However, I'm not sure how car owners will take to such a dramatic change in tire design, as illustrated by this picture:
Posted on 01/06/2005 9:48:01 PM PST by RayChuang88
GREENVILLE, S.C.--The first automobile to use air-filled tires was a racecar built by André and Édouard Michelin in the early 1890's. More than a century later, the French company founded by the Michelin brothers is so identified with pneumatic tires that its mascot, Bibendum, is a man made of little else.
Now, after decades spent persuading the world to ride on air, the company has begun work on an innovation that could render the pneumatic tire obsolete. Engineers at Michelin's American technology center here envision a future in which vehicles would ride on what they call the Tweel, a combined tire and wheel that could never go flat because it contains no air.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
However, I'm not sure how car owners will take to such a dramatic change in tire design, as illustrated by this picture:
It's round, it's black, what's the problem?
Let's fill those "spokes" with frozen sludge, and give it a road test...
And better yet, it's flat-proof!
I'm sure they've already done that test, given that Tweel will be used in all weather conditions including snowy and frozen roads.
bump for later read
I wondered that myself -- wouldn't anything (from frozen sludge, snow, slush, mud, rotten leaves, pebbles/rocks, twigs, etc.) that gets caught in there cause the tire to go severely out of balance?
I suspect, however, that they could somehow guard against "stowaway debris" with some kind of screening or a membrane, or at the very least engineer the shape of the spokes so that they tend to shed foreign matter. But something more tenacious (like frozen slush!) might be harder to ditch. I guess time will tell.
"It's round, it's black, what's the problem?"
It's French.
> ...anything... gets caught in there cause the tire
> to go severely out of balance?
Absolutely.
I already have problems with the alloy wheels on our
VW because the inner rim is parallel to the ground.
It doesn't drain properly, and after rain, sludge
builds up overnight, dries, and unbalances the wheel.
This tire will have to have sidewalls, and a protected
vent to keep junk out of the tire.
That image had better just be a cutaway view, or this
French technology (is that an oxymoron?) is doomed.
Looks expensive. Unless it's good for 100,000 miles, I'd say it wasn't practical. Doubt if it will be in the showroom for a while yet. BTW, solid rubber tires were pretty common for many years, especially on trucks. So were unsprung suspensions, just axles bolted to the frame. I imagine you'd knock your teeth out hitting a pebble. Of course, we're talking about a top speed of maybe 8-10 mph.
Why not? As long as it works is safe wears well and costs less people will try them.
Does that kid have six toes?
Centrigugal force should keep the wheels clean. There are a lot of wheels with similar configurations. Go to the web site of Hayes Lemmerz. They make 80% of the wheels in the USA and Europe.
Aww poo, I thought I had tire pressure vs. hydroplanning vs. water displacement vs. speed vs. downforce vs. thermal recalibration vs. surface contact area vs. line of travel vs. wear ratings vs. retreadability, vs. radial vs. cross vs. directional vs. positional vs. price vs. lifetime rotation vs. free flat repair vs. mud vs. snow vs. cord vs. style vs. raised letter vs. WW vs. BW vs. puncture rating, just simply all figured out.
Now this??? No air pressure?? Oy vey!!
And what about all those poor struggling spike stick manufacturers???
Or wrong way tire shredding spikes built in-ground at the rent-a-car & parking lots of America?
Will Mr. Fix-a-flat go belly-up??
Oh the Horror!!!
(Can I get a set for my Harley?) :-)
If they made the "inside" of the tread rim a bit angled, in either or both directions, centrifugal force would cause any debris in the tire to "slide out" pretty quickly.
But no matter what, I predict a dramatic upsurge in "tire flung" debris cracking people's windshields... Currently you only rocks on the roadway catapulted by tires if it the rock momentarily gets stuck in the outer tread just right. With these new tires, anything which gets bounced or blown into the "middle" of the tire is going to be guaranteed to be spun up to "X"mph (whatever speed the vehicle is traveling at) and then launched in a random direction when it shakes loose...
Replaced by devices resembling chainsaws, perhaps.
Will Mr. Fix-a-flat go belly-up??
Not if they switch to "Weld-A-Snap" kits.
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