ATTENTION UK TIRE MANUFACTUER’S
 

Is there any chance of having a UK national this year with proper tires?

I have an email dated 5th March from Schumacher saying there new mini-spikes delivery is still 5 weeks away, that would make it the 9th April, yet this weekend I heard that they are still not expected for the second national. Obviously the current Mini-Spikes have a problem otherwise there wouldn’t be a new mould in the works, yet we are still expected to run the ’problem’ tires at the highest level in the UK. Lets hope the 'new' tire is the same material/compound/spike as the old one as mid-season is not the best time to introduce a new tire.

Today I had my day essentially ruined by Ballistic Buggy Quality Control, along with a few other drivers, using tires that were sold as Green compound, yet clearly weren’t when compared to other Green compound tires.

So here are a few helpful hints for the tire companies:

Two tires that are the same in one packet are good, not one that has poorly moulded spikes and one properly moulded tire.

Tires that are the compound that is written on the packet is good, not a different compound.

Is there any chance this could be sorted in time for Oswestry?

You have known about the tire choices for the nationals for over 4 Months, you have known what tires work where in different weather conditions for years. Is it really that hard to have a properly moulded, correctly marked tire available at a National event?

PS: Quality Control is defined by Google as meaning, 'The process of making sure that products or services are made to consistently high standards.'. Quality Assurance is defined by Google as meaning, 'A review of a product or service after completion to determine the degree of excellence achieved and deficiencies that need correction.'. Hope this helps!

I'm with you all the way on this one tom
i wont name names unless we have to
but it ruined Matthews possible b final Quality today
and I'm sure at least a dozen other drivers runs
not the shops fault mind you
this ones down to the manufactures/quality control people
THANKS GUYS

Agreed, the ballistic tyre situation this weekend was nothing but pathetic. The rears seemed to be in the correct compound, however nearly every set of fronts that was able to be purchased were harder than the 'right' green which should be provided.

The bad compound was so bad I refused to run them and took them back as they were no where near what they should have been.

I'll be honest in saying that I honestly can't see this being resolved by oswestry, as tyre issues never seem to have a quick turn around. Look at last years schumacher problem with ripping tyres, it took long enough to get it nearly right, and it still isnt there!

Fingers crossed to a quick solution!

may be we all should:thumbsup:

I had new green ballistics in practice and first round - I think after the second round the fronts were pretty worn so I got some more. The new fronts were definitely harder and feeling the spikes on my car now the rear tyres are plenty softer than the fronts.

aint good!!!

To be honest Paul, they probably don't see it as a problem, they still sell the tires as we have to buy them, I'm guessing the 'team' guys have no problems as they will get the 'softer' greens.

I also expect very few replies to this thread, people won't want to upset anyone, and I'll probably get a few stern words from a few people, but hey I'm sure most agree with me even if they don't say it.

A possible solution for next year could be: Each distributor/manufacturer can nominate one tread pattern, in as many compounds as they like. but every tire has to have 'BRCA' the tread pattern name a compound marking moulded into the tire wall. Dunno how hard it would be to do this, but I think it has been used in touring cars. IF made a rule the companies would have 5 months notice to sort it, although they would probably need longer going by the current situation.

sounds good to me

I only had problems with one set of rears.. but yeah that idea does sound good...

Thinking back to last year at Kiddy we had this exact same problem as Ballictic had a 'bad batch' and half the stock was soft and half wasn't. The compound seems the exact same as the bad ones were last season. I just hope they havn't rebagged them to get rid as it were.

It was definately noticeable watching cars with the right and the wrong compound on, kind of night and day really!

I do think alot of racers are thinking the same thing also, it simply isnt good enough.

It would be nice to hear from the manufacturers/distributors to hear what has actually happened, but again I doubt that will happen. I am going to email Schumacher, see if I can get another expected delivery date on the new Mini-Spikes.

matthew was a good 1/2 second a lap slower

what do you all expect? with the current tyre rules the makers have no competition in the market place, So what if the tyres on the market are wrong.........what else are you going to use??Nobody is going to break into the uk market if brca rules state you can't use there tyres at nationals etc. A bit of healthy compatition in the market place would make Schumacher and BB work a bit harder,there tyres have been high price and crap quality for months/ years even.

I Know why the tyre rule was created but if you don't flex it a bit over the years this is what happens

I didn't hear anyone say there was a problem with tyres??? But, now I have read this, it may answer a few questions..........

Does anyone know if anyof the other compounds have changed such as pinks etc?

A

This really does need sorting, my rounds 3 and 4 today were ruined by having the 'wrong' greens on the front - nothing that could be done either as that was all that was for sale on the day :thumbdown:

Why does it seem so hard for the manufacturers to produce tires consistently?

because it is a closed market?? let GRP in too, so then Schumacher and Ballistic won't have 'garaunteed' sales?

The idea behind control tyres is that people can use the same tyre through the series as well as be using the same as everyone else, IMHO the BRCA have done absoloutely the correct thing and nominated 2 tyres for the whole series.

