A Review of Important Factors Affecting Treadwear

Abstract For any specific tire use condition, treadwear performance is influenced by three main factor categories: (1), tire construction; (2), tread materials; and (3), environmental and vehicle use conditions. Tire construction factors are—generic type (bias, belted-bias, radial), tread pattern groove void level, and geometric shape, i.e., aspect ratio. The relative importance of nominal variations in each of these factors for treadwear performance is 100, 46, and 39, respectively. Performance improves for a change from bias to radial; high to low groove void; and high to low aspect ratio. The combined influence of generic type, aspect ratio, and other internal construction features (e.g., belt stiffness) can be described by one parameter, the ratio of the treadband edgewise bending stiffness, KBo and the carcass (spring) stiffness, Kc. Treadlife is a direct linear function of this ratio. Treadwear compound or material performance is a function of the rubber glass-transition temperature (weighted avg. f...