Patent ID: 7591167

Claim:
A method of testing tires to measure the rolling resistance generated while a tire rolls under a radial load, the method comprising the steps of: (a) mounting two tires on spindles having substantially parallel axes; wherein the two tires are substantially equivalent and have substantially equal inflation pressures; (b) loading a first one of the tires against a second one of the tires, tread-to-tread, at a predetermined tire-to-tire test load; (c) rotating one of the tires such that it rotates the other tire; (d) measuring the total torque required to rotate the two tires at a predetermined rotation rate; (e) calculating the average rolling resistance of the two tires by dividing the value of the total torque by a distance between the axes of the two tire spindles, as measured while the tires are rotating at the predetermined rotation rate under the predetermined tire-to-tire test load; (f) selecting a third tire that is substantially equivalent to the first and second tires, including substantially equal inflation pressures; (g) repeating the steps (a) through (e) with the first tire and the third tire, thereby determining the average rolling resistance of the first tire and the third tire; (h) again repeating the steps (a) through (e) with the second tire and the third tire, thereby determining the average rolling resistance of the second tire and the third tire; and (i) using the data for the three tests with the first, second, and third tires in an algebraic solution for the individual rolling resistance values of the first, second, and third tires.