Reply to "345 tires"

Comp2:

From the ad in your link, the Michelin TB tire sizes and prices are as follows:

26/61-15 Michelin TB15 Tire 295/40VR15 £222.00
29/61-15 Michelin TB15 Tire 335/35VR15 £244.00

Although the tires are V-rated, I wonder how well they would work on a GT car being used for its intended purpose? It looks to me like these tires are more old-fashioned racing tires with some minor modifications to make them street legal. I would also want to know how modern the tread pattern and compound are. It should also be noted that the tires sizes, while they will mount on the 10" and 13" Pantera wheels, are a slightly different size than stock. I would be interested to know what affect this will have on the appearance of the car and on the speedometer calibration.

The price of these tires is comparable to what I recall Kjell would charge for the Yokohama and Pirelli tires, which are the exact correct size and engineered for modern GT cars. Personally, I would feel a lot safer on the mass-produced tires rather than these obviously limited production, specialty vintage and possibly obsolete technology Michelin/Coker tires. Mind you, this would not be an issue if a person were to only have their car out for leisurely drives in perfect weather.

In a post on the E-mail Forum dated April 28, 2004, Mike Drew wrote as follows:

Hi guys,

For years now, people have been wringing their hands regarding the demise of
available tires for the 15x10 and 15x13 wheels used on the wide-body Panteras.

I just discovered that Michelin has revised its TB line of tires. These are
vintage-looking V-rated radials, which were original issue on supercars and
racing cars of the day. The new tires continue to use a screwed-up, antiquated
nomenclature system, such as 23/61-15. The first number (23) is the tread
width in mm. The second number is the tire height in mm. And the third number
is the rim diameter--in inches!

The Pantera originally wore Pirellis in 285/40-15 and 345/35-15 (modern
nomenclature). There are two new tires that are close in size for the
front--23/62-15 (which is 270/45 in modern nomenclature), and 26/61 (295/40). For the
rear, they have 29/61-15, which is 335/35.

These tires are marked with DOT stamps so they're road-legal in the USA.
Here's a direct link to a UK distributor with a fair bit of information and
prices:

http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/michelintb15.php

These tires are now available in the USA from Coker Tire. Here's a direct
link to their page:

http://www.coker.com/store/customer/home.php?cat=274