New to the forum here so thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I need tires for my 2017 and have two basic questions: 1) Any recommendations as alternates to the supplied 007's? I don't do any winter driving, and most likely will not track the car. 2) Do the AM wheels require any special tire changing equipment? Can any shop install the tires, or do you need to take to an AM dealer?

Thanks, Dave

 

Hi Dave,

I had my tires on my DB11 changed at a Discount Tire in the US. No special equipment.

I do not track my car. It is simply used as a GT car. I live in Florida and we can get a lot of rain here, so instead of performance/summer tires I went with all season as it suits my driving needs much better. However, for the all seasons I prefer, Continental DWS Extreme Contact 06 plus, I had to go larger sizes on both the front and rears.

Best,

 

Thanks, much appreciated.

 

Although I don't run them on an Aston, I second the Conti DWS 06. Fantastic all-season tire!

 

Running the conti extreme contact sport on my 08 vantage…I like them..

 

I fitted Michelin PS4S. A vast improvement (especially traction and cornering confidence) on the awful OE Bridgestones, which are only called 007 because they are too hard. If yours are from 2017 it’s hard to imagine how bad they must be now. New PS4 will be a revelation.

If you can find sizes, you can fit new michelin PS5 as Aston themselves now do on the DB11’s facelift, the DB12. It uses bigger wheels though.

 

Thanks. So it appears that there are options to the 007's. Is it true that any replacement tire be exactly the same circumference in order that speedometer, traction control, ABS and other safety systems/handling aids work correctly?

 

Methinks you are overthinking and overcomplicating things somewhat….

Just order your new tyres, Michelin or otherwise, in the same sizes as your OE tyres. Everything will work fine and any tyre fit place can fit them.

 

Understood, thanks.

 

It's not that they be exactly the same circumferences, front to back; but for me and how I know traction control systems and ABS work, both systems compare wheel rotations at each corner then act accordingly. So, on any modern performance car I've had, I first understand what the factory engineers calculated into the system. Then, if I am going to change wheel sizes, and/or diameters, I strive to stay within the factory spec, or better.

So, for example, I changed tire sizes, both front and back, but kept the 20" wheels. First I used a tire comparison tool to gauge where the factory tires are:


Notice, there is only a 0.4% difference in the rolling circumferences, front to back...nearly perfect.

When I chose the oversized tires (I needed to BC the factory sizes were not available in the tires I wanted to use), I kept trying tire sizes that were available until I arrived at the 0.4% difference or better. The tires I ended up with, using the same tire comparison tool are:




You'll notice here, the rolling circumferences are the same, so I improved the factory spec with a 0% difference on my selection.

The conclusion, for me - I would not choose non factory tire sizes, and/or wheel diameters that varied much from the factory specs. An example from the past, on a car with a factory variation of 5%. owners were changing wheel sizes creating an 8% (or more) difference. This caused ABS to engage when making only moderate braking in corners. Traction control might have also been impacted under out of control conditions, but no one reported it. Another example in the AMG GTR world, someone had a blowout on a rear tire, pretty worn out. He had that tire only, replaced with new. There was a 1/4" difference in the tire diameters which caused the car to produce a C-code failure at the rear electronic differential and reduced limp speed. Caused solely by 1/4" difference left to right side.

One last point - Because I changed wheel diameters (and rolling circumferences) by a slight increase (88.3" to 90") I will have a very slight inaccuracy in speedometer readings - not enough to save me if radar is catching and ticketing only one or two miles over the limit. I won't show that chart, but at 90 mph I am actually doing 91.7.

 

Thanks very much. I thought there would be something to this. Great explanation, appeals to the engineer in me.