On Mon, 30 Oct 2000, Dan Bettis wrote:
> How do you enfoce the current R/DOT tires.
Actually, we don't have to -- DOT has their own inspection and enforcement
procedures.
> How do you test the compounds?
No current restrictions.
> How do you test ply construction? To you rip the tire apart ply by ply
> and measure every angle, every thickness of every strand. What about
> the binders that hold it together.
Again, whatever standards DOT mandates, they test for. Now it's certainly
possible to hide a special batch of tires from the process -- and I have
no idea whether the government penalties for stamping "DOT" on a tire
which doesn't meet the spec are worth it to a tire manufacturer. I don't
even know that it hasn't happened. I suspect the potential liability
risks weigh against it -- what if a "special" escaped into general
distribution and failed (less likely things have happened)? It only takes
one motivated lawyer....
Come to think of it -- was anyone in ST running Firestone A/Ts...? :)
Jamie
'92 Prelude Si
Speed Demon Racing
http://www.mindspring.com/~jsculerati/sdr
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