Effect of Tyre Pressure on Ride Comfort from an Integrated Chassis Control Perspective

Ride comfort is one of the aspects that may be improved through integrated chassis control. The effect of tyre pressure on the ride comfort of a SUV with low profile tyres is investigated to quantify its contribution as a system within integrated chassis control. A SUV was subjected to two road profiles on a 4-poster test rig. Ride comfort was objectively evaluated for ten repeat runs at three inflation pressures over two roads. The largest relative percentage improvement in ride comfort of 1.5% was seen between the lowest and highest pressures over the rougher road. This improvement is below the relative difference threshold for ride comfort. Furthermore, no significant difference between the median combined point ride values across the three tyre pressures on the two roads were found. Therefore, a perceptible change in ride comfort may not result from inflation pressure alone. However, in combination with other system changes within integrated chassis control, perceptible change may be achieved.