Right here’s How Continental Exams Tires at its Uvalde Proving Grounds – Merchandise
Continental Tire opened its Uvalde Texas proving grounds to reporters in June, showcasing how tires of all descriptions are examined and evaluated.
Picture: Jim Park
Prime-tier tire producers like Continental Tire put much more into designing and testing tires than the common shopper will ever notice. Tires for heavy vehicles might be a number of years within the making, and can typically require a number of design, construct, and take a look at cycles to get the tires excellent.
Continental Tire’s Uvalde Proving Grounds, dwelling to Continental Tire Analysis & Improvement North America, is the place the rubber actually meets the highway in terms of tire design. Continental just lately opened the gates to the ability for an occasion known as ContiExperience 2023. The occasion provided reporters, sellers, and choose fleet clients hands-on demonstrations of a number of tire testing and analysis experiences, in addition to a complete tour of the proving grounds.
UPC is situated lower than 10 miles south of Uvalde, Texas, which sits about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The 4,927-acre facility can take a look at and consider any sort of tire, from passenger automobile and lightweight truck tires to medium and heavy-duty truck tires, proper as much as gigantic earth-mover tires.
The recent, dry local weather permits for year-round testing beneath comparable circumstances. As much as 20 or 30 testing applications could also be underway on the website on any given day. Continental rents entry to the location to numerous OEMs, analysis firms, and others. Annually, testers and researchers log about 3.3 million miles on the website, or about 70,000 hours of testing time, and burn by way of about 20,000 tires.
Uvalde Proving Grounds is dwelling to Continental Tire Analysis & Improvement North America. Occupying almost 5,000 acres, the ability has over 30 take a look at surfaces and specialty areas for evaluating tires of all kinds.
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Uvalde Proving Grounds
The ability was constructed by Common Tire in 1959 starting with an 8.7-mile (14 km) oval circuit designed to judge passenger automobile tires. The monitor allowed automobiles to be pushed with out interruption at speeds larger than would have been potential utilizing public highways. This strategy produced extremely reproducible and comparable outcomes.
Further tracks have been constructed within the Nineteen Eighties as tire producers responded to altering shopper expectations. Along with mileage, efficiency, and harm resistance, tire security traits have been gaining shopper curiosity. By the mid-Nineteen Eighties, the ability had quite a lot of tracks and take a look at surfaces duplicating every part from interstate highways to downtown streets.
Continental acquired Common Tire in 1987, and with the acquisition got here the proving grounds.
On the time, American automobile drivers and vehicle producers have been concentrating on the worth of tire efficiency and breakdown resistance on tough highway surfaces. Continental, with its European roots, shifted that focus to dealing with and security — lowering stopping distances, and aquaplaning avoidance, to call a number of areas. This adjustment in precedence noticed the event of extra safety-related testing services, together with aquaplaning swimming pools, dry dealing with programs, and moist grip surfaces.
To extend the effectivity and security of tire endurance testing, in 2018 Continental engineers developed a driverless take a look at automobile that would run across the monitor till it exhausted its gasoline provide. Automation and the power to regulate automobiles with distinctive precision, not solely improved the take a look at outcomes, it optimized monitor utilization and lowered put on and tear as effectively. It additionally made the testing a lot safer. Human drivers not should pilot vehicles for a whole lot of hours over the monotonous course.
As we speak, the Uvalde Proving Grounds boasts about 26 paved and off-road programs, and 400 take a look at automobiles together with heavy tools, tractors, passenger automobiles, gentle vehicles, industrial automobiles, bikes, and trailers. It’s additionally dwelling to over 6,000 sq. toes of store and personal workplace house in addition to secured bays which can be out there to non-tire automotive-related testing teams.
The Traction Lane at Continental’s proving floor might be flooded to simulate driving on moist pavement or when testing for the power to withstand hydroplaning or aquaplaning. Vans can enter the pad at freeway speeds, stopping distance is measured by the truck’s ABS system.
