[DeTomaso] Tire advice

Bill Moore Bill at Incendium.com
Sun Feb 16 13:35:57 EST 2014


As I recall, my car did not respond favourably on our "NWPantera" trip north
west of Seattle last September in the RAIN.

Kumho Exsta's 245x17 front and 335x17 rear. Dry great, wet slow, slow, slow.


It was fun plowing water though.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Bill Moore

 

Calgary, AB.

 

From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of Mike Thomas
Sent: February-16-14 10:35 AM
To: michael at michaelshortt.com; 'Christopher Kimball'
Cc: 'Mike Drew'; detomaso at poca.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

 

On the Khomo Exsta's in wet weather, I can confirm from first (two) handed
experience, they can be a bitch in the wet.  Back in '09 Car and Driver
rated them the best dry autocross tire on the market at the time, but used
the word "diabolical" to describe them in wet driving.  Otherwise, I love
them, and you can't beat the price point.

 

They are also quite greasy when cold on cold days, as my unintended
experience will attest when leaving the LeMay opening weekend show on a
typically cool, gray June 1 in 2012.  I got sideways when I hit some
crosswalk paint in a left turn in front of a conga line of Tacoma cops just
casting in the barrel for some miscreant hot-rodder showing off for the
crowd.  That took some 'splainin' an' grovelin', I can tell you.  She was
ready to haul me in for reckless driving and impound the car.  I tried to
tell her that if I hadn't goosed it to straighten out, I likely would have
come all the way around and backed into the side of her shiny white TPD Ford
Expedition.  Got off with a stern finger wagging and a warning.  She went
off unsatisfied to rebait her hook and start casting . . . 

 

Mike Thomas

VP, POCA

VP, Panteras Northwest

Yellow '74 #6328

 

 

 

From: michaelsavga at gmail.com [mailto:michaelsavga at gmail.com] On Behalf Of
michael at michaelshortt.com
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 5:37 PM
To: Christopher Kimball
Cc: detomaso at poca.com; Mike Drew; Julian Kift; Mike Thomas; Pantdino
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

 

Sean,

I have several sets, two original 15" Campys sets ( Single Slot & Double
Slot )
& two 17" sets, both 9" fronts and 11"rears, one set are 335/35/17 &
235/40/17 P Zeros, they looking freaking fabulous on the car and drive fine
on the street, on track and on twisty roads, they understeer to a noticeable
degree, the back bites, doesn't slide well and there's not enough rubber on
the ground up front. 
The next set are Kumhos in 315/35/17 & 245/40/17.
The difference is day on night as far as handling goes, very well balanced,
the back slides with predictability and the front feels planted and turns
into with great confidence.
They don't look nearly as fierce as the PZeros, but the tread pattern is
nice and looks aggressive. I can't report much on wet weather driving, I
don't like detailing it enough to do that very often.
Both have minimal sidewalls and you do have to be cautionious with pronounce
curbs and driveway entries. 

Michael Shortt

On Feb 15, 2014 4:51 PM, "Christopher Kimball" <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
wrote:

I did note when reading about date codes that the code might be on the
inside of the tire.  I can't see anything else that would be a date code on
the outside of the tire.  Next time I'm under the car, I'll see if I can
find the correct code on the inside sidewall, and I'll post it.

 

Thanks,

 

 

Chris


  _____  


From: julian_kift at hotmail.com
To: chrisvkimball at msn.com; mbefthomas at comcast.net; pantdino at aol.com;
mikeldrew at aol.com; michael at michaelshortt.com
CC: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Tire advice
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 13:47:36 -0800

Chris,

 

That is not the date code, should be preceded by DOT and some letters,
possibly on the other side of the tire.

 

Julian


  _____  


To: julian_kift at hotmail.com; mbefthomas at comcast.net; pantdino at aol.com;
mikeldrew at aol.com; michael at michaelshortt.com
CC: detomaso at poca.com
From: chrisvkimball at msn.com
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Tire advice
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 13:40:38 -0800

The only number I see that looks date-code-like is 0212195.  Preceding that
there is a circle with E4 in it.

Chris

Sent from my Windows Phone


  _____  


From: Julian Kift <mailto:julian_kift at hotmail.com> 
Sent: 2/15/2014 1:20 PM
To: Christopher Kimball <mailto:chrisvkimball at msn.com> ; Mike Thomas
<mailto:mbefthomas at comcast.net> ; 'Pantdino' <mailto:pantdino at aol.com> ;
MikeLDrew at aol.com; michael at michaelshortt.com
Cc: De Tomaso List <mailto:detomaso at poca.com> 
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

Post up the date codes, I struggle to believe even Les would sell 15 year
old stock and I'm not sure the Proxes or even Toyo's were available back
then! 

