Automotive Engineering - December 2024 - 8

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
TESTING
What it takes to make tire data useful to non-engineers
Putting a Tesla
Model 3 through
its paces on the
TRC's Wet Vehicle
Dynamics Area.
For all the engineering that takes place
at the Treadwell Research Park (TRP),
Discount Tire's chief product and technical
officer John Baldwin told SAE
Media that there's actually something
akin to magic in the way giga-reams of
test data are converted into information
non-engineers can usefully understand.
TRP is where Discount Tire generates
data used by the algorithms behind its
Treadwell tire shopping guide. The consumer-facing
Treadwell tool, available
in an app, a website and in stores, provides
tire shoppers with personalized,
simple-to-understand recommendations
that are mostly based on a fivestar
scale. Discount Tire and its partners
have tested over 20,000 SKUs, representing
500 to 1000 different types of
tires over the years, Baldwin said, including
variants and updates. Testing a
tire to discover it has an 8.2 rolling resistance
coefficient is one thing. The
trick is finding a way to explain it to
someone standing in a tire shop.
" How do I say that that's an okay tire
but not a great tire? Three. Or three and
a half, " he said. " We just latched on to
what the world's already doing. Behind
the scenes, we'll have it, in that case,
bucketed. X to Y is a five-star, Y to Z is
four and a half, those kind of things.
The algorithm actually does take the
real data. The expectation is our customers
are not going to become experts
on tires. "
To do that, Discount Tire - which
does not manufacture tires, it just sells
them - bought itself a tire testing facil8
December 2024
ity. The 900-acre site near San Antonio,
Texas, was previously owned by Cooper
Tire & Rubber Company before it was
purchased by Goodyear in 2021. Since
the company already has a test track in
Texas, Goodyear offered Discount Tire
the opportunity to buy the TRP,
Baldwin said.
Discount Tire is not involved in TRP's
day-to-day operations. Instead, tire testing
company Smithers acts as an independent
third party that uses the facility
around 120-150 days a year. Some tire
OEMs - Discount Tire would not name
them - rent permanent space at TRP in
the three outbuildings. The main building
houses offices and a garage with five
vehicle lifts, while a nearby maintenance
building holds stacks of tires and a
Matteuzzi tire buffer, among other tools.
Test for yourself
During a recent media day, Discount Tire
opened TRP to SAE Media and other outlets.
We were able to participate in tests
similar to what the Smithers engineers do
there. That meant feeling the way
Goodyear Assurance Max Life All-seasons
pulled differently from Michelin Pilot
Sport S summer tires around the curve of
the 2-mile oval at 65 mph (105 km/h). We
tested those same EVs and two BMW
M5s on the 15-acre wet track with a onedegree
slope and a Lotus Emira Turbo
First Edition through some cones before
running a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
through the off-road course. While we
were stopped on the polished concrete
hill, Smithers' TRP track systems manager,
Taylor Floyd, told SAE Media why this is a
great way to test tire compounds.
" If you're testing three different compounds,
you're gonna have three different
'feels' of how easy it is, " he said as
we sat in the Wrangler angled at 30 degrees.
" When you're doing this type of
testing, you don't want the momentum
because that's already a variable that is
really hard to control. If you go up there
as slowly and as steadily as possible, you
can be the most consistent. You can take
something inconsistent and try to add
whatever consistency is possible. "
The polished concrete hill test is
where drivers evaluate how much throttle
they can add before the vehicle
starts up again if the vehicle loses traction
at any corner, and if the driver
needs to engage a differential lock or
something similar to complete the
climb. Floyd said the usual expectation
is that 2WD will get the vehicle up the
slope but will not be able to restart forward
momentum once it comes to a
complete stop. Restarting up the hill is
the moment of truth. What the drivers
are trying to feel with this test, he said,
A Hunter alignment lift in the maintenance building at the Treadwell Research Center.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
BOTH IMAGES: SEBASTIAN BLANCO
Automotive Engineering - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - December 2024
