Evaluation of Tire Abrasion in Terms of Driving Severity

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to establish which test conditions best reproduce the relative ratios of tire wear rate which exist between the different types of tires to be found in the field. Three fundamental paramenters are defined which characterize the type of wear: specific wear rate, profile shape, and ratio of wear rates between the front and rear axles. The research is developed in three phases; an examination of the various modes of wear present in actual usage, abrasion tests carried out with great precision and at various levels of acceleration severity, and the correlation between the market wear spectra and the test data. The paper concludes that the ratio of wear rates existing between any two types of tire is not generally constant, but it changes in function of the driving severity, thus explaining the disagreement sometimes found when comparing tests made at different centres. The appendix contains a survey made about the problem of the result consistency, including checks in the preparation of tests, definition and execution of the tests and the validity of the results.