Correlation Between Road Wear of Tires and Computer Road Wear Simulation Using Laboratory Abrasion Data

Abstract Any laboratory abrasion method has to take account of the well known fact that the ranking and wear rating of tire tread compounds depend strongly on the testing conditions. The severity of road tests, particularly when carried out with customer vehicles is not well defined. Any result obtained in this way is a spot reading which contains no information about its general validity. A road wear computer program was designed which is able to simulate a very wide range of road wear testing severities and the effect which they have on achievable mileage and wear rating of tread compounds. The program uses the laboratory abrasion test system designed to be used with the Laboratory Abrasion Tester designated as LAT 100. It is shown that good agreement is obtained with actual road test results, not only for the rating of compounds but also for the achieved mileages.