Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
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Online Publication Date: 01 Jul 2017

Comprehensive Study of the Performance of Winter Tires on Ice, Snow, and Asphalt Roads: The Influence of Tire Type and Wear

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Page Range: 175 – 199
DOI: 10.2346/tire.17.450304
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ABSTRACT

This work presents a comprehensive study of the performance of winter tires on snow, ice, and asphalt. A set of 77 different winter tires were carefully selected for the study. Of these, 27 were new and 50 were worn from real traffic use. All three tire types for winter conditions (Nordic, European, and studded) were represented. All tires have been tested using a mobile tire-testing device for snow and asphalt and using a stationary tire-testing facility for ice. Both devices recorded the tire forces and motions, enabling a close to complete stationary characterization of the tires. In addition, 42 of the tires were tested on a passenger car, where brake performance was evaluated for the three different road conditions. This enables a comparative study of performance between tire types and wear for various winter road conditions. The results suggest that the recorded data represent real vehicle performance. Some conclusions from the measurements are that the effect of wear is consistent between the tire groups and that the performance degradation is most noticeable on studded tires on ice and on European tires on snow.

Keywords: tire testing; winter conditions; effects of tire wear
FIG. 1
FIG. 1

— The VTI Tire Test Facility measurement rig.

FIG. 2
FIG. 2

The mobile tire test rig, BV12.

FIG. 3
FIG. 3

The snow track at the Arctic Falls test tracks at Vidsel in northern Sweden.

FIG. 4
FIG. 4

The Mantorp Racing track close to Linköping, Sweden.

FIG. 5
FIG. 5

Typical slip curves on ice for nonstudded tires, with the yellow areas indicating the slip intervals used for calculating the braking retardation and the average lateral friction, respectively.

FIG. 6
FIG. 6

Typical slip curves for the three different road surfaces: wet asphalt, snow, and smooth ice.

FIG. 7
FIG. 7

Slip curves from brake tests on wet asphalt.

FIG. 8
FIG. 8

Slip curves from steer tests on wet asphalt.

FIG. 9
FIG. 9

Slip curves from brake tests on packed snow.

FIG. 10
FIG. 10

Slip curves from steer tests on packed snow.

FIG. 11
FIG. 11

Slip curves from brake tests on smooth ice.

FIG. 12
FIG. 12

Slip curves from steer tests on smooth ice.

FIG. 13
FIG. 13

Average braking retardation and peak lateral friction on snow relative to new Nordic tires measured with VTI's mobile tire test rig (BV12).

FIG. 14
FIG. 14

Average braking retardation and average lateral friction on wet asphalt relative to new Nordic tires measured with VTI's mobile tire test rig (BV12).

FIG. 15
FIG. 15

The average ice braking friction for the individual tires.

FIG. 16
FIG. 16

Average braking retardation and average lateral friction on ice relative to new Nordic tires measured with VTI's Tire Test Facility (TTF).

FIG. 17
FIG. 17

Steer stability on ice relative to new Nordic tires measured with VTI's Tire Test Facility (TTF).

Contributor Notes

1 Corresponding author. The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Olaus Magnus väg 35, SE-581 95 Linköping, Sweden. Email: mattias.hjort@vti.se

Presented at the 35th annual meeting of The Tire Society, Akron, Ohio, September 13–14, 2016.

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