Federal Tires

[djracing]

Well this should be interesting....

[Sagermotorsports]

Thanks Jim for the info. That is very poor planning on their part for you dirt guys. I hope they figure something out
Thanks

Brett

[Gimpster]

Just got my order of BFG's today with the big "D" hand melted through the sidewall.

Gimpster:
Was there any indication about running a mix of tires? New siped and grooved Federals, but a BFG on the LF or anything?

This is going to get quite stupid, I fear.

We will see how the dealers handle the tires as they are handed out. A few weeks ago I was in discussion with Mike Patrick and told him that I would gladly run a season with what ever tire they wanted to test, plus not take prize or points, just test tires at my expense other than cost of tires and shipping. He suggested I call Ken Regan. Obviously I did not have time to call. One of my friends who has a daughter getting into Legends this year had a metting with Ken this past week. He stopped in yesterday after returning. I was on the phone with Mike Patrick ordering a few beed locks when Scott mentioned there is no more BFG tires at 600 left. Mike Checked his e-mail while on the phone with me and confirmed the anouncement from 600 at a little after 4pm yesterday. Scott let us in on the up and up for what the tire plan is. Like I mentioned, instead of going out and testing tires, they opted to let dealers hand out tires to certain dirt drivers to sipe and groove etc... for testing and finialization of how much grooving or siping we can do to make these v thread tires work and come up with a groove rule for 2011. Have you ever aired down a V grooved tire and run it on dirt ? They will cup and cup good with those long curved lugs. As it is, the curves of the thread are only correct for 1/2 of the tire as we need it for dirt, the other curve of the thread is bass ackwards. So we already have a tire that is made with half grip but will cup, and then we will not be at but 1/4 the grip that the BFG has as the total thread is worthless.
 It would have been so much smarter for them to let us on a hard hoosier compound.
Shows how much US Legends cars cares about us dirt racers... prime example
Sorry about my rant, I thought they might actually give a hoot but they stick us with that tire (by far as you can tell, not my tire of choice)
 One of my friends said it is time to go back to sprints, on my message board today, hahaha

----- Gimpster -----

[VMS Motorsports]

I think its pretty obvious what happened.
I'd bet there was never a plan other than this new Formula One style rain tire across the board. Their problem was the old leftover BFG's. They had a couple hundred tires sitting around taking up space, so they announced that only dirt guys could use them, which created a quick and heavy demand for the BFG's. Now that they are sold, the story changes. It was a sales gimmick to get rid of some old stock, and all us dirt racing red-headed step-children, myself included, fell for it. I bet they could have raised the price to $125.00 and they still would have sold them all.

So, now that the warehouse is empty, they can fill it up with Federals, and we'll rush to buy those because there is a percieved advantage since we can sipe and groove them however we wish...they sell more tires.

Then, about halfway through the season, they decide there is a certain way that you can doctor the tires, rendering all the tires we just cut illegal.

Then they sell some more tires...

I think I'll stick with my BFG's until they figure out what they're doing, unless those get outlawed because no matter how you chop up this new tire, there will be NO side bite whatsoever and the guys on BFG's will make the new "official tire" look bad.

What Federal says about the tire:

"Federal's extremely successful UHP, the former ss595, has been repositioned and renamed simply as the 595. Slight technical changes have been made by FTC to the tire to suit the purposes and take the abuse of drifting competition. "

Drifting...Thats what we need, a tire designed for  drifting...

 

I apologize, as I am not one to normally take shots at 600/US Legends, but in my opinion, this was a pretty crappy way to handle it.

[ethan54]

I'll only be running my BFGs and have no plan on buying Federals until we can't run these anymore..

[Gimpster]

I think its pretty obvious what happened.
I'd bet there was never a plan other than this new Formula One style rain tire across the board. Their problem was the old leftover BFG's. They had a couple hundred tires sitting around taking up space, so they announced that only dirt guys could use them, which created a quick and heavy demand for the BFG's. Now that they are sold, the story changes. It was a sales gimmick to get rid of some old stock, and all us dirt racing red-headed step-children, myself included, fell for it. I bet they could have raised the price to $125.00 and they still would have sold them all.

