How many Dunlops....

[Gixxer124]

How many tires does Dunlop sell each week and how many of those blow up? I'll bet it's way less than 1%. ::)

[cornercamping]

I hope a tire never blows up on me  :(

[Jeff]

I hope a tire never blows up on me  :(

That makes all of us...

[251am]

  Hey Dan,  you've got an I.M. :-X

[Zac]

How many tires does Dunlop sell each week and how many of those blow up? I'll bet it's way less than 1%. ::)

How many Firestone SUV tires were sold versus how many blew up?  A whole lot less than 1%, but enough to cause a gaint stink in the media and recalls galore.

This is all a question of design margin.  The tire companies could make tires that would pretty much never fail within a race distance by adding belts and bulking up the tire, but it would weigh more and traction probably wouldn't be as good.  Dunlop could make a tire that would "never" fail, but the performance would drop to the point that Pirelli, Michelin et al would be beating them on the track.

All of the tire companies have reliability engineers (or at least I hope they do) whose job it is to predict what percentage of tires will fail, and perform the reliability versus performance (versus cost) trade studies and determine what an acceptable failure rate will be.  Dunlop has enough statistical data for AMA spec tires with AMA level riders and AMA bikes to start correlating real data with their predictions.  Pirelli and Michelin don't have as large of a sample size.

In my line of work we have all kinds of reliability requirements, and they get allocated to the lowest level of component.  Failure of these systems can often result in loss of life, just like a race bike tire.  Trades need to be made between reliability, performance and cost. and no one can afford a system that will "never" fail.  An example would be the space shuttle system, which has very high reliability requirements, but as we all know, failure can and do occur.  Do we spend more or lower the perfromance of the system to increase the reliability, or do we accept what it is?  The tire companies have to ask this question every time a race tire fails.  

I'm glad it's not my job to define what an "acceptable" reliability is...

-z.

[motomadness]

I'll read the rest of this note later, so I apologize if this has already been stated.

The tires those that run in the AMA are much different than the ones we might use in club level racing (privateer and factory).  Let's call them special tires.  Pit for a one of the privateer racers at the next round and you'll see for yourself.  At some level tire manufacturers use real racing conditions to test their products.  Factory teams and some privateers realize the risk associated with the use of these tires, but expect more than a moderate level of safety built into the tires.  When tires fails, tire manufacturers have to make changes, which I believe is common practice behind closed doors.  When things come out in public that's when reputations get marred.

Even though a few club racers can get special tires, but even then the level of development of even those tires might not be on the edge of critical failure.  I say that to imply that it's likely to believe that no amatuer will ever suffer a tire failure under similar riding conditions.

All of my opinions are based on some direct and some indirect conversations, do some networking within the sport and you'll learn so much, instead of foolishly speculating quality on a discussion forum.

[Super_KC124]

How many Firestone SUV tires were sold versus how many blew up?  A whole lot less than 1%, but enough to cause a gaint stink in the media and recalls galore.


-z.

I don't think anyone was racing these when they blew. ;)

[cornercamping]

I don't think anyone was racing these when they blew. ;)

Yeah they were.  To the phone to call their attorneys  ;)

[Super_KC124]

 :)

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

How many Firestone SUV tires were sold versus how many blew up?  A whole lot less than 1%, but enough to cause a gaint stink in the media and recalls galore..

Not to mention Ford recommended only 26psi in them for a smooth ride. My brother had those tires on his explorer when he got it. Kept them at 35psi and used it to go to fire calls.

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Someone mentioned that there is too much blame these days, and I agree.  Who in Government is to blame because we weren't protected from suicidal nuts flying planes into buildings?  
Superbikes are what they are through innovation and development.  We enjoy the fruits of this process in the new bikes we buy.  Sitting in my garage right now is a GPZ750 with a 130 rear and a 110 front.  It makes about 80 air cooled ponies, and tire reliability isn't a problem.  Shall we all go back to this level of performance in the interest of safety?
The new superbikes and the pros who race them are destroying tires right now.  It's happened in the past in Indy and Stock Car racing.  To paraphrase Dave Rosno, speeds climb, chassis improve, tires catch up, repeat.  History repeats itself.  Why do Stock cars run restrictor plates, or indy cars run little wings?  Because speed needs to be artificially restricted to keep tires on them.  Historical fact.  So maybe it's time to restrict superbikes?  I'll bet the riders and factorys don't want that.  Pro racers could quit and go bag groceries if they don't want to race motorcycles for a living.  Not gonna happen.  They understand and accept the risks that they take.  In the end, we'll all have better tires because of this era of performance.  The tires we have now are plenty good enough for club racers.  I just don't see the point of this conversation.

[hooter31]

Chris and Dave,i think you are right on the money.who would have guessed 4 yrs. ago that today a 16 yr old amature could buy a bike from the local dealer,put a high flow filter,a pipe and remap the ECU and would have more horsepower than than the 750 superbikes the factory riders had in '02.and go club leval racing.I'm not saying this is wrong i'm only showing how the motors and tires have evolved at different rates.I'm sure dunlop is doing everything in their power to build a better tire(the last thing they want is another failure).