Does dynamometer testing damage the car?
There is no actual proof that dynamometer testing might damage the car in any certain way.
While performing tests, dynos don’t interfere with the engines performance and more importantly, don’t do any damage to it.
The things that damage engines are over-revving (above the engines red line), excessive heating, shock loading or incorrect fuel or ignition settings.
Therefore, if the dynamometer does cause any damage to an engine, it would also have happened if you just drove it at the same RPM or speed on the road too!
In fact, all these things are far more likely to happen while driving on the road than when under controlled and monitored conditions on the dynamometer during testing. You should always make sure that the operator knows what he is doing, and that the dynamometers cooling fans are large enough.
A 60 centimeter diameter fan that you can talk over is appropriate for a single power run. It will stop the car or bike from overheating.
However, dynamometer testing and setting up race cars and bikes require more controlled conditions. A bike or car that gets warm over 2 hours testing suffers from heat soak into the transmission, bodywork, engine block, oil, ancillaries and so on. This affects the power produced, and influences the accurateness of the performance test.
To keep this in check, you really need a wind tunnel with your dynamometer in it. When you are driving on the road at full power there is normally a lot of cooling air that cools the entire vehicle, and you should try to reproduce these conditions when you perform your tests.
If your dynamometer or the place you go to in order to get your car or bike dyno tested does not have an appropriate cooling system, it is not advised to perform any tests.
The problem concerning the damage done by dynamometers on the tires is more debatable. Tire manufacturers recommend dynamometer owners to replace tires after every test performed. They claim that the tires design is not intended for purposes like dynamometer testing and say that the heat or tire deformation could damage the structure internally and this damage would be invisible. Due to these facts, they strongly recommend replacing the tires after testing.
However, this should be done more as a precaution, and if the tires are fairly new, well designed chassis dynamometers should not hurt them. Just to make sure that everything is in order, remember to always check the tires condition after every test you perform.
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