| LChisum |
Have you guys seen these?
"These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon.
The bad news for law enforcement is that spike strips will not work on these tires.
This is what great R&D will do, and just think of the impact on existing technology:
A. no more air valves...
B. no more air compressors at gas stations...
C. no more repair kits...
D. no more flats...
"
Larry :eek: |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by LChisum
Have you guys seen these?
"These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon.
The bad news for law enforcement is that spike strips will not work on these tires.
This is what great R&D will do, and just think of the impact on existing technology:
A. no more air valves...
B. no more air compressors at gas stations...
C. no more repair kits...
D. no more flats...
"
Larry :eek:
They have been showing those for a few years now.
It is always "soon".
Maybe it will really be "soon" this time. |
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| krygny |
I first saw these about 20 years ago while I was working at Grumman. They were designing wheels to be used on the the Mars rovers. I've seen several designs since.
The good news is no more flats. The bad news is they're expensive as hell. Retreads are only slightly cheaper than a new set of tires, not saving enough to justify on a purely cost basis in the life of most cars. My guess is they will only be on high-end cars at first (and stay there for quite a long time). They may be available soon but they may not be practical for most of us for a while. Don't hold your breath. |
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| A6Pilot |
I'm wondering why the racing industry has not used this technology. With almost unlimited budgets, I'm sure there have been a few teams consider this new tire. Could it be it just does not perform very well?
Lousy performance, and butt ugly: just the ticket for the rice rocket/street tuner set. Maybe there is a future for this tire! |
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| Medic721 |
this is just a guess but, it doesn't seem as if you can tune this tire as you would a conventional tire by adjusting air pressure.
This is needed based on weather and track conditions.
-Mike. |
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| mainerunr |
| bet those would ride real smooth once they get clogged up with ice. |
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| macphanatic |
| How does the weight compare to a similar sized wheel/tire setup? If 4 weigh less than 5 standard wheel/tire setups, I could see it get implemented on a lot of vehicles in the near future as it should help with fuel economy. |
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| jdeanski |
| Personally I sincerely believe an "airless" tire for an automobile is BS. Plain and simple BS! First You need air as a cushion to absorb shock and vibration. Secondly you need the outward pressure of air to hold the tire on the rim so it won't roll off in a turn. Sorry guys, it a pipe dream it won't work as shown!! |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by jdeanski
Personally I sincerely believe an "airless" tire for an automobile is BS. Plain and simple BS! First You need air as a cushion to absorb shock and vibration. Secondly you need the outward pressure of air to hold the tire on the rim so it won't roll off in a turn. Sorry guys, it a pipe dream it won't work as shown!!
Wrong.
The "fins" or "Spokes" in the picture are flexible and the flexibility is designed to provide the appropriate amount of give for the vehicle and the ride desired.
The rim is designed to hold the flax able plastic part without issue (it doe snot simply use existing rims.
Basically, you are just a little wrong on this one, JD. |
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| A6Pilot |
Engineering challenges-
Fins must retain the consistent tension and compression characteristics throughout the operating temperature span of the tire. These characteristics must not deteriorate with age, uv exposure, etc.
What happens to the tire when you travel across mud that's even slightly deeper than the tread? How 'bout travel during wet road conditions near freezing?
On top of these problems, what am I suppose to do with my tire gauges, patching kits, tire cleaners and 'wet look' preps?
It took me 10 years to learn to read the markings on the sidewall, now what?
I'm going to live in a cave. |
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| Jet-Pilot-64 |
quote:
Originally posted by A6Pilot
Engineering challenges-
Fins must retain the consistent tension and compression characteristics throughout the operating temperature span of the tire. These characteristics must not deteriorate with age, uv exposure, etc.
What happens to the tire when you travel across mud that's even slightly deeper than the tread? How 'bout travel during wet road conditions near freezing?
On top of these problems, what am I suppose to do with my tire gauges, patching kits, tire cleaners and 'wet look' preps?
It took me 10 years to learn to read the markings on the sidewall, now what?
I'm going to live in a cave.
I assume there will be sidewalls on the consumer version... |
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| macphanatic |
| These tires will probably handle better than inflatable ones due to a stiffer "sidewall." In one of the videos that I saw, it looks like they will provide a smoother ride as they adapt to bumps and holes better than a traditional tire. |
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| krygny |
quote:
Originally posted by A6Pilot
Engineering challenges-
...
Rolling around on thick rubber balloons presents engineering challenges too. Just different ones; not necessarily more or less difficult ones. |
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