St. Barsabas was the original manufacturer of TireCradles. In 1999, St. Barsabas funded an independant study to determine the effectiveness of TireCradles. St. Barsabas chose Standards Testing Labs (STL) to perform the test. The positive results of this test will give our customers a sense of security about his or her purchase.

Standards Testing Labs in Massillon, Ohio Tested TireCradles.
Here are their "credentials."

STL is the world’s largest, independent, dynamic testing facility for tires, wheels and related components. The methods they use are those specified by ASTM, DOT, SAE, ECE, and SEMA. STL’s facilities have the approval of the U.S Department of Transportation and the National Highway Safety Administration for the testing of tires, wheels and related components.

Finally, STL has performed testing for Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and every major tire manufacturer. Considering their history STL’ s credentials leave little room for controversy and give potential customers a sense of product performance.

The tires selected for the test were Pirelli P Zero Asimetricos. The Pirelli tires were selected for one reason; they are the OEM tires on more performance cars than any other manufacturer. The Asimetrico is OEM for most models of the following manufacturers: Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar and Porsche — fine company indeed! This is a splendid recommendation as to the quality of their tires.

One final point about tires in general. All low profile, performance tires flat spot (cold set) regardless of the manufacturer. None are immune to this phenomenon. As such, again, the selection of Pirelli should be viewed as an acknowledgement of their quality and not a negative.

TESTING PROCEDURE

The following PDF file is an EXACT copy of the formal report submitted to St. Barsabas by Standards Testing Labs. To make interpretation of the materials easier and to understand the testing sequence a few facts are required.

The tires were purchased by STL for St. Barsabas, Inc. The TireCradle provided was taken from a box in inventory. It was not specially selected or tested in any way prior to sending it to STL.

After the initial measurements were made, each tire was run on STL’s radial fatigue machine under the following conditions. A test load of 850 pounds was selected to simulate testing with a 3,400 pound car. The tires were run for 15 minutes at 50 mph, 45 minutes at 90 mph and cooled for 15 minutes at 35 mph.

At this point the tires were immediately placed on a steel cold plate for 96 hours under a load of 850 pounds. One tire had the benefit of a TireCradle between it and the cold plate, the other tire was placed directly on the cold plate.

The idea was twofold; to try to induce a flat spot in the unprotected tire and to try to prevent a flat spot in the protected tire. In theory, if you can prevent a temporary flat spot, you will also prevent a permanent flat spot, as a tire’s flat spotting must progress from a temporary flat spot to a permanent flat spot. If you prevent one, you will also prevent the other.

Lastly, about the data; the harmonics are listed from 1 (worst case) through 10 (least case). These harmonic changes are directly related to the peak to peak values measured before and after testing. Pay careful attention to these values.

Click here to download the report.