Method of analyzing and controlling the uniformity of tires

A method of controlling uniformity during tire manufacture, comprising the steps of:

• selecting at least one target attribute and assigning a target value to each;
• measuring the at least one target attribute in a subject tire at a first rotational speed approximating highway speed;
• measuring mass imbalance of the subject tire;
• measuring in the subject tire indicator attributes at a second rotational speed lower than the first rotational speed;
• determining a plurality of predictors for the target attribute, each predictor having components including at least mass imbalance and one additional indicator attribute;
• selecting a predictor from the plurality of predictors;
• measuring in the additional subject tire the components of the selected predictor at the second rotational speed;
• predicting a value for each of the at least one target uniformity attributes based on the selected predictor for the additional subject tire;
• and
• comparing the predicted value to the at least one target value.

A method of analyzing uniformity during tire manufacture, comprising the steps of:

• selecting at least one target attribute and assigning a target value to each;
• measuring the at least one target attribute in a subject tire at a first rotational speed approximating highway speed;
• measuring in the subject tire indicator attributes a first time at a second rotational speed lower than the first rotational speed;
• measuring in the subject tire the indicator attributes a second time under transient conditions, wherein one of load on the tire, tire pressure, and rotational speed differs from the first time;
• determining a plurality of predictors for the at least one target attribute, each predictor having components chosen from the indicator attributes;
• selecting at least one predictor from the plurality of predictors;
• measuring in at least one additional subject tire the components of the selected predictor;
• predicting for the at least one additional subject tire a value for the at least one target uniformity attribute based on the selected at least one predictor;
• and
• comparing the predicted value to the target value.