Posted on 11/18/2014 12:17:51 PM PST by Idaho_Cowboy
Combining a tire and wheel into a single airless 'tweel' has proven to be a popular concept, although it still hasn't gone mainstream. Michelin is the latest company to announce a production tweel, but not for any automotive applicationsjust yet.
It will open a dedicated tweel-producing factory in Piedmont, South Carolina, this week. However these airless tires will be used on skid-steer loaders and certain models of John Deere lawnmower, not cars.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
When can I get four of them? Cost?
5.56mm
Side note... I put brigstone drive guard run flats on my elderly parents vehicles.....never a problem thus far....
Price will be discouraging. Michelin says the X-Tweel SSL costs double to triple the cost of a comparable pneumatic radial. But relative to the cost of replacing frequently punctured pneumatic tires, they should save money.
Risk of flats and need for inflation-pressure maintenance is gone. With no air pressure to leak, the tires footprint never changes and the promise of much longer tread life seems secure.
http://www.forconstructionpros.com/blog/10947541/michelins-tweel-for-skid-steers-changes-everything
MAY 22, 2013
That’s where the tweel cover comes in handy. :)
yeah the tweel cover.
but it’d have to be kept on bolted onto the tweel somewhere because flexing would pop it off, or just the rotation of the tire would.
The big thing is there is no where to put any chrome. Without Chrome Tweel covers this idea is a no-go in the hood.
5.56mm
have you seen the rims they ride on in the hood? They are practically all wheel with just a very very thin strip of tread. They’re already effectively riding on runflats. they’ll just ride on the huge rims and wear them down.
I could see where these would be nice on a Stryker Armored Fighting Vehicle. Traction closer to treads, while retaining many of the advantages of regular tires.
as I remember reading on this topic last year, tweel designs and materials are not yet ready for automotive highway speeds - too much heat; the kind they cannot tolerate but incur at high speeds
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