A preliminary investigation on the test equipment and test procedure of subscale inertia test was presented to establish a comprehensive test method for friction materials subscale inertia test.The basic characteristic and requirements of the sample and disk were provided as well as the conception of speed and pressure scaling coefficient.A test procedure for subscale inertia test was proposed on the basis of dynamometer test method ISO26867.Comparison experiments between subscale inertia test and dynamometer test using the same friction material were conducted on a subscale inertia dynamometer with the recommended characteristics and an inertia dynamometer.The subscale inertia dynamometer shows similar test result of material performance to dynamometer test.The result proves the feasibility of the test equipment and test procedure,which also provides references for the establishment of the domestic subscale inertia test method.