Bridgestone Corporation

Bridgestone/firestone, Inc.

John G Lightner

Stephen M Vossberg

Martin A Yurjevich

John D Clothiaux

David C Christy

Arthur J Dory

Karl J Neimes

Larry L Schlabaugh

A method of testing a tire for rain groove wander is provided which allows a tire to be objectively tested in a laboratory wherein the objective test results closely correlate with subjective field analysis type data, thereby allowing for the subjective tire performance to be predicted while precluding the need for subjective field analysis of the particular tire. The method also allows objective testing of a single tire size by varying the radial loading in the laboratory test set, thereby precluding the construction of multiple tire sizes each having the same tread design. The method simulates rain groove road conditions and correlates objective analysis data obtained via the laboratory test methodology with subjective field analysis data of rain groove wander tire performance of other tires, thereby providing a substantially accurate technique for identifying the subjective performance of the tire without having to conduct the field testing to obtain such subjective field analysis data. The method substantially reduces the cost required is to design and test a prototype tire design and the time required to implement tire design testing.

Method for predicting tire performance on rain groove roadways

An apparatus and technique for measuring and analyzing the tread wear of a pneumatic tire. The tire is indexed about its axis. Between the indexing steps, a laser scanner obtains data from the tread surface. This data is normalized to eliminate any out-of-roundness of the tire data. Noise spikes are removed and replaced with values attributable to valid data. From the data, a reference curve corresponding to a lateral sector of the tire is devised. The data from actual lateral sectors is then compared to the reference curve by a curve-fitting process and the deviation between the actual data and the reference curve establishes the degree of irregular wear of the tire at that lateral point.

Method and apparatus for measuring irregular tread wear

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Hartville, OH, United States of America

John G Lightner