The Isle of Man TT is among the world’s great races, and you don’t have to be a motorcycle fan to appreciate the skills and talent riders bring to this almost 38-mile-long “track,” which is actually a road course that traces a path through the countryside and small towns of this tiny island located in the Irish Sea between Scotland, England, Ireland, and Wales. Riders reach speeds of nearly 200 miles per hour while negotiating a seemingly never-ending barrage of bumps, bends, manhole covers and stone walls. As they lean these high horsepower machines over at angles that appear to be nearly horizontal, one has to wonder, “What keeps them on two wheels?”
The answer quite literally is “where the rubber meets the road”. In their case, a tiny cone-shaped tire contact patch allows the motorcycle to turn by leaning, rather than by a directional input to the front wheel.
And while our customers have two more wheels and a lot more steel around them, the contact patches their tires lay on the asphalt are no less important. Their car can have gobs of horsepower, the best suspension money can buy and stopping power to rival the arresting cable on a Navy carrier, and it will all not matter if the tires cannot pass those advantages on and keep a solid grip on the road.
With all the responsibility tires have, why is it one area of the vehicle that is most overlooked? When was the last time you checked the tires on your own car, let alone a customer’s? Do you make it a habit to air the tires on every car you bring in? In the September 2015 “The Trainer,” we’ll take a look at what you should be doing when inspecting tires and give you some pointers on what causes common tire wear. Scroll down to watch!
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