The blame for the ridiculous situation with the ballistic tyres has to be layed at the manufacturers doors. I wouldn't beleive that there were essentially 2 compounds of greens going around until I felt them for myself, the hard ones were very noticeabley harder and felt more like the blue compound. Bad shizzle man :thumbdown:

Out of interest was Doms stock newish? or could there still have been some of last years batch still mixed in? DOM?

Maybe there was a mix up in manafacture.

A

if that is the case, more a mix up in packaging, as I would find it very hard to beleive that they could get the rubber compound so different......

dont want to seem stupid or ignorant to this problem,but seeing neither company or their reps have informed myself of such i am unable to offer any help,advise or solutions.please dont blame shops for this,we are there to help the majority of racers in any way we can and i for sure would not sell sub-standard goods knowingly or withhold any such information.i did have one pair of bb green rears returned last year by dan greenwood due to 3 or 4 spikes mis-shaped,gave a refund and used them myself.couldnt tell any different.{is that cos i am an f5?}

they all had green dots on the tyres:thumbdown:

DC Racing's were collected from CML on the Friday afternoon.

I can confirm that DC Racing's stock was fresh.

That said I gave just checked the tyres on my 4wd car, which have been glued up for about a month and the fronts are harder than the rears to the touch and harder than some other BB greens I have from before X mas so I don't think it would have mattered if they were fresh or not!!!

Jez, no one is blaming the shops for this as they it's nothing they can control, unfortunately you (the shops) are the first point of complaint as you sold us the goods, therefore you need to take it up with your suppliers.

Ash, if there was a mix up in manufacture it's there problem to sort, not ours to suffer

As I said previously, the tires for nationals were know about 4 months ago, yet the delivery for 1(maybe 2) of the 2 shops came in on the day before the first national. Is there no plan for the demand of nationals?

PS. I now know that both companies are aware of the problems, I look forward to hearing a reply.

the reason tyres arnt pre arrange by shop's is a very simple 1, the weather, if it was dry over the weekend it would have been yellow schumachers not BB greens so for shops to order £2000 worth of tyres and have them sitting on the shelf because it doesnt rain isnt going to happen.......

The first national of the year is usually expected to be wet, and the chance of having a full dry/wet season is slim to none. I'm not blaming the shops here, but the manufacturer's for not expecting demand for the nationals. At least we got the tires in time, makes a change, hopefully next time they'll get the right ones in the right bags too, they only had 4 months to get that bit right.

Totally agree with you Tom, its not like the shops have to pay for the items there and then either, im sure the stock is long gone by the time the invoice is paid.

But to be honest Schumacher are just as guilty as Ballistic with the tire situation. They have still not got us the 'new' tire for the nationals, yet the old ones have been poor for at least 12 months if not more.

They are also selling us a faulty product, by there own admission (There making a new tire mould because the old one is rubbish), at full price, Surely that is not on, and possibly illegal too. Maybe they should reduce the price of the faulty tires until the properly moulded ones are available, maybe it will also make there release quicker?

Would you buy a pair of wishbones if you knew one had a crack in them?:confused:

Unfortunately there is no way to boycott the tires at nationals as we have to buy from of 2 poor companies. What can we do?

sorry playing Devils Advocate here,
but is not everybody in the same boat here ??
everyone had to run them so know one was at an advantage..

i suggest you really havent got a clue have you lee....!

Think thats a bit unfair lee i bet all the shops didnt know about the change in compound if they new im sure someone like chris would have mentioned it. Also if they are picking up 200 odd pairs of tyres in a box i dont think there going to go though them checking there the right rubber. There proberly not openned until the morning of the national.

Sort of Paul but if people had the tyres made out of the old softer rubber it might give them an advantage. Not like ide feel much difrence :p

A

Pidge ran the harder type compound all day !! oohh and where did he finish :p .. end of ..

Thats why i said might :thumbsup:

A:p

Well i am sure i have been told by shop owners that they get a window in which to settle up in. Plus its not like its once a month that people buy tires, there are regionals every weekend all over the country also. So there really is no excuses.

This is getting off topic though:thumbdown:

Wraggy, you would think people were in the same boat but it was clear that some had blue fronts and some had greens (but both with green dots:lol:)

It has cost people a lot of money and im sure a lot of people will want to drop this round. Shame really because it was still a great weekend and was run suberbly by the kiddy and BRCA team:thumbsup:

Ash, i didnt mention a shop, i know its not there fault:confused:

Lee the new harder fronts actually had no dot on them at all , it was only the header packet that said green on them ..

I never had any issues with either Schumachers or Ballistic compounds.

I had no issues myself either as I had old stock from months ago but my front tyres were blaitantly softer than Tom C's fronts... so I have absoloutly no excuse for not being able to crack the top 20:( :lol:

Must admit i hadn't noticed any problem with the tyres - until someone pointed it out to me. Then went back and checked the tyres i had been running - and shock horror the fronts were harder than the rears - essentially all the tyres that i ran. Which does explain (to me at least) why my car felt much better in practice 1 - when i ran a set of tyres that i think were glued up sometime last year (maybe even Kiddy national actually!!!).

I found at the end of the day yesterday, my REARS to be far harder than my fronts. I just was not able to load my suspension up through a corner, the car span out asif something was broken. :cry: