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BFG does look pretty good. I like the white letters as they closely resemble the Arrivas which I find attractive on the Pantera. Just got my car and they have 295/50's on the rear. The side walls are sunken, and they look bad. What is the widest tire I can use on the 15" wheel and not have sunken sidewalls? They list 215, 225, 235, and so on. Don't know if they are REALLY available though.

SOURCING TIRES


Tires for the original 15" Campagnolo wheels can be sourced from "classic tire" suppliers or sourced from "contemporary tire" suppliers.

Re-issues of classic tires are "reproductions" in appearance and size, but they are constructed using modern rubber compounds and modern construction techniques. They "look" like the classic tire they are emulating in sidewall design and tread pattern, they are available in the right size for your car, but they are thoroughly modern in terms of performance.

Longstone Classic Tyres of Bawtry, South Yorkshire, England, is the only "supplier" of reproduction tires who has shown an interest in our classic Italian cars. Longstone's US distributor is Lucas Classic Tires of Long Beach, California. Classic tires of the proper size for some applications are available from Pirelli, Michelin, and Avon.

Longstone Classic Tyres
Lucas Classic Tires

Avon Tires are also available in the US via Frisby Performance Tire (Park City Illinois), Roger Krause Racing (Castro Valley California), SascoSports (Alton Virginia), or Sierra Tire (Henderson Nevada).

The availability of contemporary tires for 15” wheels has been dwindling over the last couple of decades; especially for tires having a speed rating of V (or higher). The options in selecting the same make and model tires in the front as you select for the rear are highly limited.

Here are two good internet sites for checking-out what's available amongst "contemporary" tires, they both allow you to search by size for "sets" of tires wherein the front tires and rear tires are a different size:

Tire Rack.com/
On Line Tires.com/


OEM TIRE SETS

Pantera International advocates using front and rear tires composed of sets of the same make and model tire. If the car shall be driven or garaged at temperatures below 45° F (7° C) we advocate using All Season Tires.


Tire Set 1 | 1971-1972 | 185/70VR15 + 215/70VR15
Push Button, Pre-L, Early GTS, Early Group 3
Chassis number 1001 through 4268

This set is available in Michelin XWX re-issues.

There is little demand for this size, most owners of the earliest Panteras opt for tires in the sizes of tire set 2 or tire set 3; which are by far the two most popular and therefore most common tire sets for narrow body Panteras.


Tire Set 2 | 1972½ -1977 | 205/60VR15 + 255/60VR15
Pantera L, GTS, Group 3
Chassis number 4269 through 7554, and 9001 through 9099

This set is available in BF Goodrich Radial T/A (speed rated S).

Historic Trivia: Few people realize the popular 15x10 Campy rear wheels were actually designed circa 1972 or 1973 for the H60V15 Goodyear Arriva rear tires (255mm cross section). The Pirelli P7 tires did not enter the scene until approximately 1977. The offset of the 15x10 wheels was chosen to recess the Arriva tires about 15mm from the fender's edge.

Some owners choose Avon CR6ZZ "classic" street legal radial racing tires which are available in a set of alternative size tires: 215/60VR15 + 275/55VR15

The 255/60R15 is available in Pirelli CN12 re-issues (speed rated W). But the CN12 Pirelli is not available in the 205/60R15 front size. Pity … that would be a great alternative to the BF Goodrich tire set.


Tire Set 3 | 1977 -1984 | 225/50VR15 + 285/50VR15
Late Model GTS, Late Model Group 3 (and Longchamp GTS)
Chassis number 9100 through 9374

This is a small diameter tire set, both tires are about an inch smaller in diameter than the tires originally installed on the narrow body Panteras. They fit the fender arches differently … there is a larger gap between the fenders and the tires.

Most people consider this tire set for 15x8 front wheels and 15x10 rear wheels, BUT the tires will fit the smaller 15x7 front wheels and 15x8 rear wheels.

The Front AND Rear tires are available in Pirelli P7 re-issues. The Pantera and Longchamp GTS were the only OEM applications for tires in the rear size, Pirelli made it available due to the effort of Dougal Cawley of Longstone Classic Tyres.

There are alternatives to the Pirelli P7s when 15x10 rear wheels are being used. They are larger in diameter than the P7s, but the difference in tire diameter front to rear is appropriately 2 inches.

BF Goodrich Radial T/A:

205/60R15 front (mounted on 15x7 wheels) and 295/50R15 rear.

Avon CR6ZZ:
215/60VR15 + 275/55VR15 or 215/60VR15 + 295/50VR15
These are "classic" street legal radial racing tires.


Tire Set 4 | 1978-1990 | 285/40VR15 + 345/35VR15
Wide Bodies: GTS/4, GT4, GT5, GT5-S
Chassis number 9100 through 9374, and 9375 through 9562

This set is available in Pirelli P7 re-issues.


Tire Set 5 | 1990-1993 | 235/45ZR17 + 335/35ZR17
Wide Body: Pantera Si
Chassis number 9601 through 9641

This tire set is available from 2 manufacturers, but it is not available in the same model tire for front and rear.

Michelin: Pilot Sport 4S front + Pilot Sport PS2 rear
Pirelli : P-Zero Nero GT front + P-Zero System rear

Last edited by George P
BFG T/As are rated at 106 mph and available in 215 and 255/60x15. I have used these tires on my GT6 and TR8. Perfectly good tires in just about any weather conditions one might want to drive a Pantera in. I guess if one wants to storm around at higher speeds, they can a) enjoy spending some insurance, ticket, and legal fee money Big Grin , and b) upgrade to larger everything thing to handle those speeds well north of 100mph !!!!
I think they will be OK.

The things to be concerned about are total width and rolling diameter. Under 26" dia. seems to work best with minimal rubbing. There may be some other posts around here with size options and opinions, but that's the size I'd pick if you're using 10" rear and 8" fronts. For 7" fronts maybe the 215 or even 205 might be a better fit. It depends what you're running now and if any rubbing is occurring at full steering lock.

Good luck!
Mark
You're right about the sizes Bud but if you know of any manufacturer making BOTH front and rear tires in the optimum sizes, please share because I couldn't find anything but the odd loose tire on eBay. The 60 series fronts are a bit tall, but if you go with the narrower ones the height shrinks as well. The 205's are only 24.7" tall.

Mark
You need to be careful with the age of these tires. BFG's and Pirelli's start to crack through the outer treads somewhere around three years of age.

The BFG's in particular will throw chunks of tread out like the retreads used to, leaving you to look at just the fiber from the carcass.

The Pirelli's crack like this too between the tread blocks.

One of the memebers here in Europe bought a Pirelli tire like this, NOS, and it failed within 30 or 40 miles.

This considered, what is the point in looking for NOS tires that are more then a year old from manufacture regardless of whether or not they are used or not?

Try the Mickey Thompson LT rear tires. There are more then a few 225-vr50-15 tires still made.

You just are not going to find a matching set, front-back, in 15".

Even Hoosier no longer makes them.
quote:
Originally posted by 22 Racer:
Recently purchased a 72 Pantera with the old Pirelli tires on the original 15" Campy's. Can't find a manufacture that makes a tire for both the front and rear. Help! Can anyone provide information for my dilemma? Thanks
BTW: the rears are not the 10" width.


I have a new, never mounted, set of 295/50-15" Toyo Proxes ST's available. The pic shows what the identical set looked like on #5606 which I sold last year. My rears were 10" wide, but the tires fit fine on 8" wide rear wheels. These are used in conjunction with Toyo Proxes 4's on the front as they have a similar tread pattern. I wrapped them up when new and they have been stored properly.

They cost me $400 including shipping from the East Coast, so that is my asking price.

FYI-the manufacturing date was the 12th week of 2007.

I am located in the northern San Diego area.

Last edited by fourwalling
Still are. I had my RWL Dunlops installed white-lettering in and then used tire paint over the letters so you wouldn't see it from the "inside" (it looks odd to see white letters from the insides).

In case anyone is tempted, don't try to remove the white lettering because it's a layer of white rubber and you can easily wreck a tire cutting/sanding it off.

Mark
The only issue for me at the moment is that I am not ready to put tires on it for the fall. Probably yes in the spring though.

I don't want to buy a set of tires now and have the clock ticking on the ageing of the rubber over the winter.

The other issue is that there is not a matching set front to back, which personally doesn't bother me, and the concern is that since the 15" are going the ways of the Dodo birds, the Michey Thompson may get discontinued also.

I'm not sure I want to run comp tires on the street. The rubber compounds are too sensative to temperature and as a result could be letheal until the warm up. How do you warm up a race tire when it is 20 degrees F?

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