Spot of the day Evo IX

[kiseca]

1 hour ago, Anteater said:

 

Professional grade colour match on those centre caps. 

 

Not sure why you'd waste paint on the rim, either! That's all going to be hidden by the tyre..

[ajwebb]

11 hours ago, kiseca said:

They say you can find anything on the internet. Happily, I failed to find any pictures of a Testarossa on Ronal Teddies.

I'm not surprised. Ronal teddy rims mount on 4 bolts. Testarossas have a 5 bolt pattern. So it would make more sense for me to use the Ronal Teddies on a 90s VW or a Miata. Something with a 4x100 bolt pattern.

 

Either way, Teddies originally are 14 inch rims. Testarossas came with 17 inch. 14 inch rims would look goofy on any car designed to have larger rims; exception when mounted with drag slicks.

[RevDWC]

9 hours ago, ajwebb said:

I'm not surprised. Ronal teddy rims mount on 4 bolts. Testarossas have a 5 bolt pattern. So it would make more sense for me to use the Ronal Teddies on a 90s VW or a Miata. Something with a 4x100 bolt pattern.

 

Either way, Teddies originally are 14 inch rims. Testarossas came with 17 inch. 14 inch rims would look goofy on any car designed to have larger rims; exception when mounted with drag slicks.

What I'm hearing is he should build a Pro Street Testarossa on teddies.

[SnøMotion]

11 minutes ago, RevDWC said:

What I'm hearing is he should build a Pro Street Testarossa on teddies.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me that heard that! 

[Neddy]

I think I'm getting one of my headaches...

[keefr22]

11 hours ago, ajwebb said:

Either way, Teddies originally are 14 inch rims. Testarossas came with 17 inch.

 

I'm sure if you had the bad taste and money to waste bolting those things on a Testarossa, or any other Ferrari, you'd have the dosh to have some custom teddies made - possibly in 21 inch with elastic band tyres - let's go the whole ridiculous hog....!! 🤣

 

Keith

[Six97s]

.What are the odds?

 

Edited February 15 by Six97s

[keefr22]

21 minutes ago, Six97s said:

What are the odds?

 

 

It'd look better in pink....!! 🤣

 

(nice work btw!)

[SnøMotion]

On 2/15/2025 at 11:33 AM, Six97s said:

.What are the odds?

 

Well, this has escalated. So, now I need a 348 with Teddies and a pro street Testarossa with drag Teddies 

 

They may well both be yellow 👌

[kiseca]

19 hours ago, ajwebb said:

I'm not surprised. Ronal teddy rims mount on 4 bolts. Testarossas have a 5 bolt pattern. So it would make more sense for me to use the Ronal Teddies on a 90s VW or a Miata. Something with a 4x100 bolt pattern.

 

Either way, Teddies originally are 14 inch rims. Testarossas came with 17 inch. 14 inch rims would look goofy on any car designed to have larger rims; exception when mounted with drag slicks.

 

I haven't looked it up but I am pretty sure Testarossas came on 16s and the 512TR upped to 17s.

[ajwebb]

1 hour ago, kiseca said:

 

I haven't looked it up but I am pretty sure Testarossas came on 16s and the 512TR upped to 17s.

Then the tire site I got that info from was wrong apparently.  I checked on Ferrari forums, and Testarossas came with 16s.

[GiampieroSilvestri]

Tuning a Ferrari in my opinion is an insult and putting those terrible 19 inch wheels on it even more.And a Ferrari Testarossa has to be red.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 15 by GiampieroSilvestri

[SnøMotion]

14 minutes ago, GiampieroSilvestri said:

Tuning a Ferrari in my opinion is an insult and putting those terrible 19 inch wheels on it even more.And a Ferrari Testarossa has to be red.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

 

 

Drop the black one by 50mm and it’d look quite good 

[kiseca]

1 hour ago, ajwebb said:

Then the tire site I got that info from was wrong apparently.  I checked on Ferrari forums, and Testarossas came with 16s.

 

Not that it made any difference to your point anyway. 14in 4 stud Teddies still wouldn't fit 😁.

 

The thing that really surprised me was that Testarossas were supplied on VR tyres. The tyre's top speed rating was lower than the car's... and the only reason I know that is because I remember reading about it causing a nasty accident in the late '80s (could have been early '90s) on the Silver State Classic.

 

 

Edited February 15 by kiseca

[SnøMotion]

3 minutes ago, kiseca said:

 

Not that it made any difference to your point anyway. 14in 4 stud Teddies still wouldn't fit 😁.

 

The thing that really surprised me was that Testarossas were supplied on VR tyres. The tyre's top speed rating was lower than the car's... and the only reason I know that is because I remember reading about it causing a nasty accident in the late '80s (could have been early '90s) on the Silver State Classic.

Yeah, I’m not sure ZRs were available when the Testarossa was released. But I guess there have been a number of cars before and since this that were too fast for contemporary tyre technology.

[kiseca]

18 hours ago, SnøMotion said:

Yeah, I’m not sure ZRs were available when the Testarossa was released. But I guess there have been a number of cars before and since this that were too fast for contemporary tyre technology.

 

I think they were but I'm not sure. I waz aware of ZR tyres at the time I read about the crash but the Testarossa had been on sale for a few years by then so whether they were even available for thr cars from day 1 I can't be certain ..However, I'm kind of sure the wide Countaches rode on Z rated rubber, and the Sledgehammer had them. I can't remember if it coincided with the Pirelli P7 moving on to the P Zero or not. I do know that even in the late '80s there were less than a handful of production cars on sale that could even do 170mph. I remember Porsche advertising the 928S4 as the third fastest car in production at the time, with a quoted top speed of 167mph. And, looking through price lists at the time, they were right.

