New Michelin Tires

[Setheroo]

http://www.gizmag.com/go/3603/

Has anyone on here seen one up close?

This looks awesome - the idea of not needing air is a cool idea all on its own.

 

[Kangae]

That's pretty neat, but they're planning on putting a sidewall on there right? Because I can imagine getting mud or rocks caught in there would be a bad time, plus it would look way better.

 

[87mk111]

eeeewwwwwww, it looks weird. i wonder they handle tho?

 

[Setheroo]

That's pretty neat, but they're planning on putting a sidewall on there right? Because I can imagine getting mud or rocks caught in there would be a bad time, plus it would look way better.

Not to mention... how in the world would you balance a tire like that if you get mud clotted up in there?!

 

[laotionracer101]

^+1 its hard enough trying to balance them with just regular tires, I have seen a military application of the similar sort. But it was designed so that vehicles could take minor blast damage and keep going. And not to mention that tire/wheel was NOISY! it sounded like absolute doodoo

 

[Poodles]

Been around for years, they handle better than normal tires. Don't worry about closing the sides off, you're not going to get rocks stuck in there (if you have low profile tires and a large wheel, you're just as likely to get crap in the wheel, and it doesn't happen).

Ass mentioned, the big issue I've seen in the testing vids was the wind noise over them. Might be why they haven't hit production yet.

 

[Jeff Lange]

Quite old now.

That being said, I see no reason they couldn't just have a rubber sidewall covering the internals of the tire. It would both look better as well as take care of anything getting in there.

Jeff

 

[Keros]

I get that chain email about these tires one every 3 years, since hotmail was invented. When it hits stores, I'll be surprised by them. The big thing against them is how to control the ride quality. A pneumatic tire can be adjusted as the car's weight changes by increasing or decreasing the pressure to maintain optimal tire contact on the road. Too little air will cause alot of movement between the belts and layers as the tire rolls down the road; building heat and potentially a tire failure (shown in wear on the outside shoulders of the tire). Too much air will present a tire that appears to only be touching the road in the middle (wear down the center). This is all fairly common knowledge... but this tire design removes that feature entirely. You're now in a situation where you'd have a narrow weight requirement (narrow meaning an upper and lower limit for how much weight the tire could support, and probably only a few hundred pounds between the two) for each tire design. Deviations from the weight range would cause erratic wear or dangerous handling.

I don't think this product could have the marketing a pneumatic tire does: "this is the size and this is the maximum weight it can support". Because the sidewalls are static in carrying capacity, you'd have a minimum weight needed to keep the tire's contact patch ideal and a maximum weight to prevent overloading the sidewall. It would be great in some respects and not so great in others.

 

[Jeff Lange]

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/12/13/rubber-spokes-give-bounce-to-airless-safety-tires/

Most recent stuff about the tires seem to be from around 2005 when they put them on that Audi A4. Not much since.

Jeff

 

[MK3_TJ]

From what I remember the wheel is suspended at the top not supported by the bottom.