Pirelli Cinturato CN36 Tires

[Conserv]

53 minutes ago, 1936spyder said:

Steve-

 

Whaddya think about a 175/70VR13 CN36 fitting? I’m restoring my spare and even though an XAS would really be appropriate, these are WAY cooler (and still period correct).

 

Wends

I’m not certain, Wends,

 

Would that be 175/70 on a 4 1/2” or a 5” steel rim? People have certainly reported 175/70’s fitting... in some brands and models of tires — don’t ask me which. I’d guess a 4 1/2” rim ever-so-slightly improves your odds of fitting over a 5” rim.

 

With 185/70’s, however, the overall diameter is so close to a 165/80, you can simply use a 165/80 as your spare and completely avoid the spare tire well issue. Using a 165/80 spare with 175/70 tires, on the other hand, creates a 3.4% difference in overall diameter, potentially a problem on the rear axle. I suppose if a rear tire went flat, you could swap a front 175/70 to that rear location and put the 165/80 spare on the front.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[1936spyder]

@Conserv/Steve-

 

Standard ‘74-‘76 13x5 steelie. It’s really for show not go, as I have 15 x 6 rims on the car with 195/50r15 tires. Just hoping it’ll fit under the floor board as 185’s don’t. Otherwise I’ll just go with an XAS repop.

 

Wends

[Shawn Piper]

I have CN36 on a period 13" rim. The tire is 185/70 R13. It fits fine under the trunk boards. Your only issue will be the retention bracket... it has to be flipped upside down.  

[Lengrep]

2 hours ago, 1936spyder said:

@Conserv/Steve-

 

Standard ‘74-‘76 13x5 steelie. It’s really for show not go, as I have 15 x 6 rims on the car with 195/50r15 tires. Just hoping it’ll fit under the floor board as 185’s don’t. Otherwise I’ll just go with an XAS repop.

 

Wends

My spare is a 165-13.  Problem solved.

[Conserv]

3 hours ago, 1936spyder said:

 

... I have 15 x 6 rims on the car with 195/50r15 tires...

 

We all have a particular preferences! Not sure how a 175/70 CN36 spare “completes” a set of 195/50’s... ?

 

But, oddly, a 175/70-13 has an overall diameter within .4% of a 195/50-15 (size comparison attached below), and would, thus, work better than a 165/80-13 if you needed to mount the spare on the rear axle. And... it would have a better chance of fitting under the trunk board.

 

Notwithstanding Shawn fitting a 185/70-13 under his trunk board, a relatively-rare-but-occasionally-reported phenomenon, forum members report that round taillight cars appear to have ever-so-slightly more space in the spare tire well. No one has yet come up with a clear or convincing explanation for this, although perhaps something about the reinforced square taillight trunk floor is the source of a difference.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[1936spyder]

Funny, I calculated this myself earlier this eve!

 

As the spare tire is really only for show not go, I was more concerned about the width and it fitting underneath the trunk floorboard. As it’s only 4/10 of an inch thicker I think it’ll be fine. It was a nice surprise though that the overall diameter is virtually identical to my 195/50r15’s and clearly better than a Michelin XAS 180HR13:

[Oldtimerfahrer]

My round taillight car fails the 185/70 test, but if you have a heavy original looking trunk carpet as I do, you don't really notice the height difference. You could pad the fuel tank side with thin weatherproof plywood slats or go the whole 9 yards and go to turbo height...but I think the carpet solution kills two birds with one stone.

Andrew

[Oldtimerfahrer]

On a related note, I also finally mounted my cn36's, but not before I swapped out the OEM HD springs for a set of sport springs that used to be traded by Team Andexer in Germany and now taken onto W&N's product catalogue. I searched for lowered springs for a long time, noone in Europe wants to sell just the springs, you get either coilovers or a kit...

You can see before and after. Arches are now filled by the cn36's and rear camber introduced by the shorter springs. Ride is no different in terms of comfort. I have some track time on Friday evening, I am curious to see how stability has changed. The HD springs were a real pain to get out, happy I could turn my spring compressors with an air rachet...

[1936spyder]

9 minutes ago, Oldtimerfahrer said:

My round taillight car fails the 185/70 test, but if you have a heavy original looking trunk carpet as I do, you don't really notice the height difference. You could pad the fuel tank side with thin weatherproof plywood slats or go the whole 9 yards and go to turbo height...but I think the carpet solution kills two birds with one stone.

Andrew

If my trunk hadn’t been restored then I probably would. Just shooting for relative originality.

[Oldtimerfahrer]

As a follow up, my brake calipers removed the weights as they were incorrecty attached so I had to get the tires rebalanced. I noticed two things, as I watched the guy balance this time around:

1) he said the rims were absolutely straight

2) the tires are rubbish in terms of roundness...even cheap china tires are usually rounder than my CN36s with 50 miles on them.

Why I brought this up? There was a disparaging comment made in the FAQ on "Made in Turkey" Pirelli tires. I will chalk the author's view to ignorance rather than anything else. Mine are marked "Made in Argentina". I should have made a video of the balancing, to send to Pirelli. I wish I had "Made in Turkey" tires now... I will follow up with my supplier as I am not real happy with the roundness of the tires, their service was tip top though.

 

Andrew

[Longstone Tyres]

Did he remove your tyres to check the wheels for trueness?

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Yes, you see that the rim and sidewall are good, just the tread area itself shows deviations, which result in height deviations. I had Yokohama A021Rs mounted before that, we're round. Oddly, the deviations ate local, like a patch oh 2in by 2in round is a bit higher, its not just one per tire as if they had the reverse of a flat spot.

I bought them in Germany from MOR, I was surprised they did not come from Turkey.

Andrew

 

[Oldtimerfahrer]

I received a call back from the dealer, they said two things...firstly that they had not received any complaints to date and secondly said that BMW rims should not be balanced using a centering spindle, but mounted on a balancer that uses the lugs themselves. He said that 02 rims don't center properly on the spindle... He also said that if such uneven surfaces are encountered, they would unmount the tire, or more precisely, deflate, release the bead and rotate the tire on the rim, reflate and re-run on the balancer. Doing this several times he said, usually you find an orientation of rim to tire without these uneven points...

This was all a bit surprising to me. I want to get out and run it up to 70 mph or so and see what happens. They are noisier than the XVS they replaced, but are also wider.

Andrew

[Conserv]

Andrew,

 

Your “old” tires were 165 XAS’s? 
 

I agree: your dealer may be giving you some good advice regarding balancing, but should it be up to the buyer to work out out-of-round spots by mounting, re-mounting, rinse and repeat? ?

 

Thanks for the updates. I wonder if the center of CN36 production has largely shifted to Argentina, since even European inventory is comprised of Argentine examples?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Hi,

I have two sets of rims, I mounted the cn36 on rims that had A021R's before. I left the 165 XAS on the other rims, but they are nearing end of life as the scrutineers said that they were at the lower limit for wear for sporting events. Locally, I cant source any quality tires so they are shipped from Germany. The advice came from them, not the tire shop mounting them here...so they are trying to be helpful.

Andrew