Tyre Testing
Millbrook provides independent tyre test facilities and services to manufacturers and suppliers across the globe.
Its winter tyre test facilities in Northern Finland span two winter proving grounds and 1.6km of indoor cold-weather tyre test tracks which are operational year-round.
Millbrook has its own tyre test team in Finland that carries out evaluations for customers, from tyre manufacturers to vehicle manufacturers and industry suppliers. The team also travels the world to support customers with summer tyre testing at various locations. In addition, the innovative facilities and test tracks are available for hire to customers wishing carry out their own test programmes.
Indoor Winter Tyre Test Facilities
Millbrook runs the world’s first indoor tyre test facilities designed for year-round use.
Tyre testing and assessment is carried out in controlled conditions on natural snow, ice and wet and dry asphalt, 365 days of the year. Indoor tyre test facilities allow speeds in excess of 100km/h, and offer independent control of surface temperature and air temperature. In addition, a series of cold boxes with direct access onto the test tracks can be used to soak vehicles to -40°C prior to testing.
Spin Traction Tyre Testing
Test World has a custom-built, all-electric spin traction truck for testing winter tyres to the ASTM 1805 test standard. Tyres meeting the standard are branded with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol.
The test includes measuring average longitudinal and vertical forces acting on the test tyre under acceleration.
The electric powertrain of the test vehicle provides simpler and more precise fine-tuning of the test parameters for different tyre sizes, than test vehicles with internal cobustion engines.
This testing is available at Test World all year round on natural snow both indoors and outdoors.
Winter Proving Grounds
Millbrook has two winter proving grounds in Northern Finland, 300km north of the Arctic Circle. The location provides an exceptionally long winter test season, with outdoor tyre test tracks typically open from November to April.
Proving Ground in the UK
In the UK, Millbrook offers witnessed certification tests including:
- R117 rolling sound emissions
- PAS 301 run flat test
Tyre Testing for Development
Development tyre tests that Millbrook offers include:
- Snow acceleration and braking
- Ice acceleration and braking
- Snow handling, objective and subjective
- Ice handling, objective and subjective
- Constant radius snow and ice
- Wet and dry braking
- Longitudinal aquaplaning
- Wet handling, objective and subjective
- Dry handling, objective and subjective
- Tyre wear and durability tests
- Accelerated stud wear tests
- Studded tyre road wear tests
Many of these tests can be carried out throughout the year using indoor facilities in Finland.
Tyre Certification and Labelling Testing
Tyre certification and labelling tests that Millbrook offers cover all tyre categories, including C1, C2, C3 and retreaded tyres. Tests include:
- R117/R109 snow braking for C1/C2
- R117/R109 snow acceleration for C3
- ASTM1805 US snowflake - from Q3 2020
- R117 spin traction for C1/C2 - from Q3 2020
- ISO19447 ice grip
- R117/EC1222 wet braking
- R117/EC1222 pass-by noise
- 408/2003, 466/2009 / SFS7503 studded tyre road wear (over run)
Many of these tests can be carried out throughout the year using indoor facilities in Finland.
Winter Tyre Comparison Tests
Some of Europe’s most extensive summer and winter tyre tests are performed at Millbrook’s winter proving grounds.
