Goodyear tires

[Hardingfv32]

Has Goodyear officially stopped producing FV tires?

Brian

[D. Rader]

Pat, at Comp. Tire East, told me goodyear FV tires should be available again around the time of the runoffs, but could not guarantee availability at the runoffs. They won't be anything new, just the same tires as before. I was told the FV tires were missed when setting the manurfacturing scedule at the factory, and wound up being last on the scedule, even though there weren't enough tires in inventory. Dale

[budawe]

As I understand, the tires were classed by sales priorities and production schedules were established. Spec tires were given the highest priority and high sales volume tires were given a lower priority and were going to be produced at a lower frequency. The vee tire, which had a very low volume and priority, were intentionally not produced in 2012 and will be "reconsidered" in 2013.

This entire process has been very vague and GY has been less than committal about the future. SCCA has an official response on the web site and has been following this situation very closely.

Like others, I found out things had changed when I tried to order tires and was told "the accountants had made the decision." With all due respect to your vendor, unless things have changed since I last checked, I would not hold your breath waiting for new GY tires.

[jim murphy]

Ask Stevan Davis about his experience with them.

They discontinued the F500 tires several years ago. The FA bias ply are real hard to get. And yet, they are expanding into SCCA Solo.

Jim

[AVR_Shane]

Not to stir the pot back up, but this sounds like another good reason to move to a spec tire...just saying!

[Terry Hanushek]

Its not just FV having Goodyear problems. Production and GT cars are having similar problems.

http://prodracing.com/prodcar/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13756

http://www.gt-racecar.com/forums/vie....php?f=1&t=335

Terry

[Steve Davis]

GY has a 'statement' on the SCCA website that specifies the tires that are not available ..
http://www.scca.com/news/index.cfm?cid=51081

Steve, FV80

[budawe]

Not to stir up the pot but this is exactly why you shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket.

[Daryl DeArman]

Not to stir up the pot but this is exactly why you shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket.

So, how would you propose the FV competitors keep all of their eggs out of one purple colored basket?

[budawe]

Since we have virtually no control over the market, it will have to sort itself out. Since the corporate view of the world is so short sighted, it's unlikely that a more subjective or long term, business plan will ever take place. I really don't see any other tire manufacturer comming into vee racing. Hopefully GY will reconsider sometime in the future.

[Daryl DeArman]

Since we have virtually no control over the market, it will have to sort itself out. Since the corporate view of the world is so short sighted, it's unlikely that a more subjective or long term, business plan will ever take place.

If the FV community can't affect a positive change in Goodyear or Hoosier's business plans then the FV community needs a long-term plan that fits into the corporate worlds' plans.

Somebody needs to make about 400 wheels with a FV center and the same offset in a 15 x 7 size...you won't have any FV tire shortages (street or race) for some time to come.

[sracing]

If the FV community can't affect a positive change in Goodyear or Hoosier's business plans then the FV community needs a long-term plan that fits into the corporate worlds' plans....

Ditto

[butch deer]

Did American Racer quit making FV tires?

[Mark Filip]

Somebody needs to make about 400 wheels with a FV center and the same offset in a 15 x 7 size...you won't have any FV tire shortages (street or race) for some time to come.

F1200 has that don't they?

[nbrigido]

F1200 has that don't they?

Ours are 14" and made by Diamond Racing Wheels. They make us roughly 50 at a time.

If you haven't seen them, here is a link to the F1200 gallery, all the car's have them and the Falkens.

http://coburnphotographyca.smugmug.c...s/Formula-1200

[Tiago Santos]

Must.. control... myself.. do.. not.. troll... aaaargh!

[Daryl DeArman]

Did American Racer quit making FV tires?

They don't make a tire that is competitive with the Hoosier. I loved racing on AR's, but it was the spec tire, so competiveness wasn't an issue.

Ours are 14" and made by Diamond Racing Wheels. They make us roughly 50 at a time.

If you haven't seen them, here is a link to the F1200 gallery, all the car's have them and the Falkens.

http://coburnphotographyca.smugmug.c...s/Formula-1200

Not many tire choices in 14". How many cars production cars sold each year with 14" wheels? How many race car classes race on 14s? What happens when Falken decides to cease production of that 14" tire? 15's will be around for a long time. Good street compounds, DOT-R compounds and race compounds available to fit a 15x7 wheel.

[nbrigido]

Not many tire choices in 14". How many cars production cars sold each year with 14" wheels? How many race car classes race on 14s? What happens when Falken decides to cease production of that 14" tire? 15's will be around for a long time. Good street compounds, DOT-R compounds and race compounds available to fit a 15x7 wheel.[/quote]


I don't see why a company like Diamond, could not make up some in 15", like they did for us in 14"? and they did it without massive volume.

[jim murphy]

FF has a good tire/wheel set up or something real close to it - worth looking at.

Jim

[sracing]

FF has a good tire/wheel set up or something real close to it - worth looking at.

Yes, maybe like FST/FF tires. 20+% cheaper.

[Amon]

You're stating the obvious &. good luck with that idea!

