Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Well, that clears that up, thank you!
Would you be able to chime-in on Nick's dry-rot concern? His BFG's apparently don't dry rot like the Michelin tires do in the same climate. I would assume (though I could be wrong, I was wrong earlier!) that the rubber compound, since both are Michelin family, would be similar, no?
First, I am not a rubber chemist. I've worked along side some very talented rubber chemists and have managed to pick up a few things, but chemistry is not my strong point. Nevertheless, I'll try to give you some insight.
One of the things that seems to be unique to the Michelin brand is their use of hard/stiff rubber compounds. These tend to crack more easily. Apparently the BFG and Uniroyal brands do not use these compounds - and that makes sense.
Aside from the fact that the Michelin brand has unique rubber compound recipes, they are also made in different plants, which have different process procedures. While I don't fully understand it, it seems that EVERY plant has unique processing equipment, and therefore procedures. No two are the same. So recipes and procedures are altered to get as close to the same properties as possible.
So given that Michelin bought existing plants, it should be no surprise that not only do those brand's rubber differ, but that it makes sense to keep the brand's design intent different. It would be extremely difficult to try to make them common - and not worth the effort.
But taking this a step further - it seems like the rubber chemists for the Michelin brand are completely separate from the rubber chemists for the Goodrich and Uniroyal brands. One of these days I am going to ask how they are organized.
Having said all that, I'm of the opinion that the cracking present in Michelin tires isn't as critical a thing as it is with other brands of tires - that a Michelin can tolerate more cracking before failure is imminent. Please be aware that this is just my opinion - a gut feel - and it is not based on any sort of factual data.
Thanks for the info CapriRacer! Always great to learn from you
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Well, that clears that up, thank you!
Would you be able to chime-in on Nick's dry-rot concern? His BFG's apparently don't dry rot like the Michelin tires do in the same climate. I would assume (though I could be wrong, I was wrong earlier!) that the rubber compound, since both are Michelin family, would be similar, no?
First, I am not a rubber chemist. I've worked along side some very talented rubber chemists and have managed to pick up a few things, but chemistry is not my strong point. Nevertheless, I'll try to give you some insight.
One of the things that seems to be unique to the Michelin brand is their use of hard/stiff rubber compounds. These tend to crack more easily. Apparently the BFG and Uniroyal brands do not use these compounds - and that makes sense.
Aside from the fact that the Michelin brand has unique rubber compound recipes, they are also made in different plants, which have different process procedures. While I don't fully understand it, it seems that EVERY plant has unique processing equipment, and therefore procedures. No two are the same. So recipes and procedures are altered to get as close to the same properties as possible.
So given that Michelin bought existing plants, it should be no surprise that not only do those brand's rubber differ, but that it makes sense to keep the brand's design intent different. It would be extremely difficult to try to make them common - and not worth the effort.
But taking this a step further - it seems like the rubber chemists for the Michelin brand are completely separate from the rubber chemists for the Goodrich and Uniroyal brands. One of these days I am going to ask how they are organized.
Having said all that, I'm of the opinion that the cracking present in Michelin tires isn't as critical a thing as it is with other brands of tires - that a Michelin can tolerate more cracking before failure is imminent. Please be aware that this is just my opinion - a gut feel - and it is not based on any sort of factual data.
Thanks for the info CapriRacer! Always great to learn from you
