Indoor Test of Ice and Snow Tires on Iced Drum — Development of Tester and Characteristics of Coated Ice for Test

A tire tester for ice and snow tires has been developed to evaluate characteristics of tires on iced-road. The tester has a drum which inside is coated uniformly with ice. With an introduction of “slalom” procedure, the tire runs on various part of the iced surface, to prevent local wear and local temperature increase of ice. The tire and the drum can be controlled in constant speed mode or in constant torque mode individually, so characteristics under various slip ratio can be tested.

A method of making uniformly iced road on the tester has also been developed. The characteristics of iced-road on the tester and test procedures to obtain reproducible test result are discussed.