Hey everybody, it is National Tire Safety Week!
Speaking of Tire Safety (actually my mental safety) this is a story of when a motorsport-minded person is sent to a lifestyle show. The Collision of Two Different Worlds.
I don’t know if it is because I am now in the protective bubble of the motorsports world which filters out certain car owners but some of the people that I talked with at this show honestly made my head hurt.
Show Guy 1 - “You should totally sponsor me and my krew because we are hella kewl and we go to all the shows, you know the In-n-Out on Friday, the High School on Tuesday and one of these days a magazine is gonna feature my car. We are talking a ton of exposure. You guys would be dumb not to do it.”
Show Guy 2 – Do you guys make a super narrow/low-profileR15 tire that I can stretch on a 9” wide wheel?
Hel Mut Outside Voice – No. Why would you need such a tire?
Show Guy 2 – Cuz I want to make my car super low. I mean reallllllly lowwwwwwwww.
Hel Mut Inside Voice – Does not compute.
Show Guy 3 – Your tires suck.
Hel Mut Outside Voice – I am sorry to hear that, sir. Care to fill me in on the details of your determination?
Show Guy 3 – They don’t stick as good as my old tires.
(I am leaving out the details and my questions as this conversation lasted over ten minutes, these are just his highlights)
- I drive fast, I mean really fast, like 100 mph on most offramps
- I don’t go to the racetrack so I don’t understand your questions (air pressure, camber oversteer, understeer, etc.)
- I don’t know these things you are talking about (UTQG, Speed and Load rating)
Your tires don’t handle good (based on what data?)
- Later bro.
Hel Mut Inside Voice – What just happened? I am terrified of driving home with this guy on the same highway. This totally warranted a $4 pretzel to take me to my happy place. I have to thank Boss Man for putting me into the Motorsports side of things.
So that was just a taste of my SPOCOM experience. I am not saying that the show people are less than the motorsports people; it is just that I think differently on things.
To me tires are more than “sumpin that goes around my rimz” with said “rimz” being an improper offset, knock-off brand that weighs 45 lbs each, chromed out and has about 10 degrees of negative camber due to cut springs. In my mind, tires go on well-constructed wheels that are light, strong and appropriate for the vehicle with proper camber settings that are from either the factory or set by taking tire temperatures on the track.
And that is why the racetrack is one of my happy places.
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