I recently part exchanged my Cali for a new Cali. At the exchange of vehicles the dealer announced that my car had the wrong tyres fitted and that he could not sell the car with the incorrect tyres. I explained that my local Ferrari dealer fitted the tyres so they should be OK. I was shown the official Ferrari tyre programme and indeed the tyres were incorrect. So I had to pay for a new set of tyres there and then to complete the transaction. I later managed to recover my loss from the original fitter. It turns out that for Ferrari North Europe there is an official document called 'Pirelli Fitments For The Ferrari North Europe Tyre Programme, which I now have a copy of. California Tyres should be: Front: 245/35ZR20 (95Y) XL P Zero - IP CODE 1914100 - DOT L141 Rear: 285/35ZR20 (100Y) P Zero - IP CODE 19158000 - DOT L158 As I found out it is the DOT code that is critical. After speaking to Ferrari UK directly, they stated that the different DOT code related to a different rubber and construction of the tyre that was important to each model of car. The DOT code is made up of a group on numbers printed on the tyre wall as follows: DOT - Department of Transport XX - 2 digits, the manufacturer and plant code number YY - 2 digits, Tyre size code number ZZZZ - The critical DOT code to identify which tyre the car is meant for 1111 in an oval - Week and year of tyre manufacture
The tyres on the car were DOT code J200 and H388, designed for a Maserati GranTurismo. The tyres on my car now are: Front: DOT XT 52 L141 0710 Rear: DOT XT 6F L158 3611 The critical numbers relating to construction of the tyre for a California are L141 and L158
Thanks for posting. Were the tires on your car the right size, only with a different DOT code, or were they the wrong sizes as well? The sizes should have been 245/35ZR20 (front) and 285/35ZR20 (rear) (assuming 20" optional wheels). If the same/correct sizes, what's the difference between the Maserati and California tires? Speed/load rating because the California is capable of a higher top speed?
The tyres were the correct size, but apparently, according to Ferrari UK, the DOT refers to the construction and rubber compounds used.
This reflects the current trend with tires fine tuned for each manufacturer - in recent memory this began with Porsche type N tires from Bridgestone amongst others for about the past fifteen years (
I think this may have started even longer ago. In 1991 my Nissan 300zx twin turbo had special coded tires . I remember they were a std size but then they had a special similar code to this discussion . This of course makes the tires cost about 50% more and they basically look exactly the same .. just my input .. Larry
Very interesting information. I recently replaced my tyres and I wasn't aware there was a specific tyre for the California. Thanks for posting it
Chassis tuning is a highly complex area for manufacturers - even mass market ones. The density, malleability and 'springiness' of each tyre compound is a fundamental part of how the chassis performs when under load/not under load/turning/braking etc. Mass market cars tend to have a wider performance envelope and tend much more towards safe understeer. Performance cars need to push the envelope a lot more and as such the tyre compound is a critical part of making cars perform better, especially on the limit. This is definitely not a newly created manufacturer scam but a really important part of what makes cars perform a certain way. I think recommended compounds an even be different front to rear for a specific car (seems to make sense when you think some cars have more than 60% weight over the rear). When you change tyre, spring, damper, wheel spec you need to know what you're doing and what you're trying to achieve - track bias etc.
Good to see some suspension discussion with some technical focus in the Cali section There are some here that can't tell the difference between the ride comfort settings on a magneride car Next thing we will be discussing bump and rebound