Picture: Jim Park
Moist Traction Testing
Whereas Continental couldn’t presumably tour a bunch of journalists round to each take a look at website on the facility, we did go to the moist dealing with monitor. It’s an 800 x 800-foot, 15-acre asphalt pad (the biggest in North America) designed to exacting specs.
Whereas it seems flat and degree, it has a 1% grade throughout all the floor that permits water from a perforated pipe on the high of the pad to circulation in controllable depths (from .05″ to .11″) over the floor. The run-off is collected and funneled again into underground storage tanks for later use. Water is drawn from an underground effectively and extensively recycled to be used at different moist testing areas.
Due to its measurement, the pad is effectively suited to moist traction testing whereas maneuvering at pace. Automobiles and vehicles can simply stand up to freeway pace earlier than making an attempt a maneuver, reminiscent of accelerating or braking in a flip or on an extended sweeping curve, serpentine maneuvers, and even jackknife maneuvers.
We had the chance to drive a Peterbilt Mannequin 567 Sleeper tractor bobtail by way of an extended sweeping curve with a full ABS cease. The truck had Conti Ecoplus HS3+ 295/75R22.5 steer tires and ContiTread HDL 3 LTL-R retread drive tires. I pushed by way of a diminishing radius curve at between 40 and 50 mph (60-80 kmh) and by no means broke traction — which was mildly stunning for a bobtail tractor with little weight to carry the tires to the monitor. Within the full-application ABS cease, the truck tracked straight down the road. It was a reasonably spectacular demonstration of the traction supplied by these tires.
There was additionally a straight moist monitor for when Continental checks moist stopping distance. With a skinny layer of water flowing throughout the monitor, the truck will get as much as 50 mph (80 kmh) and makes a full ABS cease, which is triggered remotely for measurement functions. In comparisons reported by Continental, the above talked about retreaded drive tires achieved a shorter stopping distance than a competitor’s finances virgin tire — the identical sort of tire typically chosen by fleets in lieu of retreaded tires.
The retreaded tires managed to cease in 187.6 toes (57.175 meters), whereas the competitor’s model new tire went 189.05 toes (57.625 meters), or about 2 toes additional. That’s not loads, but it surely demonstrates that individual tread sample and compound is nearly as good as and even barely higher than that individual new tire.
“The most important impediment our gross sales staff has to beat is getting fleets to have faith in retreaded tires,” stated Continental’s product advertising and marketing supervisor, Bridney Jordan, explaining the importance of the take a look at. “Fleets will inform us they don’t consider in retreading, utilizing refurbished tires, and so forth. That couldn’t be farther from the reality. We proved proper right here that the Conti retread stopped in a shorter distance than that model new tire.”
When doing precise moist traction testing, they run every take a look at seven occasions, and drop the shortest and longest run and common the 5 remaining runs.
The dry dealing with monitor is a 1.07-mile asphalt-surfaced highway course that includes a 1,200 ft. lengthy straightaway, curves, turns, and bends of assorted radii from 50 toes to 500 toes. Each tires and automobile suspensions are examined for efficiency and dealing with.
Picture: Jim Park
Dry Dealing with Check
Whereas the dry dealing with take a look at doesn’t apply to heavy vehicles, it did reveal how tread compounds, casing design, and tread design contribute to traction and dealing with.
The monitor, construct in 2015, is a 1.07-mile asphalt-surfaced highway course that includes a 1,200-foot-long straightaway, curves, turns, and bends of assorted radii from 50 toes to 500 toes. Tires are examined for dry dealing with efficiency to judge various designs and constructions. Car development and suspension evaluations are additionally performed on this course.
Reporters drove two laps of the course in every of two automobiles: a four-cylinder turbocharged Ford Mustang outfitted with Common Tire G-Max RS tires, and a V-6 Dodge Challenger fitted with Conti ExtremeContact Sport 02 tires.
