My 2006 Gallardo is currently fitted with Toyo Proxes T1 Sport tyres, ZR rated, 19 inch.

They seem to perform well in dry and wet conditions.

Anyone else fitted them and would like to comment ?

The handbook states that only Pirelli P Zeros should be fitted . Any reason for this ?

pzero is the factory tire. you are find using other brands as long as the load index is within factory spec.

toyo proxes have been around for a while. it was pretty advanced back then but i think michelin super pilot is superior. super pilot performs well in many road conditions from track to even light snow. i was impressed when trying it on my daily driver and will get a set for my G when time comes

I'm confused !

Can you please enlarge on load index and how I can establish that the Toyo Proxes are within the manufacturers specs?

Where can I find the manufacturers specs please ?

I also have the michelin pilot super sports on my daily driver- Audi RS6 V10TT. great tyre for wet, dry and moderate track/dragstrip duty and would highly recommend, even with the RS6 500kgs heavier and 200bhp more than my 2006 G. Cant comment on snow as not much around here. lol.

I will be fitting Michelin pilot super sports to the G next after pirellis have gone south.

ps I buy my tyres from tirerack usa. Even after air freighting to western australia and paying local 10% sales tax, they are still half price, if i can even get them here. No duty on any purchase from US as Australia is member of US-Pacific free trade zone.

john

Dear confused,

there is a lot of good information on manufacturer tyre specs on tirerack usa website to provide info on load rating , etc. Tires at Tire Rack

This site cleared up a lot of my questions as well on tyre specs, etc. There are probably many other specialist tyre sites as well.
cheers,
john

P zerohas been developed for all, top of the range, supersports and high powered vehicles, in conjunction with the most prestigious motor manufacturers; which is why many have chosen it as an original equipment reference product.

I spoke at length to a lambo corporate tech (he trains the factory techs) about tyres and fitment.

The reason lambo recommends only Pirelli is because it's the only tyre they've tested and have data on. It has to do with the viscous coupler. If the rolling circumference on a tyre is different from what they've tested and not within variance of their spec - it could cause the viscous coupler to activate more often than needed. This would result in premature wear of the viscous coupler.

As long as the rolling circumference is within close spec to Lambo's spec - it's assumed that should be fine.

I understand why Lambo doesn't recommend a tyre they haven't tested. I worked for a manufacturer selling life safety construction products, and if we didn't test it - we would absolutely NOT endorse any other product - even if it were of same or similar specs.

I personally love Michelin Pilot Super Sports and we have them on the LP560, the Z06 and the BMW (as summer tyres - I use Michelin Alpin A3's for winter tyre on the BMW).

Three out of four cars. Not bad for Michelin

To further explain (if you are not familiar with viscous couplers) - here is something I wrote after having the discussion with our friendly Lambo tech:

The tech said this is a bad move. He explained in detail the viscous coupler (essentially like a wet clutch) works on a signal from the computer (CAN) to put more torque to the front wheels. Lambo goes to great lengths to homologate the system with approved tires (Pirelli PZero & PZeroCorsa) on OEM wheels. The rolling circumference on tires can vary even if they are the same size and spec. It further varies depending on the rim to which it's mounted. And it varies even more under dynamic measure (which they don't really do). Plenty of things can change the rolling circumference including air pressure, rims, ambient temp not to mention distortion at highway speeds due to different compounds and maybe other factors not known or catalogued.

It may not be off much - but even a small difference in rolling circumference measurement will be multiplied exponentially at highway speeds and dramatically increase the signals received by the viscous coupler.

His point: if the CAN sends a signal to put torque to the front wheels at "X" times at "X" mph - if the rolling circumference is off (or out of measured tolerance for how the system was homologated) - it may send many more signals and prematurely burn out the viscous coupler. They have documented cases of problems that disappeared when tires were changed and they think it points to differences in rolling circumference.


Despite the documented cases of problems - I opted for the MPSS because we determined the rolling circumference to be extremely close to the factory spec.

We also determine there MUST be a tolerance. It cannot be an exact number because rolling circumference changes with tyre wear, air pressure and even under load a tyre will distort and the measurement would be different under static conditions versus rolling conditions especially at higher speeds.

Our conclusions were our own, and it's possible we're mistaken - but I put the question out to two Lambo forums and it was more or less unanimous that the MPSS would not cause an issue.

Hope this helps.

Carol

Hi Carol,
great post providing excellent clarification on this subject.

On the matter of rolling circumference differences between different tyre brands,when I switched from factory dunlops to the michelin pilot super sport on the Audi RS6 V10 TT AWD, I resorted to the very old school method of placing chalk mark on each tyre and rolling it along flat garage floor for one complete revolution and measuring distance travelled. Rolling the car for one complete revolution of the wheel being measured probably easier than taking the tyre off.lol.

With the Lambo, greater care is required I believe, due to the different tyre widths and profiles between front and back tyres. Front tyre size 235/35 ZR 19 and rear tyre size 295/30 ZR 19. As an exercise I will measure the rolling cicumference of a front tyre and a rear tyre on my G to see the difference.

I havent seen a tolerance for the Lambo AWD difference between rolling circumferences, but have seen within 4% quoted for the Audi vectored AWD system on my RS6.

Obviously no difference in tyre rolling circumference is best with the multiplying effect you have stated.

Again thanks for the very informative post. Much appreciated. That's what makes this a great forum.
cheers,
john
ps thought for the day "dont worry about getting old, it doesn't last that long."

This is what I was going to mention. Considering that we seem to replace rear tires about twice as often as fronts, to me that means shortly before we replace rears, when fronts still have at least 50% tread life left, I would think that THAT difference in tire diameter from front to rear is greater than the tolerances or slight differences due to different specs found in other sets of 4 new tires, whatever the brand.

Run-on sentence? Yes. Still made sense? I hope so.

Thoughts on this?

__________________
2006 Gallardo Coupe, Rosso Leto with ivory/black
2006 Lotus Elise, Aspen white with red/black, Lotus Sport Suspension, Katana supercharged (7.9 lb / HP)
2007 Yamaha V-Max - the POWER BEAST for cruising with my wife ... but it will probably be for sale soon!
2006 red Mustang GT convertible, stock - wife's fun car
2009 Toyota Rav4 - winter car, also for carrying anything larger than a toaster

I think tire rack has outer circum on tires. Just compare the ration front to back between two brands. They should be around 1:1 ratio