Tire Fuel Effeciency Consumer Information

[CapriRacer]

NHTSA (National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration) was originally supposed to publish a rule concerning the publication of rolling resistance data for tires in 2010, based on a mandate from the US Congress in 2007. There was a large problem with what they published (short version: It was unworkable!). So they went back to the drawing board.

Eventually they came back saying they would publish a rule in 2012. That date came and went.

Earlier this year I found a publication of new rules being worked on by the US Federal government:

https://www.transportation.gov/regul...nt-rulemakings

Back when I found this report, the rule of tire fuel economy had a future publication date of Aug, 2018 - that would be this month!

However, the latest report is that the rule will be published in June, 2019.

I am putting this here to remind folks (and me, too!) that there is something coming and where to go to find the status, but it appears to have been kicked down the road again.

[oil pan 4]

I should have worked for the NHTSA.

[California98Civic]

Geez. I would love to have detailed standards and data published by NHTSA. Wish they would stop kicking it down the road already

[redpoint5]

Seems a fairly straightforward process to define standard testing parameters such as inflation pressure, temperature, and weight load, and then measure how much energy it takes to roll the tire at a specified speed.

[fusion210]

Is there a euro one we can use? Years ago after seeing a few lists with tires and rr I thought we'd be so far ahead compared to where we are now.

[gone-ot]

Gooberment said the many "different" tire-testing dynamometer sites didn't match data-wise, so single data publication isn't possible.

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Seems a fairly straightforward process to define standard testing parameters such as inflation pressure, temperature, and weight load, and then measure how much energy it takes to roll the tire at a specified speed.

The problem isn't the test.

Among the problems was the amount of available testing facilities. The tire manufacturers said that if they tested 24/7 - and nothing else - it would take 3 years. Some said they couldn't accomplish the task unless they sacrificed some R&D testing. Some said that by the time they completed the first round of testing, there would be new models to test and they would never catch up.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

The problem isn't the test.

Among the problems was the amount of available testing facilities. The tire manufacturers said that if they tested 24/7 - and nothing else - it would take 3 years. Some said they couldn't accomplish the task unless they sacrificed some R&D testing. Some said that by the time they completed the first round of testing, there would be new models to test and they would never catch up.

This is why I would like this to be a voluntary standard test. For the average cheap tire who cares? I don't want to pay extra to know that it might return + or - .25 mpg compared to something else. But I'f a few companies want to produce specific higher end LRR tires then they can do the test against a standard as a marketing tool.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

The problem isn't the test.

Among the problems was the amount of available testing facilities. The tire manufacturers said that if they tested 24/7 - and nothing else - it would take 3 years. Some said they couldn't accomplish the task unless they sacrificed some R&D testing. Some said that by the time they completed the first round of testing, there would be new models to test and they would never catch up.

I'm ignorant when it comes to the tire industry, but it seems a simple test as I suggest, with a dynamometer measuring power required to spin a certain speed under certain load and temperature conditions; you could pretty quickly get a rough estimate of efficiency.

Or does the problem have more to do with breaking in the tire so that it performs in a consistent way?

[Stubby79]

You'd think they'd be able to calculate it fairly closely with computer models, calculations based on tread design and material selection...

Yeah, it won't be perfect in the real world, but it ought to give an idea without the cost of testing every size of a particular tire.