Tire Options
 

One of our tire dealers in Oregon recommends using Toyo tires on the XK-8 models. Mine came with continentels, which did not last 18K and I have been running Pirellis ever since.

Your thoughts about the Toyo tires??

Other good options??

No idea about those but check this thread on the subject:

Tire Opinions

Eh?

Weird, I posted the right link and it kept pointing to this one.

I re-edited my post and had to manually insert a url="" link. That was odd.

sorry xeno, link still goes here. :)

to the OP, lots of good recommendations on xk8/r tire choices, Riken Raptor, hancook evo ventus v12, yokohama s-drives, and plenty more around the forums. Pirellis are pretty pricey for their longevity and aged 'noise', that's a widely shared opinion around here.

Take my recommendation with a grain of salt as my XJR isn't a staggered setup like the XK, but my experience with the Toyo Proxes T1R's was not that great. Just like Pirellis, they get pretty noisy with wear, and they don't do very well in the rain... of course they are a summer tire, so that's probably not a fair comparison. But as I see you are from Oregon... I would assume you are around the Portland area and this is still a concern for you like it is for me.

I now have the Michelin Pilot Sport AS Plus model, it's good in the all season context, but if I were to do it again... I probably would do something different.

Thanks for the links and good advice.

I think the top rated speed on the XK-8 might be around 156 or so, but I am not much into high speed travel anymore. Blew out a rear tire in a Corvette some time ago at about 130 mph and did an interesting slide and dance into the weeds and don't care to repeat that trip.

So my tire options don't need to include the high speed tires that I have been putting on the car to the tune of $1,200 per set.

Why I was not able to figure this out for myself I am at a loss to understand. To pay half the price and pick up a set of tires that will last a lot longer and work better in the constant rain of the NorthWest just makes a lot of good horse sense. Maybe Goodyears?

Thanks again folks.

check out Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels , and if wet weather safety is important, look for that particular critirea in the rankings...you'll find a new tire in no time!

Heh heh....I downgraded from 17" to 16" wheels on my XJR just so I could buy a decent set of tires :-). I'm not saying you'll have to do that but all tires designs are a compromise of some sort and everyone has to decide what's most important for their particular situation.

Lots of choices. The only thing I wouldn't compromise on is load rating.

What size do you need?

Cheers
DD

I have had Toyo Proxes tires on other cars and liked them. My 2003 Xk8 had Hankook v12 eVo tires when I bought, it I but replaced them with OEM continentals. The Hankooks are like new - if you're interested, let me Know.

If you want to drive the car fast on smooth roads, the Hankooks are the way to go. If you want a smooth, soft ride, go with the conti or toyo.