Cool idea.. http://www.cambertire.com/

Scott

 

Would a less stiff inner sidewall do the same thing and wear better? Now I'm going to think about this all night... dammit..

 

I can only see this wearing the hell out of the inside of the tire since its outer diameter is smaller, its technically trying to spin faster than its allowed, and will be grinding.

The wheels need to be adjusted to match the tire to avoid this anyway.. So to people thinking this will magically give you camber without adjustment, it wont, not by far.

 

Not really a new idea. BF Goodrich made the R1 in the mid 90's, part of its claim to fame was a sidewall configuration that provided the effect of dynamic camber in a turn.

I suspect that a lot of assymetrical (tires that require you to mount one side "OUTSIDE") high-end performance tires use similar technology. Not necessarily straight-up "shorter sidewall on one side", but a carcass that is designed to deflect more on one side than the other when cornering.

 

EGOD flashback. That was the sole reason I switched to Hoosiers.. Never looked back

 

Kind of a neat idea. Those guys need to fire their designer, though. That site does not inspire confidence.

 

I took another look at the website and this guy is awful.. the engineering (at least the major drawings, the minor show the alternate mounting) is backwards, negative camber helps keep the tire flat in cornering overcoming body roll we all know that.. a cambered car will heat up the inside edge of the tire when going straight and (in a perfect world) even with typical cornering. all his design drawings have the taller sidewall on the outside of the tire. this in effect cancels out any static camber.

but once that car enters a corner the outside edge will just wear away unless the static camber is increased to a point to offset that tire. his engineering basically states "cars handle better with camber" while being a gross oversimplification, often times is true.

okay this tire "would" offer a flatter contact patch on a cambered car traveling in a straight line. a miata drag tire for example to give a better launch without dialing out the negative camber that makes them handle. A good engineered soft wall drag tire does the same thing.

so you say, mount it backwards. but then again. unless your compensating for an adjustment not available in your suspension. I can see that. Now if he held up some solid engineering and explained how some suspensions do not compensate enough for body roll with their inefficient camber curves. I might give him some value. but it's a complete page of bullshit.

Like Loren stated. assymetric sidewalls have been implemented and come a long way since the old R-1 and their Evil Groove Of Death. an Asymmetric sidewall is the best of both worlds. you can have a flat level tire when you are not pushing it and a slightly "cambered" tire under load. This Guy got a patent in 1998, do you see a cambered tire on the road today? why not? because it's a ridiculous Idea.

(now that being said) there is a slight market for a tire the might compensate for a car that has no "Legal" adjustment in certain racing classes, SCCA Showroom stock or Solo stock come to mind. but even if it did give the non adjustable cars a boost, then he might sell some to those guys if he got a DOT approval. but this guy is not plugged into the amateur racing world.

and those that mentioned the site
HE OPTIMA SPORTS CAMBER TIREis a legesy product

legesy?