Throughout precise testing and evaluations, the automobiles are effectively instrumented, however the reporter’s take a look at drivers have been, effectively, fairly subjective at finest. I got here away considering I might get about an extra 10 mph from the Challenger with Conti’s ExtremeContact Sport tires, nonetheless feeling very assured within the highway dealing with at speeds approaching 70 mph.
The curbing analysis website runs tires over curbs to check for resistance to tread tearing and sidewall harm. The strips of rubber laying alongside the curbs point out how extreme the take a look at might be.
Picture: Jim Park
Curbing Check
The ultimate heavy truck take a look at we noticed was the curbing take a look at, the place tires are pushed over and off curbs to check the tread and sidewall’s resistance to ripping, chipping and scrub harm. The demonstration we noticed featured a bobtail tractor, so the tires weren’t badly pressured. Usually the vehicles are absolutely loaded. It was apparent from the strips of rubber laying alongside the curb, quite a lot of tires had given their lives within the quest for extra sturdy treads and sidewalls.
The off-road dealing with course, not for heavy vehicles, options punishing terrain and soil circumstances of all types. Obstacles embody a 33% grade concrete hill, giant boulder hill climbs, and this line of staggered embedded phone poles.
Picture: Jim Park
Specialty Exams
There have been 9 completely different programs designed to check tires’ resistance to break from tough and rocky surfaces. Utilizing varied kinds of rock, stone, and gravel laid over exhausting and smooth surfaces, vehicles run for a predetermined variety of laps consider slicing and delivery of the tread by the gravel overlay.
One course, was a round mattress crammed with pea gravel. Vans run by way of the gravel after which onto a tough paved floor to check the tires’ means to eject stones from between the treads. Or, to find out the extent to which stones that weren’t efficiently ejected drilled into the casing.
A number of the off-road programs have been brutal, with rocks of assorted sizes from golf ball to softball measurement, smooth sand, and a piece of monitor with embedded phone poles. There have been grades as much as 33% and surfaces starting from clean concrete to gravel-covered grime. Engineers use these obstacles for traction analysis in addition to susceptibility to tread harm.
Digital Tire Monitoring
Continental additionally showcased its digital tire monitoring providing, ContiConnect. The system makes use of proprietary sensors inside tires to trace inflation strain, casing temperature, and mileage amongst different metrics. Collected knowledge is transmitted to the ContiConnect net portal.
Over-the-road fleets can go for the ContiConnect Stay answer, the place the information is transmitted in actual time from the truck to the online portal by way of the fleet’s onboard telematics unit. This answer gives GPS asset monitoring to enhance gasoline effectivity, lengthen tire life, and cut back labor prices related to handbook tire inspections. Continental says it will also be used to detect lacking/stolen tires.
Native and regional fleets that return to base recurrently may choose the in-yard choice, ContiConnect Yard. Autos drive previous a reader station within the yard, the place knowledge is collected and relayed to the ContiConnect platform. Immediate notifications permit any tire points to be addressed whereas the truck is within the yard. Tire inspections and fleet checks might be carried out with out touching the tire, the corporate says.
Continental is at present growing a smartphone-based tire scanning app that can use the digicam to make a 3-D picture of the tire able to measuring tread depth. Trey Thompson, Continental’s discipline engineering supervisor, stated the app relies on the identical expertise utilized in facial recognition.
“All it’s a must to do is stroll up and take a photograph of the tire and (the app) will join with the tire’s inside sensor,” he stated.
Knowledge from the sensors coupled with the 3-D picture is uploaded to the ContiConnect platform and change into immediately readable by anybody subscribed to the service.
Thompson didn’t present particulars on when the app can be out there.
So, whereas value will all the time be a consideration when shopping for tires, it’s helpful to think about what goes into the tire earlier than you mount it on the truck. An inexpensive tire might appear to be a discount on the time, but when it’s life expectancy or resistance to break is half that of a top-tier tire, is it actually that good a deal?
