Bought a 2005 XF roadster sight unseen (long story and very few regrets). The dealer claimed they put all new Pirelli P Zero tires on the car. When I received the car last week, I verified the tires were new and indeed were the Pirellis. However, they put 255/30r19 tires on the rear. (The front tires were 225/40r18.)

It bothers me they spent so much money for the incorrectly sized rear tires. Does this slightly lower profile make a difference? I am getting the rim rash removed and the rims resprayed so the tires have to come off anyway. Is it worth paying several hundred dollars for the 5mm difference? The rim restoration guy told me not to bother as the difference is so minor.

As I really appreciate cars as the engineers engineered them, I am thinking about replacing them. But that is a lot of money for 5mm if there is no appreciable difference. Forum thoughts?

many thanks,

John

 

I agree with your rim restoration guy. That's not even 1/4 inch difference.
The cost involved would not justify the swap out.

 

Appreciate the thoughts. I am quite sure I don't have more money than sense, but with this car that will be our second car and my daily driver that I bought to fiddle with to get to better condition than I bought it

As the current tires are new to the car, they won't be new to anyone who might buy them. And the rim guy said the difference between front and rear is under 3 percent and suggested I just use the tires.

 

Did you talk to the dealer about THEIR mistake? What are they going to do to correct this? I don't understand your reasoning that you are deciding on correcting their mistake with your money.

 

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With all the tire/rim swaps here in the forum that I have read ( https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...es-suspension/ ) I do not think this is a battle worth fighting. You bought it used, drive it like you stole it and wear the ole Perma-Grin!


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I didn't raise it with them yet, but will. The way I see it, they wasted their money by spending on tires that were still incorrect for the car. May also point out to them that the clear coat "problem" they told me about/showed pictures of on the hood/bonnet is actually bubbled VPS. The entire car 8s covered with VPS. Will pull it all off once I get the wheels back and polish the paint/cover it with ceramic or something.

 

Sorry. Meant to address this as well as I didn’t explain that. As it is a used car, I priced out the problems I saw (from photos) and used that in the negotiation process. Had they not been lazy and looked into the "bubbled clearcoat" they would have noticed the issue was better than they thought as it was excellent paintwork covered by VPS. They put the tires on within the past two months. Had I been able to see it in person I would have made a stink about it. And I didn't think to ask them to verify the tire sizes they put on. I had been asking lots of other questions, but didn't expect a dealer to fit the wrong size tire. Mea culpa.

 

You may want to keep the "VPS" as the front of the Crossfire takes a beating and will chip paint for certain when traveling on roadways. VPS does a much better job at protecting from gravel and sand grit than ceramic. Have a detailer remove the bubble, but leave the vinyl protective film or replace it in kind.

 

I hear you. When I bought my Crossfire, it was 30 degrees celsius. I missed that the driver heated seat was not working. Who thought to check that on such a hot day!

 

We are thinking alike. The VPS appears old andohas plenty of swirl scratches. At first I thought the paint was just that beat up as the car came from the coast with its possible salt spray. But on closer inspection, it is the VPS that took the beating. No record how long it has been on there so it could be Over a decade. Will remove it or have it removed and replaced at least on the front part of the car.

I also hear the other comment about testing the heated seats in summer! Still a lot to discover on the car. That said, my initial ride on the highway was fun and the spoiler worked as I heard it should.

All that said, I really appreciate this forum. It is a gold mine for these cars. Callao have an old BMW motorcycle and use the owner list to great effect because it is the only one around for miles and I do all my own repairs...kinda like I will do with this neat little car.

Thanks, all!

John
Pretoria, South Africa

 

kowaltoboggan,

Welcome! This link is worthwhile to use when one is going with a different wheel/tire size. https://tiresize.com/calculator/

Not only does it give you a visual of the changes from one size to another, it also let's you know the change in speed indicated to actual.