At what temperature should the tire rolling resistance be measured?

Abstract

The climate crisis is already an indisputable fact and therefore, it is necessary to reduce energy consumption, and especially energy wasting. One of the ways to reduce energy consumption of motor vehicles is to decrease vehicle movement resistance, including rolling resistance. In order for the optimization of tire rolling resistance to be efficient, it is necessary to apply appropriate optimization criteria that are closely related to typical vehicle traffic conditions. The article discusses the influence of the temperature at which tire rolling resistance tests are carried out on the results obtained. Currently applicable standards require testing of tire rolling resistance at ambient temperatures of 25°C (ISO) and 24°C (SAE). However, these temperatures are far from the typical temperatures in most areas with intense road traffic. The results obtained at a temperature of 25°C do not allow clear conclusions about the tires’ performance in more typical thermal conditions prevailing in different seasons. The analyzes presented in the article indicate that better representativeness of the rolling resistance estimates can be obtained by testing summer tires at a temperature of +15°C and winter tires at a temperature of −5°C.