 

Julian


  _____  


From: chrisvkimball at msn.com
To: mbefthomas at comcast.net; pantdino at aol.com; mikeldrew at aol.com;
michael at michaelshortt.com
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 12:39:14 -0800
CC: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

I put them on about 5 years ago, I think.  They were new from a Les Schwab
warehouse, but if I'm reading the date code correctly (which may or may not
be the case...), they might have been manufactured back in '95.  I guess I'd
better obey all the speed limits until I replace them! 

 

Chris


  _____  


From: mbefthomas at comcast.net
To: chrisvkimball at msn.com; pantdino at aol.com; mikeldrew at aol.com;
michael at michaelshortt.com
CC: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Tire advice
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:31:12 -0800

Any idea how old the rears were when you put them on the car?

 

Mike Thomas

VP, POCA

VP, Panteras Northwest

Yellow '74 #6328

 

 

 

From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of Christopher
Kimball
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 9:32 PM
To: Pantdino; mikeldrew at aol.com; michael at michaelshortt.com
Cc: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

 

Yes, the Toyos I'm getting for the front are the same as the rear.  The ones
on the rear I got a few years ago, and they were the last pair they had.

Sent from my Windows Phone


  _____  


From: Pantdino <mailto:pantdino at aol.com> 
Sent: 2/14/2014 9:24 PM
To: chrisvkimball at msn.com; mikeldrew at aol.com; michael at michaelshortt.com
Cc: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

Are the Toyos the same type as you have on the rear, or similar wear rating?

If so, they would make sense.  Toyo makes a broad range of tires so the
manufacturer means little in this case.

 

But Mike is right about rear tires-- even some years ago I went to 17"
wheels because it was getting too hard to find 15" tires to fit the rear.
(Yes, I know Pirelli runs off a batch every so often.  But there are so many
modern, great tires readily available in 17" it didn't make sense to me to
mess with it.)

 

 

 

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Kimball <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
To: Mike Drew <mikeldrew at aol.com>; michael <michael at michaelshortt.com>
Cc: Pantera list serve <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Fri, Feb 14, 2014 2:14 pm
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice

Bummer.  I just assumed if they had 15" 225s they'd have 285 or 295, too. 

 

Since I bought the front tires, I've driven over 25,000 miles.  The tire guy
I went to for alignment said the inner tread was down to the replace mark,
while the outer tread was still OK, barely.  He said the wheels had a slight
camber outward, which he said was probably for better cornering.  He said it
wasn't significant, but if I were going to drive to San Diego, I should
replace the tires before I left.

 

Based on all the comments, especially the part about not mixing tire brands,
I think I'm going with the Toyos.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Sincerely,

 

Chris


  _____  


From: MikeLDrew at aol.com
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 16:06:48 -0500
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Tire advice
To: chrisvkimball at msn.com; michael at michaelshortt.com
CC: detomaso at poca.com


In a message dated 2/14/14 7 18 3, chrisvkimball at msn.com writes:

When all four tires wear out next time, my sons will be out of college, so
I'll just buy a whole set of the Pirelli P-zeros.  They are rated to almost
200 mph.



>>>No, you won't.  They don't make any tires in the appropriate size for the
rear of your car.  They haven't made them in anything approaching that size
for more than 20 years.  So don't tell people that you are going to 'just
buy a set of Pirellis', because they will suggest that you do just that.  I
might suggest it too, if you could, but you can't.

Beware of listening to advice from people who don't know what kind of car
you have, and are simply assuming that you have a GT5 or GT5-S.  (He is
running 225/50 front and 295/50 rear Toyos on 15x8 and 15x10 wheels, on a
stock-body Pantera).

Your only practical choice is to buy new front tires to match your rears as
closely as possible.

FWIW my H/V rated (rear/front) BFG tires are 20 years old and have been
subjected to a fair amount of racetrack use (but less road miles than
yours).  They still have more than half their (tread) life left, although
they are rather hard and slippery (they weren't much better when new!).
Take care to align your car and you should get plenty of years out of your
tires too.

When your front and rear tires wear out, chances are you will be able to
find a full set of S-rated BFG tires in the appropriate sizes, but that's
about it.

Mike (with a set of Toyos on the shelf, ready to go on, perhaps later this
year?)

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