Originally Posted By: dlayman
Most any company can meet great specs for a high profile product. Its seen as investment and advertisement and generally is allowed a huge budget and rigorous manufacturing and quality standards. How does that compare to the standards they adhere to for everyday consumer products? IMO, it means nothing. I don't think Sunoco gas is the best because it the "official gas of Nascar".
I don't mean that Pirelli is the best simply because they provide F1 with tires. I'm just pointing out that doing so requires a huge investment in time, money, R&D, and headaches. Certainly, some tire companies likely wouldn't want to justify it financially, and many others wouldn't want the headache.
I don't think any tire manufacturer in any motorsport gets raked over the coals as much as whomever has the [mis]fortune to supply F1. They make bespoke tires to a specification, and when something goes wrong, regardless of the fault, they get blamed, and they get publicly scrutinized every race, to the point that Paul Hembry is a household name among F1 fans.
dcf: I'd agree that tire warranties aren't worth the paper they're printed on. My Michelins just recently wore out, or close enough. They lasted longer than the warranty indicated, but, to me, that was a good guideline, rather than a warranty. Their warranty actually required rotation every 10,000 km at an approved tire shop. Home rotations would not be considered acceptable. What I saved on shop rotations was worth half the cost of a new set of tires.
I'm not blowing half a morning getting a tire rotation done when I can do it myself, and know that I torqued the lug nuts properly. By the way, do tire shops actually own tire pressure gauges these days? The last three sets of tires I bought, when installed, were all grossly overinflated, and that was at two different shops. How hard is it to read a door placard and grab a tire gauge?