Jalopnik had an article talking about Michelin putting RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips in passenger car tires and how they weren’t active, but passive – that is they could not transmit, only respond, because they didn’t have batteries. What that meant was that the chips could only tell a reader what they were, not where they’ve been.
RFID chips in tires is an old idea that seems to have a HUGE technical hurdle – getting the chips to survive the curing process. Ya’ see, curing involves lots of heat and pressure and the chips don’t like that.
What was odd was that there didn’t appear to be any actual “news” in the article – and maybe that was the point. A way to talk about the brand without having anything to actually say. In other words, something the marketing department cooked up.
But I also wonder if this was a pre-emptive strike to avoid problems with people thinking their tire chips are tracking their movements?
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NASCAR Bristol race: In 2024, the Spring Bristol race had a MAJOR tire issue – they just weren’t lasting. The track never “rubbered up”- meaning the concrete surface stayed abrasive throughout the race. It also meant the driver’s needed to slow down to preserve the tires.
In 2025, Goodyear changed the tire, but went too far. They had a tire that wore very slowly, making for an uninteresting race as there wasn’t any tire strategy. New tires weren’t very much better than worn tires.
This year, Goodyear got it exactly right. Tires were not an issue and they had decent drop off so tire strategies could be made.
What occurred to me was that because there weren’t tire issues, everyone seemed to ignore tires except as a strategy – and everyone was happy. But no one praised Goodyear for a job well done. It seems doing your job well is a thankless task. (I already knew that!!)
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And yet another NASCAR race where tires were an issue. This time it was Kansas and the tires were wearing out. There was a shot on the TV of a severely worn tire where you could see that Goodyear spiraled on the cap plies – and they appeared to be 2 layers.
This seemed to be a Stage 1 only problem as the rest of the race didn’t have much in the way of issues. I wonder if the teams adjusted based on that first stage?
Editorial Comment: I am of the opinion that race tires ought to be fairly long wearing – much, much longer than the fuel lasts – and should have significant, but steady dropoff in grip. What I envision is a race where it is possible to forego a pitstop – or last least postpone it enough so you could get by with one less stop.
For example, this race – Kansas – fuel lasted over 40 laps, but the tires couldn’t (unless the driver went into tire preservation mode). Every stage was divided into 2 segments. I would reduce the fuel cell size, so there has to be 3 stints, and it would be possible to do it in 2 stints if the driver can moderate how much fuel they consume.
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I stumbled on a TISB- which is the way the US Tire Manufacturers Association handles official communications – concerning Truck/Bus winter tires. They have both a test and SRTT’s (2 of them!!)
I updated my webpage on winter tires. Here’s the TISB:
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I was wrong!! I was SOOOOOO wrong!!
The California Energy Commission issued a proposed regulation on tires – specifically on maximum rolling resistance. I’ll have a webpage to cover the details. There were a lot of issues and I never expected them to resolve them.
One of the things that came out was that some tire manufacturers reported values for the UTQG Treadwear test at over 1,400!! Note that the largest value actually imprinted on the sidewall is 880!