New Tire

[BobbyFord]

Goodyear is developing a wider, taller tire that could improve racing in the Sprint Cup series, but the tire won't be ready for competition until sometime next year at the earliest, a company official said. Goodyear officials hope to test the tire at a track in the second half of the season, said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. The tire could make its debut at the short- track events in 2010 if things go well. That would follow how NASCAR phased in the Car of Tomorrow. The main advantage of a taller, wider tire is it could give drivers more grip. That would help the car's handling and could give teams improved tire wear. "We're operating right on the edge of the envelope for our current package," Stucker said. "The new car definitely seems to stress tires differently with the additional right-side weight, it's harder on those right sides. We would like to go taller and wider to... make the tire a little bit more forgiving and a little less sensitive to maybe guys missing the setup or maybe being more aggressive on their setups." Goodyear's current Cup tire is 28.5 inches tall and 11-12 inches wide, depending on the track configuration. Stucker said that Goodyear officials are looking at making the tire 1.5 to 2 inches taller and the same amount wider. That creates issues, though. A taller, wider tire will force teams to alter their cars and that could cause headaches. "When you raise the car up, obviously, you change your suspension pickup points and so on and so forth," Stucker said. "We're trying to be very careful in approaching this. If there are going to be changes necessary, make sure they're the right changes and let's think through it. We're proceeding fairly cautiously." Another issue is that Stucker said that Goodyear would have to alter its equipment to produce a different-sized tire. That will take time. "We've got to make some fairly significant changes, which we are in the process of planning and getting ready to do," Stucker said. "That's going to take some time to upgrade all of that equipment."(Virginian Pilot)(2-5-2009)

 

[bsquared31]

Goodyear is developing a wider, taller tire that could improve racing in the Sprint Cup series, but the tire won't be ready for competition until sometime next year at the earliest, a company official said. Goodyear officials hope to test the tire at a track in the second half of the season, said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. The tire could make its debut at the short- track events in 2010 if things go well. That would follow how NASCAR phased in the Car of Tomorrow. The main advantage of a taller, wider tire is it could give drivers more grip. That would help the car's handling and could give teams improved tire wear. "We're operating right on the edge of the envelope for our current package," Stucker said. "The new car definitely seems to stress tires differently with the additional right-side weight, it's harder on those right sides. We would like to go taller and wider to... make the tire a little bit more forgiving and a little less sensitive to maybe guys missing the setup or maybe being more aggressive on their setups." Goodyear's current Cup tire is 28.5 inches tall and 11-12 inches wide, depending on the track configuration. Stucker said that Goodyear officials are looking at making the tire 1.5 to 2 inches taller and the same amount wider. That creates issues, though. A taller, wider tire will force teams to alter their cars and that could cause headaches. "When you raise the car up, obviously, you change your suspension pickup points and so on and so forth," Stucker said. "We're trying to be very careful in approaching this. If there are going to be changes necessary, make sure they're the right changes and let's think through it. We're proceeding fairly cautiously." Another issue is that Stucker said that Goodyear would have to alter its equipment to produce a different-sized tire. That will take time. "We've got to make some fairly significant changes, which we are in the process of planning and getting ready to do," Stucker said. "That's going to take some time to upgrade all of that equipment."(Virginian Pilot)(2-5-2009)

I get a wider tire, but why taller? I would go to a larger rim and lower profile and increase the width. The overall height would be the same with a slightly stiffer tire to handle the greater side forces.

 

[TexasRaceLady]

I was thinking along the same lines, b31 --- why taller?

 

[Bucky Badger]

If it's wider and taller, don't they put themselves in the same situation as we are now?

 

[Betsy]

I asked around here

The guys said they think the wider tire would "buckle up in the center" when keeping the same sidewall.
They said by making the sidewall taller the sidewall would buckle first, keeping the wider tire flat on the road surface..
No! I don't fully understand what they said but they seemed to THINK they knew what they were talking about.
Betsy

 

[Magnethead]

My understanding:

a wider tire will not heat up as quickly, due to a higher contact patch in which heat is to be dissipated. This will prevent tire pressures from building as rapidly, allowing teams to start with a higher initial pressure, especially on the right side.

A taller tire creates more overall contact area for heat dissipation, see above. However, it also allows the tire to rotate slower, reducing centrigual loading, allowing the tires to be more consistent at the higher speeds, when at high pressures. A wider tire also has more deflection ability at lower temperatures and pressures, keeping the heat center just slightly further away from the sidewall/tread shoulder, assuming the sidewall has more deflection strength than the tread.

However, this will throw an extreme curveball to the teams, especially if the testing ban continues.

 

[Mopardh9]

Ok i get all this ...but my question is why wasn't all this anticipated before the COT was released to the teams for competition? Why wasn't all this figured out while the testing was being done on the COT? The tire should have been developed along with the car, so that the car would be completely safe and ready for competition. As it is now, this COT really is not fit for racing with the current tire combination!

 

[SST55]

How tires never entered into the equation in the design of the COT is baffling.

Since the early 90's when the radial tire was mandated there's been tire problems at just about every track. Hoosier even entered the field for a short time and produced a tire just as good, if not better. They were fighting a giant and forced to leave.

So just because cars today are faster, generated more G forces and you just made them wider with more right side weight in the COT why should anyone doubt the capabilites of a tire engineered 15+ years ago?

The COT will definately save owners money,,,,after they modify (if they can) front clips and completely change front end components and geometry to accomodate a wider tire (what about brake systems??), not to mention how they'll have to cut and narrow rear frame sections so the wider tire doesn't extend outside the body.

I do believe I could go into the pits of any short track with a case of beer and come up with better solutions than the genius's have at Na$car.

 

[Mopardh9]

How tires never entered into the equation in the design of the COT is baffling.

Since the early 90's when the radial tire was mandated there's been tire problems at just about every track. Hoosier even entered the field for a short time and produced a tire just as good, if not better. They were fighting a giant and forced to leave.

So just because cars today are faster, generated more G forces and you just made them wider with more right side weight in the COT why should anyone doubt the capabilites of a tire engineered 15+ years ago?

The COT will definately save owners money,,,,after they modify (if they can) front clips and completely change front end components and geometry to accomodate a wider tire (what about brake systems??), not to mention how they'll have to cut and narrow rear frame sections so the wider tire doesn't extend outside the body.

I do believe I could go into the pits of any short track with a case of beer and come up with better solutions than the genius's have at Na$car.

LOL... it baffled me right form the get go why the tire was not R&D like the car was. Now it is like... lets go back to the drawing board?