Patent ID: 7483794

Claim:
A method for predicting the wear of at least one tire whose tread comprises tread pattern elements defining a contact area of the tire with the ground, the at least one tire mounted on a wheel of a terrestrial motor vehicle, comprising the steps of: A. operating the motor vehicle; B. obtaining during predetermined durations, selected wheel characteristics, including: B1. forces applied at the wheel center in the longitudinal, transverse, and vertical directions, respectively, of the vehicle, B2. camber angle γ, and B3. slip angle δ; C. treating the selected wheel characteristics obtained in step B, in relation to parameters characterizing the tire, to obtain for each predetermined duration, contact characteristics of the tread pattern elements representing forces applied to each tread pattern element in the longitudinal, transverse, and vertical directions; D. predicting, from the contact characteristics obtained in step C, instantaneous wear characteristics representing the wear of each tire pattern element for each of the predetermined durations, and summing the instantaneous characteristics over a given period to obtain a predicted cumulative wear characteristic for each tread pattern element; E. measuring at least one actual cumulative wear characteristic of the tread at a given instant; F. comparing the at least one actual cumulative wear characteristic from step E to a corresponding predicted cumulative wear characteristic from step D; and G. repeating steps A-F while correcting the treatment of the selected wheel characteristics in step C in accordance with the comparison made in step F.