California Energy Commission tire test results

May 22, 2011 4 Replies
B

When I read the California Energy Commssion had tested over 300 tires but didn't publish their results, I began to suspect something else was going on. Then when the 'Governator' was killing programs in his budget, I suspected he'd turned out their lights and the results would never be known. Fortunately, they did and here is the URL:

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The full workshop data is available here:
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The Prius is especially able to exploit low rolling resistance tires. It has one of the lowest air drags and superior drive train so reducing rolling drag from the tires pays at the pump.



Bob Wilson


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N

Does a lower RRF index mean that a particular tire have a lower rolling resistance friction or a higher rolling resistance friction?

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E

The "drive train" isn't inherently superior at all, but it does have low drag which shows itself when the operator uses LRR tires.

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B

The "RRF Mean (lbs)" is the drag force so lower is better. In my case, Sumitomo T4s which came in at 8.53 lbs. The lowest drag, replacement is the Bridgestone, Turanza EL41, 8.35 lbs. However, the Bridgestone does not come in 14" which is the wheel rim size of our NHW11.

Bob Wilson

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N

Thanks. This will come in handy when I need to get new tires. :-)

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