Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - Testing rolling resistance of the Various Tires of the Suzukiclone Fleet (RE92 wins)

MetroMPG · 10-12-2011, 08:41 PM

(ForkenSwift sporting the winning tire: Bridgestone Potenza RE92's, OEM low-rolling-resistance tire of the 1st generation Honda Insight.)

So, on the weekend as you may have seen already, I did some rolling testing of the six (6) different sets of tires that are currently in the Suzukiclone fleet. (Seven sets, if you count the spare tire donuts, which I also tested.)

I wanted to find out which tires had the best rolling resistance performance (and which ones had the worst).

This info probably may not be particularly useful to anyone else unless you have the same tires. (Which is unlikely, with the exception of the Bridgestone Potenza RE92's, which are still available. And maybe the Goodyear donuts.

)

All the wheel/tire sets were mounted on the same car (ForkenSwift), which was rolled down a gentle hill onto a flat run-out.

Long story short, here's what I learned:

Order of testing - it was sort of an "A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-A" test...

The how

All testing was done by mounting the wheels/tires on the ForkenSwift

Tires were set to 51 PSI

I drove each car the same distance to an empty parking lot with a small downhill entrance/exit opening on a level run-out area

Start: car was stopped with the hand brake at a marked position on the hill, transmission placed in neutral and the brake released

Finish: after coasting to a stop (max speed < 10 km/h / 6 mph) each run's "end" position was marked on the road with chalk.

3 - 5 runs were done for each set of tires

drove back to the shack, swapped the wheels/tires

the hydraulic brakes were not used at all during the testing, to avoid as much as possible having the front brake pads dragging on the brake rotors after use

rinse and repeat

Conditions:

24 C / 75 F - clear & dry
wind WSW 12 km/h (~7 mph)

Here's a pic of the test area, with an accurate representation of the RE92's average finish position compared to the average finish for the donuts (@ 70 psi):

You can see it wasn't that steep a hill. Maybe a 2 foot elevation change. (From: Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Poll Results )

10-12-2011, 08:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
MetroMPG Batman Junior Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada Posts: 22,527 Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro Team Metro Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US) MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata 90 day: 54.46 mpg (US) Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec 90 day: 70.75 mpg (US) Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base) 90 day: 62.14 mpg (US) Thanks: 4,078 Thanked 6,976 Times in 3,612 Posts	Testing rolling resistance of the Various Tires of the Suzukiclone Fleet (RE92 wins) (ForkenSwift sporting the winning tire: Bridgestone Potenza RE92's, OEM low-rolling-resistance tire of the 1st generation Honda Insight.) So, on the weekend as you may have seen already, I did some rolling testing of the six (6) different sets of tires that are currently in the Suzukiclone fleet. (Seven sets, if you count the spare tire donuts, which I also tested.) I wanted to find out which tires had the best rolling resistance performance (and which ones had the worst). This info probably may not be particularly useful to anyone else unless you have the same tires. (Which is unlikely, with the exception of the Bridgestone Potenza RE92's, which are still available. And maybe the Goodyear donuts. ) All the wheel/tire sets were mounted on the same car (ForkenSwift), which was rolled down a gentle hill onto a flat run-out. Long story short, here's what I learned: Order of testing - it was sort of an "A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-A" test... The how All testing was done by mounting the wheels/tires on the ForkenSwift Tires were set to 51 PSI I drove each car the same distance to an empty parking lot with a small downhill entrance/exit opening on a level run-out area Start: car was stopped with the hand brake at a marked position on the hill, transmission placed in neutral and the brake released Finish: after coasting to a stop (max speed < 10 km/h / 6 mph) each run's "end" position was marked on the road with chalk. 3 - 5 runs were done for each set of tires drove back to the shack, swapped the wheels/tires the hydraulic brakes were not used at all during the testing, to avoid as much as possible having the front brake pads dragging on the brake rotors after use rinse and repeat Conditions: 24 C / 75 F - clear & dry wind WSW 12 km/h (~7 mph) Here's a pic of the test area, with an accurate representation of the RE92's average finish position compared to the average finish for the donuts (@ 70 psi): You can see it wasn't that steep a hill. Maybe a 2 foot elevation change. (From: Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Poll Results ) __________________ Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage. Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown EcoModder has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget