Birkin with a strange tyre

[KiwiBirkin]

I just purchased a Birkin 6 weeks ago and it came with 195/50 R15 82V fronts and 205/50 R15 86V rears tyres which are Goodyear Eagle GTAs I have searched the net for these tyres to find out what there use is as they dont have a normal road tyre tread pattern, I belive they may be tarmac rally which would figure as the car dealer I purchased the car from specializes in importing rally parts into New Zealand.

 

Anyone able to shed some light on what these tyres are, I have included a pic of the tread pattern below

 

Cheers KiwiBirkin

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/2037239800_tyer 001.JPG

[Ian7]

Not sure what those are, but had a set of Yoko's back in the early 90's , maybe A509's?, had a similar asymmetric tread; wore out unevenly very quickly.

[S1Steve]

 

KiwiBirkin, Glad to have you join us.Went poking around the

Google Map that you posted, looks like I have to put NZ on the list of places I want to see.

The tires look like some type of wet weather race tire, if they are soft, they won't last long.

Great luck with the new car !! Steve

[slomove]

My Birkin came with these GTAs and I still have one on the (not mounted) spare tire. I found them pretty horrible, no matter what they were supposed to be used for. They may even have been stock issue from Birkin.

 

Assuming your's are, too and now 13 years old a set of new ones may be in the cards....

 

Gert

[KiwiBirkin]

I had them checked out today by the local tyre shop here and they say the compound is fine and they still have life in them, they seem to think there around 5-6 years old, ill keep them on for now untill I winter the car up and then change them over winter to some thing better.

[Kitcat]

For more information on tires (aka, tyres) go to "the Tire Rack" website. The Tire Rack is a huge tire supplier in the US and its site has a wealth of tire info. Including, how to read the sidewall code imprinted in the tire to determine the year and the week the tire was constructed.

[KiwiBirkin]

Cheers for the info guys.

 

Kitkat the link you posted it helped out a lot and told me the tyres were made in 1996 which is the same year as my Birkin so as Slomove suggested its what they sold the Birkin with. Anyway ill get them replaced over winter with some better tyres.

 

Cheers KiwiBirkin

[Kitcat]

Swapping out my 10 year old Michelins, that came with the car when I bought it, for new Toyo RA1's was the best of the (never ending) improvements I have made to my car. Handling was transformed: the 10 year old rubber just had no grip left so I was unable to exploit the car's amazing handling-until the Toyos arrived.