weve been moaning abuot tyre legislation

Matt82

Matt82

Matt82

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i copied this from the evo site. theyre moaning abotu semi slicks being axed, but that could also mean the end of wing tong tyres:eek:

Trackday tyres to be outlawed
New safety regulations spell the end for extreme road-legal rubber
By Roger Green 23rd June 2009

New legislation on tyre labelling and accompanying minimum standards to be introduced simultaneously in November 2012 will effectively end the production of road-legal trackday tyres. Tyres likely to be axed include the Dunlop Direzza, Toyo 888 (currently available on the Renaultsport Mégane R26.R), Michelin Pilot Sport Cup (Porsche GT3 and GT2) and Avon ACB10 (Caterham), along with a host of others.

The aim of the new regulations is to both raise all-round performance standards and to give buyers a greater understanding of the performance and environmental impact of each particular tyre before purchase. All road-legal tyres will have to display rating figures for rolling resistance (fuel efficiency), external noise and wet grip, and while the rating system and minimum levels have yet to be set, it is unlikely that track-biased tyres will be able to pass on all counts.

Tyre manufacturers are currently lobbying the European Parliament, but it will be very difficult for them to make a successful argument for tyres that allow drivers to corner faster in the dry but which offer a significantly lower level of performance the moment the surface becomes damp.

It is expected that trackday tyres will fall foul of the other parameters too, so their demise is something their manufacturers are already preparing for. James Bailey, Dunlop’s PR chief, believes it highly unlikely that trackday tyres will continue in their current form, although the company’s official position is that these regulations are positive as they will also remove poor performing cheap road tyres from the market. In its own braking tests the difference between the best and worst tyres fitted to a Mondeo stopping from 50mph on a wet surface was as much as five car lengths…

Porsche feels it’s too early to comment and that at this stage it is still a matter for the tyre companies. Once the regulations have been set, the German car maker will still request an appropriate level of performance from Michelin for its top models.

So what does the future hold? There will still be high-performance tyres made from a race-style compound though they are likely to have regular road-car tread patterns. However, they won’t be as fast or responsive as the current crop of trackday tyres, and for those of us who enjoy the extra performance and challenge presented by this specialist rubber that’s a real shame.
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"In its own braking tests the difference between the best and worst tyres fitted to a Mondeo stopping from 50mph on a wet surface was as much as five car lengths"

Then it simply needs to happen doesnt it?
 
Wilderbeast said:
"In its own braking tests the difference between the best and worst tyres fitted to a Mondeo stopping from 50mph on a wet surface was as much as five car lengths"

Then it simply needs to happen doesnt it?
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Yep hopefully the end of the awful linglong type tyres.
 
The aim of the new regulations is to both raise all-round performance standards and to give buyers a greater understanding of the performance and environmental impact of each particular tyre before purchase. All road-legal tyres will have to display rating figures for rolling resistance (fuel efficiency), external noise and wet grip, and while the rating system and minimum levels have yet to be set, it is unlikely that track-biased tyres will be able to pass on all counts.
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Thanks for deciding that I care about this Mr EU.
 
Sounds like that will make them illegal to produce. What about illegal to use? I could cope with paying a bit more to import tyres from outside of the EU...
 
Shad said:
Sounds like that will make them illegal to produce. What about illegal to use? I could cope with paying a bit more to import tyres from outside of the EU...
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I doubt places like kwik fit would want to fall out of favour with the law so it'll definitely make them harder to get hold of.

I can see this happening: crap tyres disappear from the market, your average Joe muppet who likes his £20 tyres will start heckling at the government for making is car more expensive to run, the Daily Main will probably run a headline such as "EU MAKE TYRES MORE EXPENSIVE!!!11!11!!!".
 
Dogbreath said:
Other way around. They could manufacture them legally, but if they can't be used on the road then there's little point in them.
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You're probably right, it would make more sense. I wish they would just leave us alone :mad:

Wasn't there such a thing as a day time MOT? Why can't we have dry weather only tyres? If you're stopped while driving in the wet, 3 points a tyre. Guess this is going to be one to follow. If the wet performance minimums aren't too high then things like A048s might only need minor changes.

Actually - brilliant idea chaps - let's all move to somewhere outside of the EU.
 
Shad said:
You're probably right, it would make more sense. I wish they would just leave us alone :mad:

Wasn't there such a thing as a day time MOT? Why can't we have dry weather only tyres? If you're stopped while driving in the wet, 3 points a tyre. Guess this is going to be one to follow. If the wet performance minimums aren't too high then things like A048s might only need minor changes.

Actually - brilliant idea chaps - let's all move to somewhere outside of the EU.
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Tyre manufactures won't want to lose out on performance sales so I'm sure they will have alternatives on the way.

They may not offer the same performance to begin with but given time they'll probably come up with something similar.
 
What if you live in southern Spain and only use your car in the summer - when it is unlikely to rain ...

EU morons
 
Dogbreath said:
Exactly. They clearly make enough money from track day tyres to make it worth while so I doubt they will simply abandon it.
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I agree.

But they'll have to do something pretty special to replicate the levels of dry weather grip a cut-slick can produce, by using heavier tread. They can blend the rubber compound to the n-th degree, but it's still basic physics at the end of the day.

There should be a dispensation for cut-slicks, dry weather only tyres. Why should enthusiasts suffer because of bad quality cheap tyres? What's wrong with natural selection :rolleyes:
 
Shad said:
What's wrong with natural selection :rolleyes:
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It's the other poor sods that get taken with them that causes the upset.

I'm surprised that many people use cut-slicks on the road in this country, their cars must barely get used due to amount of rain we get.

I take it this legislation has no affect on track only use (bar the potential increase in cost)?
 
MonkeyMan said:
It's the other poor sods that get taken with them that causes the upset.
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Point taken :P

Just had some possibly good news about this:

They won't make road legal slicks illegal. I spoke to a friend in the Danish Road Safety agency and told him to fight against it. He re-assured me that there would be no problem at all.

The measure is the wet grip, but we are not talking about aquaplaning. Tyres are compared to a 1970 Michelin tyre which is still produced (for test measures only). The new tyres have to have at least 1.1 times the wet grip of this tyre (winter tyres 1.0 - Q-rated winter tyres 0.9), but current R tyres have around 1.2-1.4.
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So there's hope.

I've always driven my Caterham on A048s. In the first 12 months I clocked up just under 14k miles, and that was 99.9% dry use. And it's not even my main car! Trust me, there's no lack of dry weather for the commited enthusiast ;)
 
Shad said:
I agree.

But they'll have to do something pretty special to replicate the levels of dry weather grip a cut-slick can produce, by using heavier tread. They can blend the rubber compound to the n-th degree, but it's still basic physics at the end of the day.

There should be a dispensation for cut-slicks, dry weather only tyres. Why should enthusiasts suffer because of bad quality cheap tyres? What's wrong with natural selection :rolleyes:
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Unfortunately rain doesn't always fall as predicted, so would you just leave your car when it gets wet, find a hotel or get a train back home?

Least darkness tends to fall at fairly predictable times making a daytime use MOT viable.
 
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