[SnøMotion]

14 minutes ago, kiseca said:

 

I think they were but I'm not sure. I waz aware of ZR tyres at the time I read about the crash but the Testarossa had been on sale for a few years by then so whether they were even available for thr cars from day 1 I can't be certain ..However, I'm kind of sure the wide Countaches rode on Z rated rubber, and the Sledgehammer had them. I can't remember if it coincided with the Pirelli P7 moving on to the P Zero or not. I do know that even in the late '80s there were less than a handful of production cars on sale that could even do 170mph. I remember Porsche advertising the 928S4 as the third fastest car in production at the time, with a quoted top speed of 167mph. And, looking through price lists at the time, they were right.

In my mind, ZRs were launched in the early 90s, I feel like I was reading Top Car magazine at the time. A quick, and by no means comprehensive, Google search suggests it was '92, so the 512TR had superseded the Testarossa by then. I'm not stating any of this as fact, by the way, it's from the internet after all 

[kiseca]

32 minutes ago, SnøMotion said:

In my mind, ZRs were launched in the early 90s, I feel like I was reading Top Car magazine at the time. A quick, and by no means comprehensive, Google search suggests it was '92, so the 512TR had superseded the Testarossa by then. I'm not stating any of this as fact, by the way, it's from the internet after all 

 

I'm with you there. I know my memory on this is unreliable and I didn't find anything on Google about introduction of Z rating except a post that specifically linked it to the Goodyear Eagle.

 

I also recall that the Testarossa changed its wheel spec a couple of times... or at least I think it was twice and not once... in the time before it developed into the 512TR. At one point it changed from a racing style single centre nut to a standard 5 stud / bolt fixing, which makes the later cars more practical... or something. I have an idea it also might have changed from metric to imperial sizes at one point. If early ones were metric it would have limited the tyre choice and maybe VRs weren't available.... but then again I could be imagining all that. Whatever it was, I remember Harry Metcalfe talking about how his search for a Testarossa led to a later model being preferred for him in part because changes to the wheels made the car either easier to maintain, or easier to source tyres for... but I can't remember anything he said apart from the move from centre locking 😂

 

I'll try find it on Youtube. Whatever he said, I don't think he mentioned the speed rating so it won't help with that..

[Six97s]

Corvettes switched from VR to ZR tyres for the 1988 model year, so Goodyear at least were producing them in 1987.

[ajwebb]

C4 Corvettes used VR tires from 84-88. They switched to ZRs during 88, but only available with performance options. All Corvettes had ZR tires in 89.

Just some extra info to help with the timeline.

Just now, Six97s said:

Corvettes switched from VR to ZR tyres for the 1988 model year, so Goodyear at least were producing them in 1987.

Faster than me, eh?

[kiseca]

I had a look through Harry's Garage clips and I've probably misremembered that too. I can only find a clip where he says he wanted an '87 car because it has the two mirrors but retains the centre nuts on his wheels, which are 16in (so not metric).

 

I did find this on Wikipedia (that infallible source of internet truth that we all trust implicitly .

 

Looks like US spec Testarossas were on metric wheels for most of their production time, for which I think the only viable tyre option was the Michelins. Maybe they were never available as ZR tyres.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

"When introduced for the 1985 model year, the Testarossa had magnesium single bolt "knockoff" wheels with a 16.33 inches (415 mm) diameter. These wheels used the Michelin TRX tyres having sizes of 240/45 VR 415 at the front and 280/45 VR 415 at the rear.

In the 1986 model year, the wheels kept the same design but were changed to a standard 16 inches (406 mm) diameter, with a width of 8 inches at the front and 10 inches at the rear.[15] Goodyear Gatorback or Pirelli Cinturato P-Zero 225/50 VR 16 front tyres and 255/50 VR 16 rear tyres were fitted.[5][15] However, for the US market the cars were delivered with the metric sized TRX wheels until the 1989 model year.

The rear suspension consisted of independent, unequal-length wishbones, coil springs, twin telescopic shock absorbers on each side, and an anti-roll bar. The entire drivetrain and suspension was designed to be removed as a unit from underneath the car so the engine and timing belts could be serviced.

In the mid of the 1988 model year, the suspension was redesigned and the wheels were changed again from the single bolt knockoff setup to the standard Ferrari five bolt pattern. The wheel design still resembled the ones installed at the Testarossa's debut."

 

Centre lock wheels would of course make it even more difficult to bolt a set of Teddies on 😆

[SnøMotion]

30 minutes ago, kiseca said:

At one point it changed from a racing style single centre nut to a standard 5 stud / bolt fixing

That’s interesting, because I was thinking they were centre locks but then started doubting myself.

 

Thanks @Six97s and @ajwebb for the date correction. I wonder if what I was reading was UK specific and we didn’t get them here for four years?

 

Martin

[SnøMotion]

3 minutes ago, kiseca said:

Centre lock wheels would of course make it even more difficult to bolt a set of Teddies on 😆

Well, you say that, but the reason I was questioning the centre locks in the first place was because 15” centre lock drag Teddies would look amazing! The nut would be his belly button 

 

I’d also completely forgotten about the early ones only having one mirror!

[keefr22]

2 minutes ago, SnøMotion said:

early ones only having one mirror!

 

Made sense - massive weight saving...!! 🤣

 

Keith

[SnøMotion]

1 minute ago, keefr22 said:

 

Made sense - massive weight saving...!! 🤣

 

Keith

I think it might have been aero, but equally as unnecessary!