quote:
Originally posted by David_Nunn:
If there is a new development, it's that 17" tires are nearly impossible to find, particularly rear tires.
David touched on an issue that's close to my heart.
I hope everyone that contacts a vendor about aftermarket wheels will drop a bug in their ear about the fact that the wheels they are offering are designed around tire sets having poor availability in today's market. The tire market has moved on since the 1990s when the current Campy clone wheels were conceived. It’s time for the aftermarket Pantera wheel offerings to evolve and better compliment what the tire industry is offering today ... including the ability to purchase the same make and model tires for the front and rear. It is bad engineering to mix makes and models of tires for the front and rear. Owners of high performance sports cars such as the Pantera should not have to do that.
Check this out:
Audi R8 V8
front tires: 235/40R18 (25.4)
rear tires: 285/35R18 (25.9)
Audi R8 V10
front tires: 235/35R19 (25.5)
rear tires: 295/30R19 (26.0)
Corvette sting ray
front tires: 245/40R18 (25.7)
rear tires: 285/35R19 (26.9)
Corvette Z51
front tires: 245/35R19 (25.8)
rear tires: 285/30R20 (26.7)
Ferrari 458 Italia
front tires: 235/35R20 (26.5)
rear tires: 295/35R20 (28.1)
Porsche 911 Carrera
front tires: 235/40R19 (26.4)
rear tires: 285/35R19 (26.9)
My best advice, when a person is able to reasonably acquire tires for the wheels they already have, I say keep them until that day when acquiring tires becomes unreasonable. BUT ... when a person is going shopping for new wheels, purchasing new wheels sized for tires that have good availability of matched front/rear sets seems to be the smart thing to do. If after being warned somebody decides to purchase wheels designed for a tire combination with poor availability, that's cool too. At least they're better informed regarding what frustration the future may have in store for them.
I've invested time checking the availability of front and rear tire sets using the same make and model of tire in the front and rear for each possible pairing of tires suited for the Pantera. I used the tire search feature at the Tire Rack's web site and at On Line Tire's web site. Compare the availability of front/rear tire sets for the contemporary tire options and the Campy clone tires. Notice NONE of the traditional vendor tire pairings (Campy clone) have front/rear tire sets avaialble. Do you think Steve or Marino may read this?
When it is time to make a purchase please contact the businesses which support this forum first, and the other Pantera parts vendors second, we at Pantera International want those businesses to thrive. But if they can't help you, and you're interested in a set of Campy clone wheels sized for contemporary tires, contact American Republic Wheels, which is the new name for Boyd Coddington:
American Republic Wheels/Elite Series (Campi)