[Matt King]

Three classes racing on the same tire? What a preposterous idea.

[Tiago Santos]

Yeah, but how much do the spec F1 tires cost?!!

(aaah, damn it, I tried so hard and just couldn't resist!)

[fos]

Don't forget we want to swap around, flip, flop and rotate to the cords!

Maybe FF fronts on all for corners on a vee would make sense. Just sayin'...

[Bill Bonow]

Maybe FF fronts on all for corners on a vee would make sense.

Nope, gearing would be WAY to short (top speed of about 80 mph with a long box). Not to mention rear ride height issues.

[Chris Elwell]

Nope, gearing would be WAY to short (top speed of about 80 mph with a long box). Not to mention rear ride height issues.

Plus every single corner would be flat.

[fos]

We have short rears/tall fronts already.
Are the FF fronts shorter than the FV fronts?

[Tiago Santos]

I think the FF fronts are 20 inches tall, vs 22.5 for the vee rears or 21.5 for the short rears. Quick napkin type math tells me that the maximum speed on 20in tires would be 88.8% of the max speed on the current rears. I'd gladly run them at my local track, I run the short rears already and I could easily run even shorter tires

[sracing]

Yeah, but how much do the spec F1 tires cost?!!

About 20% less than a set of FV tires. (2 fronts and 2 rears.)

[butch deer]

So, how would you propose the FV competitors keep all of their eggs out of one purple colored basket?

As I recall at one time or another M&H,Continental,Bridgestone,Dunlap,Firestone,Denma n,Mcreary,Midhelien have all made tires used on U.S. vees. If the market is thre perhaps one or more would rejoin the competition in addition to American Racer and Hoosier(maybe Goodyear). Cooper and Avon have made race tires for other classes perhaps they would come in. Tire companies come and go in racing. Competition drives the marketplace. (Isn,t this Mitt Romney's message?)

[Matt King]

If there was a market, the companies would already be there. If they aren't, it's because they do not see sufficient demand to enter the market. I think Goodyear's action tells the story.

[FVEE56]

Tiago,
Is that napkin from Chick-fil-A?

[jim murphy]

If there was a market, the companies would already be there. If they aren't, it's because they do not see sufficient demand to enter the market. I think Goodyear's action tells the story.

The FV size tire is almost unique in the race tire market. Change the tire to a FF size
with corresponding wheel size and there are many more suppliers (and maybe lower prices) - numbers like votes have power. The FST guys have already done this so do a 2 year change-over to lower the conversion cost and start getting benefits where none exist now and it will only get worse in the future. Long term planning is called for.

Jim

[Matt King]

It's always an entertaining discussion, but this is a class that couldn't agree on adding 20 pounds to the minimum weight, let alone adopting a spec tire (despite the fact we already have a defacto spec tire), so changing to a completely different tire size with new wheels? Obama has a better chance of getting endorsed by the RNC.

[jim murphy]

It's always an entertaining discussion, but this is a class that couldn't agree on adding 20 pounds to the minimum weight, let alone adopting a spec tire (despite the fact we already have a defacto spec tire), so changing to a completely different tire size with new wheels? Obama has a better chance of getting endorsed by the RNC.

Then there will be a long term decline in entry numbers as the younger generation, as told to me by several of them, that the FV is old technology with skinny tires and they like better the other formula classes like FST, F600 (F5) or FF. The only solution to increase entries is an evolutionary process over to FST spec's with a bigger 1800cc(+?) motor to catch up to the FF's and F5/F6's so that there is no longer a major difference in lap times in this race group - a safety issue when the gap is large.

[Bill Bonow]

I have a special emoticon just for occations like this......

[sracing]

to FST spec's with a bigger 1800cc(+?) motor to catch up to the FF's

Nope. We (FST) are trying to keep costs down via available parts, low parts costs and engine longevity.

A 1600 maxes out that cocept. Bigger and you have introduced cooling issues, engine fitmant issues, far less longevity and enormous increases in cost. We are not trying to beat FF's. (Heck we aren't even trying to beat FV's ) We just wanted something more modern, cheaper, lasting longer and available parts. We accomplished that (and beat FV's). The only problem with FF's is that SOME of them get in our way.

We mix well with FF(CFF). They are typically faster on the straights and the same or faster in the corners. Safety issues occur when you mix cars that have significant differences in one or the other. Thus, they pass you on the straight and stop you in the next corner. Once in a while we run against a FF/CFF that does this.

[Matt King]

Then there will be a long term decline in entry numbers as the younger generation, as told to me by several of them, that the FV is old technology will

I think the class is about 20 years into the downslope of that decline. Same old discussions, same old result. But it's not like I am disagreeing with you. I'm just pessimistic that any change is imminent no matter how eloquent the arguments are in favor of it. Beating a dead horse says it all.

[nbrigido]

I have a special emoticon just for occations like this......

I like !!!

[Tiago Santos]

About 20% less than a set of FV tires. (2 fronts and 2 rears.)

I think you mis-read my post, by a few thousand dollars at least

Anyway, this thread makes sense, but matters just about nothing.