 5 years may not be sold anymore by law ....

Don't take the risk of exploding tires because "they were cheap" .... this looks silly.

And recently, we did see it happen on a Testa overhere which had just damaged a sidewall with a silly parking manoeuvre ......

Pics: DOT = week 39 of 2008; Michelin Pilotsports II tyre, second season on the 512TR; to be replaced next season.

Just info, not ment as comment ...
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Your Corgi missed a photo opportunity there Mel

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The tires you mentioned above should be fine for your car for 5 or 6 years from now.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=138

 

Tirebuyer-com has 4 Kumho 265-45-16 in stock but no way to check date codes...

 

Phil, where did you find them at £65?

Did I see somewhere that you got them shipped from the states?

Mine currently has Eagle F1s on the front which are fine and Kumho Ecsta 255/50 on the rear which have, how shall we say, had good value out of them!

Cheers,
al

 

Some bad news I'm afraid, Kumho don't make them any more

I got mine from Micheldever tyres close by me in Winchester. I think the price I paid reflected the fact that they are no longer made. I didn't know that at the time so I am glad I made a really good saving.

Hope you find some.

There is another Testa tyre thread running that has concluded there are Kuhmo and Toyo tyres available BUT they are street legal track tyres. IIRC the Kumho had a respectable tread pattern for rain whereas the Toyo looks like it for the track, you makes your choice as they say.

The original Michelins are still available from Longstones at approx £350

HTH

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Here you go Burriana:

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m116b102s691p9720/KUMHO_TYRES_TRACKDAY_TRACK_DAY_KUMHO_V70A_ECSTA_KUMHO_V70_A_-_265_45R16_99W_(K60-MEDIUM)_TL_/RS_GB

 

They are the ones I was looking at from another supplier, but they are only W rated

 

W = 168 MPH, you want to go faster than that???
IIRC its higher than the original Michelin ZR rated tyre


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This is the reason I bought 3 sets of the Sumitomo and 2 sets of Kumho equivalent tires a year ago, vacuum sealed them in plastic and stored away them in a cool dark area of my underground (constant 54* F) storage area..........

but....I wish I could find these for my '87!!!!

Ridiculous Me
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I love that Kerry, wish I could get them inside my wheel arches.

I used to have Vredesteins on my Europa Special, Good sticky tyre from what I remember.

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Phil, it would void the insurance if I had a crash and speed was even a sniff of a factor. It doesn't matter if I was only doing 70mph, the car would still have tyres of a lesser rating than it was designed for. I don't believe in leaving any loop holes for insurance companies to wriggle out of.

The Zs are 150mph + which covers it.

As to the first bit, er, yes, I have on occasion

 

Did you first inflate the tire pressures to the higher values specified by Ferrari?

 

I know what you are saying regarding the insurance but as long as you tell them before hand then you should be covered.

I am not sure about the speed rating so I checked up on the Kwik Fit site and more recently the blackcircle site. The ZR rating which is the Michelin, is LESS than the Kumho W rating. The Testa is a 180+ MPH car
Here is the speed rating table from blackcircles:


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