Yokohama makes major change to its indoor ice-surface testing facility

Yokohama has installed a new cooling unit in the indoor ice-surface testing facility at its tyre test centre of Hokkaido.

The tyre maker completed the installation work at the test centre, which is in Asahikawa, last November.

At about 100 metres long, the cooling unit is one of the largest of its kind in Japan. It allows for setting the temperature of the ice surface anywhere between –10°C and 0°C at a room temperature of 5°C.

The newly fortified facility supports tyre testing of studless snow tyres at reliably precise temperatures throughout that range, Yokohama says.

In addition, Yokohama says it has given the company a new capacity for testing on ice in early winter. This lengthens the seasonal span over which Yokohama can conduct brake-testing on ice and broadens the tyre maker’s R&D calendar.

The company says this can greatly expand its scope of ice-surface testing for studless snow tyres, studded tyres, and all-season tyres.

The tyre test centre of Hokkaido was opened in December 2015 to expand Yokohama’s tyre testing capacity in line with the global expansion of its tyre business, and to introduce more sophisticated evaluation methods.

Yokohama tests winter tyres for passenger cars and for trucks and buses at the centre. It also tests summer tyres at the centre during the months from spring to autumn. Yokohama opened the indoor facility for ice-surface testing in January 2018 to test winter tyres at precisely controlled surface temperatures.

The tyre maker also operates a test centre in Sweden for winter tyre testing. The Hokkaido test centre handles testing for a global portfolio of winter tyres, while the Swedish centre conducts additional tests to confirm the suitability and performance of tyres to be sold in continental Europe, Russia and Northern Europe.