Thoughts on tires

Dave
Pirelli P4000 or 6000 can't remember. Pull up their website or tirerack they are the correct size and speed rated for the 365. Less than the Michelin and a modern tire.
Rick

 

I've gone to 225/60/15's for the last eight years and they work perfectly...that's the very widest that ther rear wheel wells will accept..just bought B.F. Goodriches from "Tire Rack" for approx. $70-80...remember that this tire size is dissappearing fast..I'm going to buy four more fore future..good luck...Jacques..over...

 

P4000.

Nice ride quality, predictable. And much quieter than XWXs...

 

judge4re
Could you tell exactly which size you recommand please ?
The only P4000 I've spotted on the web is
P4000E 225/65 R15
I think current mines are 205s? I don't remember the brand, my car is in a place a bit away from home.
'79 400i
Thanks in advance
Olivier

 

Pierre

TireRack has P4000s in 215/70 WR15, which is the correct profile and size for the 400, for $100 each. I guess this is not very helpful as I've just realized you are in Paris.

See:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Pirelli&model=P4000+Super+Touring&partnum=17WR54000ST2&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=9

This a timely thread, as 2 of the XWXs on my 400i need replacing.

Aidan

 

Ah, you have to ask the question on the one car that isn't at the house. I'll stop by the shop later and take a look for the exact info.

 

I change my wheels over to Compomotive in a 17" rim size. Made the car look great and ride is 100% improved! I can email photo if you would like to see on my 412.

 

I think I'm the only one on the site still using the Michelin TRX tires. There was a thread a couple months back wherein a few of us debated whether the origininality was worth the added cost - I for one think it is.

Brennan
'84 400i #47583

 

I also have the TRXs on my 82 400. They were replaced just before I bought the car, so there's no need for me to start looking for new ones-yet.

 

I HAVE THE SAME P4000s AS ERIC...THE NEW ONES ARE K RATED. AS FOR 15" XWX TIRES THEY ARE ONLY GOOD FOR SHOWS (ORIGINAL). METRIC TRX TIRES CAN BE AVOIDED AT $400.00 A POP BY REPLACING YOUR RIMS WITH 15" EARLY 400 RIMS.. THEN BUY THE P4000 IN A Z OR K RATING AT UNDER $100.00 PER TIRE. i KNOW OF 2 SETS OF THE 15" RIMS...
(ERIC, STILL HAVE YOUR VISOR CLIPS,ETC.)

 

I'm home for a while, I'll give you a call this week.

 

How close in appearance are the early 400 15" rims to the metric sized ones? The 308 15" rims, which work with some spacers, are close in appearance, but not quite the same.
Do the early rims work without spacers/adaptors?

 

My current preference is the Pirelli P600 235/60 15 tyre. I believe it is Z rated. I've tried the P4000 215/70 15 speed rated tyre as well. Bad tyre, cheap though. You would be better off using the old Michelin XWX 215/70 15 tires. If you can find them Michelin made a MVX Energy tyre in 215/70 15 in a V speed rating, but I haven't seen them in a few years. This was my favorite correct size tyre. Yokohama made a AVi-60 235/60 VR 15 tyre that was my all time favorite tyre for older Ferraris, but it is no longer made either.

Steve

 

The XWX's are a "V" speed rated. If you have any questions on them I deal in the vintage Michelins, just let me know.

Jerry

 

So it took me a while to get the 365 out of the shop.

Pirelli P4000 215/70 ZR15

Much better than the crap XWXs that I first had on the car. Quieter and much more predictable towards the limit. I've tracked with both and prefer the P4000s.

 

I'm coming to this discussion very late but I'm investigating 2 400i's both of which will probably need new tires in the near term. In reading through an original 400i users manual, they state the original OEM tires as being 240/55/VR415. Given that size description, I'm having a hard time understanding some of the tire sizes I've seen referenced here? And wide 15" tires are getting hard to find so I'm really interested in what the right tire size and/or potential wheel manufactures are out there should I need to find a larger wheel size.
thanks

 

Maybe the cars you are looking at have the TRX-type tyres - the 215/70 15s are the Michelin XWX size. The TRX-type wheels can only use TRX tyres, which are very expensive. I have just ordered 4 Pirelli P4000s in 215/70/15 for my 1980 400i.

Aidan

 

hummmm. interesting piece of information. I had heard of the TRX tires and knew they were expensive but had no idea they were specific to wheel? So when just looking at pictures you see the 5 wide spoke wheel so often seen on the 400's, are those typically TRX wheels?

 

I don't think you can tell whether the wheels are regular or TRX without a close look - if the tyres are TRX the wheels must be too. Here's a shot of my 400i (any excuse to post a photo!).

Aidan
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Beatiful car. Feel free to post pics anytime. I came across an excel spreadsheet tire size calculator this afternoon that can be used to input your current size and play with proposed sizes to find a good size match. In playing around with it, the almost perfect combination, assuming you are willing to buy new rims, is a 19" rim, with a tire size of 245/40/19. Sounds odd but it also graphs the orignal and overlays the proposed replacement. Tire height and diameter are virtually identical. Original diameter with the TRX 415 and tires of 240/55's is 26.73 inches. With the 245/40/19's the diameter is 26.72 ! Original height is 679.036mm, replacement height is 678.6mm.

for those interested, the trx 390 series equates to 15.35 inches. the 415's equate to 16.34 inches.

So in one of the BMW forums, which apparently also used TRX wheels and tires in the early 80's, there were several pieces of advice NOT to mix new metric measure tires with the TRX rim. I guess if you really plan to take advantage of a V rated tire that's good advice, but hard to believe at typical US highway cruising speeds the new tires would be a problem given the .34 inch diameter difference. Good question for true tire guru I guess.
ed

 

trying to add the tire calculator as an attachment.
ed
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The ride would be terrible with such low-profile tyres as there would be less cushioning from the sidewalls, plus the looks would be spoiled. Better to stick with roughly the same size methinks.

Aidan

 

So going back to some of the original posts, are there indeed members out there who are running a standard tire size on the TRx rims? It would seem that the 1/3 of an inch diameter difference would be ok???

 

NO! In this case, "close" doesn't work! It has to be specifically a TRX tire at the exact size and ability to fit the wheel rim bead.

John