SEE THROUGH TIRE !
Got this from Bob Mahyugh this morning:
Radical new tire design by Michelin. The next generation of tires.
They had a pair at the Philadelphia car show.
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...
SCAN DOWN &SEE.
These are actual pictures taken in the South Carolina plant of Michelin.
Posts
E. and for the first 100,000 customers, no more money!
ReplyDeleteThe idea has been around since at least 1938 (http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/12/13/rubber-spokes-give-bounce-to-airless-safety-tires/), but now with some new materials.
ReplyDeleteMichelin calls them Tweels (combination of Tire and Wheel). They were highlighted at the NAIAS show in Detroit in Jan 2005 and have been "showcasing" them each year ever since (those photos of the Audi A4 and graphic are from the 2005 show). Michelin doesn't appear to have released any new info since April 2006. At that time Michelin mentioned that they may be on production cars in about a decade (2016 or later). There was mention of vibration and noise issues and for the time being they were only being considered for low speed industrial, military and some recreational applications. It's not clear that there are any available for even those applications today. The open "spokes" also raise issues over snow, ice, mud and stones accumulation so some covering would need to be developed for high speed use.
Considering it took about 30 years for the radial tire to become mainstream and replace the bias ply tire I figure the only mode of transport that I may be able to fit with tweels is my walker or wheel chair.
Jim Bakker,
ReplyDeleteYou are SO smart it's not funny...oh, I mean it IS funny...I mean YOU are funny...well, you know what I mean.
Kelly K