Stewart Losing Goodyear Support?

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Happy29

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More on the growing Goodyear tire controversy, following Tony Stewart's angry complaints after losing at Dover. Goodyear officials fanned the debate when they again refused to respond to numerous questions about the issues: Was Stewart correct in claiming that a problem with the freshness of his tires cost him the race? Was crew chief Greg Zipadelli correct that the age of the tires used this season is a significant problem on the Winston Cup tour? Is Goodyear wrong to have special sponsorship deals with some of the top teams? Is NASCAR wrong to give Goodyear a monopoly and then allow Goodyear to make those special deals? Goodyear also declined to respond to complaints by some crews that the top six or seven teams are provided secret technological information unavailable to the other teams. NASCAR stayed on the sideline, but did fine Stewart $5,000 for using foul language on TV. Goodyear is expected to cancel Stewart's tire deal. After a similar tirade, Stewart lost his Goodyear sponsorship for 2002, making him the first to win a Winston Cup championship without a Good-year deal. Goodyear will return to its 'Born-on' tire dating next season, but Goodyear appears unlikely to reveal its current secret dating codes this fall. Goodyear yesterday was offered the opportunity to confirm or deny Greg Zipadelli's complaint that its Dover tires came from different batches, but the company declined. Goodyear sells on a no-return policy, and NASCAR selects tires at random for each team. So there is an underground economy among Winston Cup crew chiefs who trade tires with each other, trying to match sets.
 
Based on my own personal experiences, I'd say TS is right for airing his thoughts on the topic.

When Goodyear shifted tire production down to Chile, QA went straight down the tubes. Also, I can only guess that they did not account for the climate differences between Akron, OH and Chile as well. Climat has a huge impact on how a tire sets up and cures.

At the time we were running a car that needed the D1 compound D3409 (16X33) high growths. Tires produced in Akron normally came with a runout difference in the 1/4" ~ 3/8" in range. That shot up to 1/2" ~ 2 FULL inches. That is near LEATHAL in a car that leaves at 3 Gs and hits 60mph in 1 second.

We constantly had to return sets or partial sets inrder to try to get a good match up. Additionally, the overall runout grew by about 1 1/2 inch....let's see, what does that do to your wallet when each gear set in a 5 speed drag race tranny costs $375 bucks a piece and you're currently running a big pinion rear carrier that will not go numerically higher....!!! AND, tire shake became a never ending nightmare from that point forward.

Now here is the qualifer. These problems were from tires produced from the same "batches and lots". At Dover, the teams had to contend with the same problems I just mentioned, plus they had tires from different "batches and lots" AND that had continued to "age".....

When it comes to this topic I'm with TS all the way.
 
I'm with Tony all the way too. But of course I work for Firestone now instead of Goodyear. :rolleyes:
 
The local TV news ran a report last night on tire age and the problems caused by "new" tires that were made years ago.
Tony is right on this one.
 
Tony is right on this one and the reactions only help prove it.

Originally posted by 4xchampncountin@Sep 27 2003, 08:38 PM
But of course I work for Firestone now instead of Goodyear.  :rolleyes:
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And your proud of that? I'd never buy a set of Firestone tires.
 
Originally posted by Highboy90@Sep 28 2003, 01:47 AM
But of course I work for Firestone now instead of Goodyear.  :rolleyes:
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And your proud of that? I'd never buy a set of Firestone tires. [/quote]
I felt the same way until Goodyear layed me off because they have no idea how to run a company. I went to Bridgestone-Firestone basically because it was a job. I have since discovered that the vast majority of the quality control issues I saw at Goodyear were not as common to the industry as a whole as I thought they were. I really thought that it was pretty normal that I had a very high rate of people coming back complaining about a vibration or noise (otherwise known as a "ride disturbance") with their brand new Goodyear tires we had just put on. It happened at least weekly there. We sell around 4 times as many tires a week as we did there and I have had a "ride disturbance" complaint a grand total of once in over three months. You tell me why that is.
 
You know, my '96 Ranger 4x4 came with teh Firestone Wilderness AT tires. I put 80K miles on them before I replaced them. No folded belts, no bad wear problems, no poor weather traction problems. Compared to a Goodyear Wrangler, I'd say they were excellent tires. I'm running Dunlaps now and I just folded a belt...I'll go Michelin next go round though.

Those Firestones were pretty good to me, all in all though.
 
Originally posted by Windsor377@Sep 28 2003, 02:51 AM
You know, my '96 Ranger 4x4 came with teh Firestone Wilderness AT tires. I put 80K miles on them before I replaced them. No folded belts, no bad wear problems, no poor weather traction problems. Compared to a Goodyear Wrangler, I'd say they were excellent tires. I'm running Dunlaps now and I just folded a belt...I'll go Michelin next go round though.

Those Firestones were pretty good to me, all in all though.
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I'm not trying to say that Bridgestone-Firestone doesn't make any bad tires or that all Goodyear's tires are junk. But as a whole I have been extremely surprised by how much better B-F tires hold up than GY tires did in my year and a half there.
 
Just so you know, I really hate seeing what Goodyear has turned into. :mellow:

My dad raised 9 of us kids working for Goodyear back when they were making most, if not all, of their tires here in Akron. My brother worked in the Union City plant for 20 years or so building Goodyear tires also. The vast majority of tires that are still made in America are a pretty decent tire. The problem really is the tires made in Chile and other places that just don't have the quality control that they should have. They have made such poor business decisions (such as buying Sumitomo for $3 Billion) that they have had to make huge budget cuts trying to recover these loses. Many of these cuts have been in the quality control area.
 
There have been inconsistencies in Goodyear racing tires forever. The consitency with the change to radial design was (and still is) much greater than with the bias design.

Not sure about the bias racing tires, but all the radial Eagles that NASCAR uses are still made in Akron and nowhere else.

Dover has forever been a difficult tire track, especially since it changed to concrete. It is simply very sensitive to every variance and also very hard on the tires.
 
I need to make a correction. The tire in my experience was the D6 D1780 (33x16). Listed as a tubless, but also a lightweight high growth tire.

These tires do come from Chile. I was under the impression the radials did too? Guess not. In any event, HS don't you think Goodyear let the accounting department have too big a say in allowing the mixture of old and new tires at Dover? I believe I can blame the same accounting decisions for the shift of Drag tire production to Chile.
 
I doubt that Goodyea has ever thrown tires out just because they were a year or so old. I do know that teams will have tires left over from previous races and bring them back to the next race at the track.


And I do know that Goodyear keeps these tires in strictly environmentally controlled warehouse.......something I'm sure the teams don't do.

Nor do I have any idea how much a tire would change over the course of a year or so............some I suppose.

I think the whole deal speaks as much to how sensitive the cars have become more than to the issue with the tires themselves.
 
I agree, that the cars are more sensitive and faster these days. That would magnify consistency problems.

It's true too, that teams will hold onto tires, but aren't they are working with known commodities have a pre determined game plan and pair them up accordingly? From a balance and set up perspective, I would think there would be no problem if Goodyear brought all of one or the other, but not to mix them up. I now if I had to deal with that during a race weekend, I'd be wearing out my clutch tune up...assuming I could keep up with the changing tires and track conditions at the same time.

I still have side with TS on this issue and have said much worse than he did about his Racing Eagles...my blood pressure is starting to peg out just thinking about it.
 
The pit announcer said, during the EA Sports 500, that Tony had not made changes to his car Sunday. During the post race interview, I really thought he would say thanks to Goodyear for bringing a better tire for him this week. :p
 
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