I don't completely understand the whole story behind the controversy with the U.S. Grand Prix theat was recently run, but it is my understanding cars with Michelin tires had to leave the race due to faulty tires. If this is true, do you still have confidence in the Michelin brand? I have to say it will make me think twice about buying Michelin tires in the future.

 

that is just an excuse, there are 2 issue to this story.

1. Michelin did not bring the right tires to the race.

2. Firestone owner of bridgestone provide tires to the indy series, and they have tested at the brick yard. So Michelin feels that is unfair because the data collected by firestone could have been passed to bridgestone giveing them an advantage at that high speed bank.

So is very politica, now as to confidence to michelins tires is completely differ, tires used at f1 is so different from street. Most street tires are made fairly the same is the treads that makes it different. Now i have all season michelins on the 2001 Maxima they seem very good and does the job. My 2005 coupe has Bridgestone Potenza. I like it so far but still can't make a comparison to michelins since the other are all seasons.

 

There were many factors that affected this and I'll name a few. When Michelin worked with the F1 R&D team, the Michelin engineers suggested more suitable tire material and designs for the race, but were not implemented by the F1 teams' engineers. I really don't know why the sponsors chose to not implement it however. Michelin also underestimated bank 13 (I think that's the bank where they had trouble) and so they thought it would be fine to "go on" with the current tire design. Also, with the Firestone deal, Michelin never had a chance to test their tires at the F1 track or any similar track for that matter. Before the production and during engineering of these race tires, most R&D was just conducted on the test track at Michelin R&D. After this incident however, they hope to get the opportunity to test their race tires at the F1 track for future races. And one last thing, Michelin really prides itself on safety...hehe...as you can tell, I work for Michelin.

And like Godzilla was saying, these tires are not in the same category as our passenger tires. Working for Michelin, I can assure you that every tire is truly hand-inspected as Michelin claims for customer's safety and performance.

 

GoSooners,
Thank you for your response. Though you may be a tad bias, I do trust and value your opinions on this issue. I currently own a set of Pilot A/S tires and, putting aside the tread wear (I don't drive aggressively), I am pleased with them. Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

Can someone lighten me up with this issue? Anybody got a link to the U.S. Grand Prix issue?

Thanks and I apologize for the naiveness.