Classic Maserati Tyres
Early Post War Maserati tended to fit 16" Borrani wheels fitted with Stella Bianca.
Vintage Maserati Tyres
For now we do have the 6.00V16 Stella Bianca. In the very near future i hope to have the 5.50-18 for pre war Maserati and Alfa Romeo. But also 5.50-16 and 6.50-16. so that should cover most of the requirements of the 250F and the 3500GT, but pretty much everything you could want for the '40s and '50s (arguably some cars may have used a 17" wheel now and again, but it just isn't worth it).
Then during the 1950s Maserati started to fit the 185VR16 Pirelli Cinturato CA67. I know Cinturato came out in 1952, but i don't know exactly when Maserati started fitting 16" radial Cinturato exactly. If anyone has any evidence of this i'd love to see it.
1950s Maserati
A 185VR16 Pirelli Cinturato CA67 is very close in dimension to a 6.00V16 Stella Bianca.
We did have difficulty with the supply of these last year, due to factory shutdowns because of the Covid. However we now have some on the shelf, and hopefully more coming soon.
Maserati Tyres in the 1960s
Then in 1964 Pirelli developed the ability to make a 205 section tyre that was capable of withstanding the power of the supercars of this period. So Maserati swapped to a 15" Borrani which when fitted with the 205VR15 Pirelli Cinturato CN72 again gave the same diameter as the 185VR16 Cinturato CA67 and of course the earlier 6.00V16 Stella Bianca.
If you look at the picture above you can see how much more footprint this afforded cars, and the extra ability to absorb the vibrations of the road , while at the same time maintaining the rounded shoulders to keep the handling progressive. Maserati changed the Mistral from 16" Borrani wheels to 15" Borranis and fitted 205VR15 Cinturato CN72 instead of 185VR16. Maserati also fitted the 205VR15 CN72 onto 5000GT, 4200 Quattroporte, Sebring, Mexico and the early Ghibli. It wasn't just Maserati that used these tyres. Lamborghini fitted them to the first Miura, 350GT, 400GT 2+2, Islero and the first Espada. Ferrari fitted them to 330 America, 330GT 2+2, 500 Superfast, 365 GT 2+2 and 365 California. ISO fitted them to Rivolta, Griffo and Fidia. Bizzarini fitted them.
If you asked Aston Martin to put radial tyres on your series 2 DB6 or your 6 cylinder DBS then Aston fitted Cinturato CN72.
In 1968 low profile tyres were developed, with tyres like Pirelli's 185/70 VR15 Cinturato CN36 that were taken advantage of by cars like the Porsche 911.
Low profile Maserati Tyres
Initially this low profile technology was a bit racy, and Maserati chose to sacrifice the comfort of their vehicles by immediately jumping on the band wagon and they waited unti Pirelli developed the CN12. So an extremely high performance tyre, offering extra grip but without sacrificing the comfort so much. The 215/70VR15 Pirelli Cinturato CN12 is very similar in diameter to the 205VR15 CN72 so through out 1971 and 1972 Maserati changed The Ghibli, QuattroPorte, Mexico, Mistral, and Sebring onto The CN12. As did Lamborghini and Jensen.
