Time, tire measurements forces and moments: a new standard for steady state cornering tyre testing

In order to develop vehicles which have maximum active safety, car manufacturers need information about the so-called force and moment properties of tyres. Vehicle manufacturers, tyre suppliers and automotive research organisations have advanced test equipment to measure the forces between a tyre and a road surface under a variety of loading conditions. However, because of the large differences in the test equipment and the measurement procedures, the consistency of the force and moment properties determined with the different test devices is a major problem. In the scope of the EC 'Standards, Measurements and Testing' Research Programme (DG XII) 14 automotive partners, under which the six main European tyre manufacturers and three European car manufacturers, started the project TIME, aiming at the development of a common tyre measurement procedure for steady state cornering that will be reliable and consistent with realistic driving conditions. It is expected that a common use of the TIME procedure will improve the efficiency of the co-operative (virtual) 'prototyping' work of tyre and vehicle manufacturers. The wide support within the project consortium by the automotive industry already indicates that the common test procedure for steady state tyre testing, can be seen as a basis for a next generation of tyre test procedures