A Study on the Tire Wear Life Test Method.

The authors analysed the causes that the tire wear lives estimated by the current test method are not always correct, and found that the correct lives are given only under the premise that the wear rate ratio of tested tires is always constant under any condition. With regard to the tire tread rubber compounds, the Lambourn-type wear tests were carried out. These tests have made it clear that the wear rate ratio of one tread rubber compound to another compound changes as the slip ratio, the normal load or the surface roughness of the grindstone changes; namely the above-mentioned assumption does not always come into existence. In these cases, wear tests must be carried out under the equivalent conditions to the real world. The test conditions of Lambourn-type wear test were investigated in order to reproduce the wear mode of the tires collected from the field. The grindstone of #240 or more smooth and the slip ratio of 2% or so are predicted to be desirable, but further investigations are needed to find the optimum conditions.