Yes, I didn’t have a monthly blog for January. Apparently stuff doesn’t happen in January!

But February is different….. and at the first NSACAR race of the year – the Clash at Bowman-Gray in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – it was CCCCCooooold!! – and rainy and sleety!

During one of the lulls in the action, Fox showed a race tire with very little inflation pressure – so little that the sidewalls buckled like they do for drag racers! That was a little disturbing to me, the tire engineer, but I took solace in the fact that the most these tires were going to have to go was 25 miles. I captured a photo in the lead-in. Notice the buckled sidewall!!

They did that to gain traction – larger footprint. Given the cold and the wet surface, hardly a wonder!

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For the first time, I saw a tire with the new Nordic symbol (aka Ice Grip symbol). It was the Bridgestone Blizzak IcePeak. I later learned it was not the first one in the North American market.

Some of the news articles are indicating that tires with the Nordic symbol aren’t being designed at the extreme end of ice grip. Rather, the tires are only slightly modified to get the symbol. In other words, maybe my fears about these tires having poor wet grip are unfounded.

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For the first time, I saw some of the results of Goodyear’s acquisition of Cooper tire. They are closing the Tall Timber Mold Facility in Findlay, OH. It took a bit of digging, but I did find out Cooper owned that facility.

If I was working at that place when Goodyear bought Cooper, I would immediately be worried about my job. The fact that it took 5 years is kind of amazing.

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There have been at least 2 recalls this year that appear to be the result of NHTSA testing, rather than coming from the manufacturer. NHTSA seems to be forcing the manufacturer to recall the products that seem to be failing compliance tests.

Update: More recalls, and in 2 of them, they directly said that the recalls are the result of NHTSA compliance testing!

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