My new-to-me 2004 xk8 came wearing Continental "Sport Plus Technology" 255/45 ZR18 tires. These tires have obviously provided little overhang protection for the OEM 6-spoke wheels against curb rash. As it is time to consider a set of new tires, I wonder if there is a better choice for tires to protect my refurbished wheels from future similar injury, should I be unfortunate enough to similarly approach a concrete curb in the future?

 

I went with Michelin Pilot Sport 5 for my last set. They where a good price at the time. Conti Sport Contact is pretty damn good though from what I've read. I had a set of Dunlops first and I didn't get along with them, no grip when even a little wet outside.

 

Agree; the Conti DWS Extreme Contact are good tires, They wear well and have the DRY, WET, & SNOW tread indicators in their treads.

 

I tend to find once my cars are out of the hands of their previous owners they stop getting curb rash

 

🤣

 

I’ve put enough miles on my 2002 XKR to have experimented with several tire brands, all were of the “All Season” variety due to my climate with 4 extreme seasons.

FWIW observations

Pirelli : best traction. No one else is even a close 2nd place. As you might guess, they lasted 5,000 miles less than the other brands. But what a ride !

Michelin: best overall tire if you absolutely must have longevity. I don’t value longevity over traction so I’m not buying any more Michelin’s.

Goodyear, Firestone, and Toyo all have less traction and less longevity than Pirelli and Michelin. It’s a crowded field for 3rd place.

the size(s) my car uses are 245/45-18 (F) and 255/45-18 rear.

Hope this helps someone.

Z

 

On the rear wheels only or all round?

 

245 front/255 rear

 

Continentals for me. Not that many miles since mounting them up but much improved ride, the handling hasn't been challenged too much. TM

 

I've driven a lot of X100s with various tires, so on my own '01 XKR I installed Michelin Pilot Sport All-Seasons. I chose the largest oversized width that would fit on the rear wheels, which really helped hook up the rear end. I've worn out these Michelins in less than 20K miles, so I wouldn't say that even the All-Season Pilot Sports have great treadlife. I know from experience that the Pilot Sport Summer tires are stickier but wear even more quickly.

I have Continentals on my X308 and they are also excellent tires, but I don't drive that car as spiritedly as the X100.

Other brands I've driven on X100s include Bridgestone, Pirelli, General and Yokohama. All high-quality tires depending on your driving style. Two brands I did not care for were Firestone and Goodyear. Both exhibit noticeably worse traction and ride quality. I ran a set of Kuhmo Ecsta Summer tires on one of my BMWs for awhile, and they were fine tires but also wore out very quickly.

Cheers,

Don

 

I've noticead the 20" wheels the tyres wear out super fast. I would go through a set once a year or two around 10k miles. With the 18" wheels and tyres the tyres wear out much better. It was always on the inner edge of the rear tyres. The fronts where OK, granted I do have an XKR and I sometimes might have a heavy foot.

 

Would you share what size you used on the rear ?

and … stock size on the front ?

seems like I’ve read somewhere on this forum that one could run into problems using tires that deviated from the stock diameter, besides just speedometer inaccuracy. I can’t recall what those issues were, bad memory, or did I just imagine that….:?

Z

PS thinking of trying Continental brand next, am having trouble finding Pirelli’s in the stock size. Discontinued ?

 

Hi Z,

My XKR has the stock 18-inch Double Five wheels, 8-inches wide in front, 9-inches wide at the rear. On the fronts I used the stock size of 245/R4518.

On the rears, the stock size is 255/R4518. I used Michelin's specifications of sidewall height to calculate rolling circumferences of various tire sizes. I found that the stock rear tires had a rolling circumference of 2,157.33 millimeters. Reviewing other available tire sizes, I found that the rolling circumference of the 285/R4018 Michelins was 2152.62 millimeters, or less than 5 millimeters shorter than that of the stock tires.

I calculated the difference in speedometer reading as too fast by less than one-quarter of one-percent. This seemed insignificant to me, and if anything, could prompt me to drive slightly slower than is my tendency.

Since installing the 285/R4018s on the rear, I have had zero issues with the ABS system, which could have problems if one or two tires roll at significantly different speeds than the other tires.

Cheers,

Don

 

Greetings, my 01 xk8 seems to be holding the road, even in S. FL monsoons on General G-Max, decent longevity, too. 60%hwy. The only problem with curbs down here is in parking lots, there designed for autos the size of “Smart Cars”.