new tire design for cars

[thrasherfox]

Radical new tire design by Michelin. The next generation of tires.


Here is a link


http://www.michelinmedia.com/pressSingle/value=MCH2006042532541




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
a.. no more air compressors at gas stations
a... no more repair kits

SCAN DOWN & SEE.

These are actual pictures taken in the South Carolina plant of Michelin. It will be awhile before they are available to the automotive industry.

 

[thrasherfox]

Pic 2

 

[thrasherfox]

Pic 3

 

[thrasherfox]

Pic 4

 

[thrasherfox]

Pic 5

 

[thrasherfox]

Michelin Tweel applied to a skid-steer loader

 

[thrasherfox]

In case something happens to the above link to Michelin, here is the text from their web site


Michelin TWEEL - Gold Medal for Innovation, Intermat 2006

Release date: April 25, 2006 PARIS --



The Intermat innovation commission in Paris awarded Michelin TWEEL with a 2006 Gold Medal for Innovation. This prize reinforces Michelin's technological leadership and rewards the tyre manufacturer's contribution to improvements in productivity and safety for the construction industry.

The jury of Intermat 2006, made up of recognized European experts and professionals, was required to rank the innovations according to five criteria:

- Technical design and technologies: improvement in productivity, ease of maintenance;
- Economy: lower purchase price and maintenance costs;
- Quality of work carried out;
- Ease of use, ergonomics, comfort, safety and improvement in working conditions;
- Environmental friendliness.

Michelin TWEEL is a single non-pneumatic solution instead of the traditional tire and wheel combination, made up of a rubber tread bonded to the hub by flexible spokes. The flexible spokes are fused with a deformable wheel that absorbs shocks and rebounds with unimaginable ease. Without the air needed in conventional tires, Michelin TWEEL still delivers pneumatic-like load-carrying capacity, ride comfort and resistance to road hazards.

Taken together, these features mean that Michelin TWEEL is expected to deliver performance that exceeds that of inflated tires.

This is the third international award for Michelin TWEEL. TIME Magazine has selected Michelin's revolutionary new non-pneumatic innovation as "One of the Most amazing Inventions of 2005." Furthermore, Michelin TWEEL leads the list of products named to Popular Science's "Best of What's New" honor in the Automotive Technology category.

The 2006 Gold Medal for Innovation of Michelin TWEEL reaffirms Michelin's technological leadership and highlights its contribution to improvements in productivity and safety for the construction industry.

 

[georgiabusa_05]

That is a cool concept.

 

[SpeedAdict]

I wonder how it will work with snow and balancing

 

[Lamb busa]

There are some members that won't be happy about this French co. coming up with something new!

Wondering about the ability to make a round tire function in this same way!

Cool stuff though.

 

[heavybusa]

Very cool!!

 

[Lucky34]

Wow.... that's crazy... at first I though "i dont know if I would trust those tires around the corners", but look at the audi... the rear right tire is about to come off the ground... he's really pushing it...
I think it's a cool concept... I'd like to see that on a bike though

 

[SLA1500]

Interesting stuff that's been around for some time..., Really fuggly imo !

 

[Wag]

No more slashed tires!

--Wag--

 

[hydrabusa]

I've seen this some time ago...now, they coming back around...

 

[Turbo-Torch]

I think the sidewalls are missing for display purposes...it'll probably look like a normal tire so you won't have to worry about getting snow or mud lodged in there.

I believe they already have a scooter tire out so there will probably be a motorcycle version in the future.

Personally I see no reason to reinvent the wheel. The tread is still going to wear out and you can bet they'll be damn expensive to replace. You'll also be stuck with that style wheel. Also don't see any sport oriented people buying into them, especially with motorcycles as you won't be able to fine tune your air pressure for different conditions. Imagine replacing a rear every 4K miles on a Busa!

And yes the design has been around for a while. I think I read about them in something like Popular Mechanics about 10 years ago. Technology is probably now at the point where they can be mass produced without costing $5K a piece.

 

[Revlis]

I Dunno, the reduced amount of metal is bound to save unsprung weight, and I can clamp some playing cards in my fenders and make the tires go CLICKITY CLICKITY!!!! YIPPA!!!


As for the cops NOT being able to use spike strips? Screw it, with everyone running drive by wire? Cops will just have a remote disabler!!! Count on it.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I wonder how lateral flex is in lateral extremes manuevers like emergency lane changes.

 

[VaBusa]

I read about 'em in Mike's AutoWeek a while back...very odd looking tires indeed...

 

[Jester0769]

here is my question, how do you mount it??