airless tire

[haven]

Here's a new airless tire for military use. this one is 37 inches tall.

While the no-sidewall look may work as a demo, I'm sure it would
quickly get packed with mud. Read more here

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10098240-42.html

Chip Haven

 

[SGV]

A few years back in one of the motorcycle magazines I subscribed to mentioned these tires for use in sports cars. It was a "gee-whiz" article that ended with them telling us they probably won't work on motorcycles. Put on a light sidewall and they might be good all terrain tires though.

 

[James86004]

Kind of hard to air down.

But sidewall cuts are no biggie, either.

 

[SGV]

Kind of hard to air down.

But sidewall cuts are no biggie, either.

Shows my rookieness. I never thought of that. It would get kind of expensive and take up quite a bit of room to always have two sets of tires on you.

 

[OTR]

I would be in. Look at the environmental benifits if you just had to replace the tread portions. No side walls to produce or get rid of and no spare tire. And NO FLAT tires:clapsmile

 

[SGV]

Found some more info:

Michelin Tweel

Michelin aims to eliminate flats and blowouts with its remarkable Tweel concept, an airless one-piece wheel-and-tire combo that could soon enter production. The Tweel's hub connects to polyurethane spokes that assume the shock-absorbing role of a traditional tire's sidewall. The spokes are bonded to a reinforced rubber tread band that can be as specialized as today's tires. By varying the thickness and size of the spokes, Michelin can generate a wide array of ride and handling qualities.

Just a small teaser, but I know there has to be more info out there.

 

[FourByLand]

Seems like they don't need to be aired down.

 

[SGV]

Ha ha!

I was wrong about not being R & D'd for motorcycles (way off topic but I know there are motorcyclists on here)

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2005/11/17/michelin-airless-motorcycle-tires/

 

[048642]

Snow and Mud

I wonder how they feel driving after you load up that honeycomb with mud or snow?

 

[OTR]

I believe that the honeycomb would be covered to prevent this from occuring. It would greatly allow to keep this from happening and maintain any balancing issues. They could also make the tread to slide in multiple channels in the wheel from the side, this would "lock" the tread onto the wheel (honeycomb). This would be a cool feature that would allow a person to change how aggressive a tire they want to run. Example, run a street tire to the head of a trail, slide off the street tread and slide on an AT or MT tread for the trail. The main issue would being storing the other treads while not in use. Unless the tread could be folded up, you could store 3 treads inside 1 tread.

 

[goodtimes]

They could also make the tread to slide in multiple channels in the wheel from the side, this would "lock" the tread onto the wheel (honeycomb).

Major safety problem when you start side loading the whole thing (think hard cornering / swerving to miss bambi / etc).

 

[madizell]

Just my guess, but the tread section is almost certainly bonded to the core, hence not replaceable. Otherwise it would be prone to delamination. In any event, the center section would eventually need to be replaced due to fatigue, so I would see it as a use once and replace kind of thing, just as with current tires (ignoring retreads).

For our purposes they would need to be aired down. The example shown with tire deflection is an off road earth mover, the kind of vehicle that routinely runs on low tire pressures. Since we regularly drive on the highway as well as off road, one tire pressure won't work. The airless tires are built to simulate a tire at a given pressure, so you have to choose what pressure you want, then live with it. This is okay for highway use, or for a dedicated toy, but not for our purposes.

 

[Michael Slade]

Here's my latest airless tire.

 

[madizell]

Excellent tire deflection shown! A bit of sidewall scuffing, but no worries there. You might need to round out the wheel, though.

 

[85CUCV]

I saw similar "tires" at the local agriculture implement dealer. $700.00 for each. I assumed they were for implements and not for highway use.