Camber Ridge and the future of tire testing

We recently had a visit by Dr. James F. Cuttino, president of Camber Ridge, LLC, a new tire-testing facility being developed from a clean sheet of paper. The company is looking to measure the dynamic properties of tires beyond what is capable today. Backed by nine affiliate members consisting of automotive and tire manufacturers, Camber Ridge was conceived as a completely new concept to take testing to the road, so to speak. (See our tire buying advice and ratings.)

Over-the-road tire testing is expensive, time consuming, and the data accuracy and repeatability is always a challenge. While modeling tire properties on a computer is much preferred, offering a cost effective means of investigating tire performance, the results are only as good as the assumptions made in the model.

To fill in the blanks, tire manufacturers run elaborate instrumented tests on indoor flat-belt machines—a steel belt wound around two large drums. The tire is loaded against the flat portion of the belt, which simulates a never-ending road. To add some realism, the steel belt is coated with sand paper to resemble the grip of a road surface. The machine offers engineers a reliable tool to measure the forces a tire experiences when cornering, braking, and accelerating under various loads and speeds. A complete understanding of a tire's properties can be obtained as it travels along a virtual driving route, all indoors on this flat-belt machine.

Of course, engineers recognize that it would be beneficial to capture data on real roads, too. Some work with an instrumented trailer has shown there are limitations to the flat-belt test.

That's where Camber Ridge comes in.

The new test facility uses an oval track. But instead of cars circling it, a tire will be installed on an instrumented carriage driven on a rail system, like roller coaster ride. In fact, the contractor developing the rail system actually builds roller coasters. From this system, engineers will be able to collect accurate and repeatable tire data on real roads over various weather conditions and can explore the effects of real tire tread wear. It's envisioned that tire research can be done over asphalt and concrete roads, and on dry and wet surfaces. Plans call for adding a snow traction and ice track for exploring a tire's winter performance, as well.

The facility has the potential of providing engineers with a better understanding of tire performance. Will it mean the end of indoor flat-belt testing or even eliminate the seat-of-the-pants test driver? Not likely, but it promises to be a better tool ultimately advancing tire performance to benefit the consumer.

We'll be watching closely.

—Gene Petersen