Goodyear Tires

I purchased several sets of Goodyear tires after running Hoosiers, and
they appear to have a more pronounced crown in the center of the tire
when compared to the Hoosiers. During the race I found the car going
from a slight understeer with the Hoosiers to heavy oversteer with the
G.Y. . I also run a Protoform P-2 and wonder if it just likes the Hoosiers
better since the only change was the tires? Thanks!

Mark

1st question i have are they the "NEW" Goodyears? They were JUST produced the past couple of months. We just ran 3 cars with the new tire and havent seen any problem that your talking about.
We have found the New goodyear to be very consonant through out the race.
as far as the crown goes...not sure there either


Terry

Terry:

Actually new "discontinued" tires I purchased last fall and stored in
my basement over the winter. They weren't over pressured etc. so
I don't know what's causing the crowning?

Mark

The Goodyears are a different construction with a different shape. Air pressure will be very different than Hoosier pressures. Find a fast guy who ran Goodyears and get him to tell you "real" tire pressures. I expect that you need more pressure rather than less!

Call Goodyear and ask to speak with a tire engineer. Be prepared with the compound and batch info stamped on the tire.

I can't say for sure since it has been 5 years since I worked for a distributor but there was a crowning issue with the new tire that came out before I left the scene. So much so that we had to measure tires due to variances in circumference. It sounds like they might have fixed the problem with a current tire. I am reaching here on codes but I think the tire was D2850 and D2851. Like I said it was several years ago and Goodyear was trying very hard to come up with new designs to improve market share. I am currently not in the country and wish I had my race notes that I made on all the different sports car tires. I know had info on how to help mitigate the steer problem as I was working with some customers in the Northeast. As the previous post says, call the race engineering office and they might be able to help. I cannot recommend anyone since I no longer know who is there. Also, depending on who is working the race your tire distributor might know as well. Try looking up Competition Tire East or West. Pat Versace at East and Mike Knox at West. Both are good at what they do and have been involved with sports cars racing a long time.

Can't say much about the new tires but heard they have dealt with the growth problem. It's a construction issue and as the tire pressure increases, the tire will crown. Start with lower pressures and you'll have to go easy for the first half, start with higher pressures and the tire will crown. Nitrogen, instead of compressed air, will reduce the growth but will require purging and refilling.

Anyone else have anything to say about the new tires?