So, now that the warehouse is empty, they can fill it up with Federals, and we'll rush to buy those because there is a percieved advantage since we can sipe and groove them however we wish...they sell more tires.

Then, about halfway through the season, they decide there is a certain way that you can doctor the tires, rendering all the tires we just cut illegal.

Then they sell some more tires...

I think I'll stick with my BFG's until they figure out what they're doing, unless those get outlawed because no matter how you chop up this new tire, there will be NO side bite whatsoever and the guys on BFG's will make the new "official tire" look bad.

What Federal says about the tire:

"Federal's extremely successful UHP, the former ss595, has been repositioned and renamed simply as the 595. Slight technical changes have been made by FTC to the tire to suit the purposes and take the abuse of drifting competition. "

Drifting...Thats what we need, a tire designed for  drifting...

 

I apologize, as I am not one to normally take shots at 600/US Legends, but in my opinion, this was a pretty crappy way to handle it.

No, that is not a pot shot at 600, it's a bullseye !! haha

----- Gimpster -----

[rickmiller48]

I don't know if this has been said, but looking at the Federal's, they look like they might not be bad on a dry slick track.  I could be wrong (have been enough before).  They look like they would be junk on a heavy track though.  If they let us run either, we may end up with heat tires and feature tires.  I know this is an added pain in the butt, but it is pretty common in the dirt world.  I used to run with guys that ran dirt tires in the heats and grooved slicks in the features.  Now this was at a track that always ended up dry slick on Saturday nights (Trail-way Speedway), I didn't see them do that at Silver Spring and only sometimes at Susquehanna.

[Gimpster]

Here is a federal with side bite

http://www.performanceplustire.com/products/tires/searchType/searchByBrand/manufacturerID/242/productID/8031/tireSize/195_SLASH_65-15/tireSize/205_SLASH_60-13#prodAnchor

$73 free shipping 

Just need some straight grooves across the center every few inches

[IraceLegends77]

So did I miss something? We are going to run Federal tires on dirt now? I never heard that and haven't seen it on the web-site. I know 600 racing (dang I mean US Legend Cars) have been making some strange decisions lately but I just haven't heard this one yet. 

Scott

[VMS Motorsports]

From Scott Reinhardt:

Mr. Bucher,

The Legends Edition BFGoodrich tire is the dirt tire for the 2010 season. However, at some point, they will run out. BFGoodrich is no longer making that tire. We (INEX & US Legend Cars) will do testing with the Federal tire on dirt as soon as we get them here. If and when the Federal tire is used on dirt, we will let all competitors know that it’s legal to do so. If they are to be run stock, grooved, siped, etc. has not been determined yet. If those steps (grooving, siping, etc.) are necessary, INEX will mandate how it is done. Competitors won’t be able to do what ever they want to the tire.

I hope this clears up some of the confusion.

We were all put in somewhat of a bind when BFGoodrich decided to stop making this tire.

However, we will do what we can to keep the competition as equal as possible.

 

Sincerely,

Scott Reinhardt

(INEX National Tech Director)

[FFmedic]

Thanks for posting that Jim. I'm not confused anymore, and my anger has lifted some. LOL!

[VMS Motorsports]

Thats why I wanted to talk to Scott, I was getting confused and angry, and I knew I'd get a straight response from him. He and Darrell have always been responsive.

[Gimpster]

 "If and when the federal tire is run on dirt"... I like that part !!
 
----- Gregg -----

[VMS Motorsports]

I read that as there's still a chance we wont have to use that tire...

[Gimpster]

I am hoping if we don't get a dirt tire, that at least we will get the cooper or the all season thread Federal makes in the 205/60/13. Both have more sidewall flex than the 595


~ G ~