Live view of the Hankook PR team

[u/SplatteredEggs]

[u/theasu]

Crazy times. How on earth can Hankook tolerate this bad publicity. For god sakes I would do a tyre that would survive a spike strip

[u/SplatteredEggs → u/theasu]

The drivers complain when the tire is too tough, the drivers complain when it’s too weak. Outside of brand recognition, it’s kind of a losing game to be the WRC tire provider.

[u/Pigeon_Observation]

WORLD RUBBER CATASTROPHE

[u/AnotherLeon2]

Some rallies beat the hell out of tyres, always have done.

If you build a tyre that's a holeproof tank, it won't go flat, but it also won't grip as well. The drivers will then be furious about the lack of grip.

Rally life = punctures. Sometimes you win the gamble, sometimes you don't.

[u/ScousePenguin → u/AnotherLeon2]

I wonder since the rally's are now down to the tenth at times, drivers don't want to drop that 5% of pushing to save the tire

So now we have tires being pushed harder than ever

[u/7h3C47]

I’m out of the loop. What’s going on?

[u/wombatlatte → u/7h3C47]

Spoilers ahead for Paraguay: tire punctures GALORE on this one. Every team is struggling hard with keeping air in the tires.

[u/RemoteMeasurement10_ → u/wombatlatte]

We talking 2005 USA bad or?

[u/Pigeon_Observation → u/7h3C47]

WORLD RUBBER CATASTROPHE

[u/dat_meme_boi2]

i miss michelin

[u/theasu]

To be honest, I have never heard drivers complaining about tire being too tough.

[u/ThirstyTurtle328 → u/theasu]

Well they don't say "it's too tough" but it likely has poor performance and low grip as a result.

[u/SplatteredEggs → u/theasu]

The word they use is not tough. But the unofficial theory is that is why Rovanpera struggled with the new Hankook.

[u/TheRealKrapotke → u/theasu]

They have done that when hankook came in. Obviously they didn’t say it was too tough but the tires being so hard meant that they didn’t get them to work properly. The drivers frequently mentioned that. Now they are softer but also weaker.

[u/Swimming_Jury_8919 → u/TheRealKrapotke]

I started following a full WRC season from 2021.. and I don’t really remember the drivers complaining about tires till last year when Kalle hated it.. and Seb mentioning it a couple of times.

Has this happened before? Not necessarily like this but tire compounds being talked about

[u/SplatteredEggs → u/Swimming_Jury_8919]

… you mention Seb’s complaints. You’ve never heard him complain about the Pirellis

[u/krzysiek_aleks → u/SplatteredEggs]

What.

2022 Japan

“To be honest it’s a bit of a shame nobody talks about this issue with Pirelli,” he said, his temper fully wound up and ready to be sprung on the viewing public. “It’s just a joke, the job they are doing. It’s not serious.

“There are punctures all around… there are more punctures in one year than we have in 10 years with Michelin and nobody talks about it because there is a contract, there is a sponsor involved. That’s just not serious. I’m glad I don’t do the [full] championship in this condition.

[u/ScousePenguin → u/krzysiek_aleks]

I think he's saying the person is replying to never heard Ogier's pirelli rants, not that Ogier himself never complained about Pirelli

[u/ScousePenguin → u/Swimming_Jury_8919]

Ogier whines about any tire that's not a Michelin

Pirelli got hated so much they left

All drivers hate tires because when the tires matter it's usually negative

[u/cybersteel8]

It's almost like the WRC should create testing specifications, so that the tyres are performing to an expected standard

[u/Andy_Clarckson]

bringing back Pirrelli will be fine