I wish they had these tire for motorhomes.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
I remember these from some old magazine articles. Maybe Popular Mechanics or something. Interesting concept that will need some debugging. For instance, in the case of blowing snow when parked, how does one clean the snow out of the holes in the sidewalls of the tire so the balance doesn't get thrown off? Unless the pictures are cut-away versions for the purpose of the article
 
tlmgcamp said:
I remember these from some old magazine articles.
Click to expand...
So do I. I just wonder why we are still not seeing airless tires by year 2024.

What I really want to see is tires that will not have blowouts.

It will also be nice when we no longer need our tire pumps and TPMSs.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
They have been trying this concept for almost 2 decades. One of the biggest things that air does in tires is keep the rubber from overheating. I am pretty sure that the only way they can do this is to replace the wheel and tire assembly every time.
 
I remember discussions about the Michelin Tweel back in the late 90's early 00's IIRC. There was a local wheel maker who supplied some wheels to Michelin for testing of their airless tire.
 
tlmgcamp said:
I remember these from some old magazine articles. Maybe Popular Mechanics or something. Interesting concept that will need some debugging. For instance, in the case of blowing snow when parked, how does one clean the snow out of the holes in the sidewalls of the tire so the balance doesn't get thrown off? Unless the pictures are cut-away versions for the purpose of the article
Click to expand...
The pictures are not cut-aways. I've seen similar tires in use on some specialty mining equipment, and when they went through thick mud the design of the openings combined with flexing quickly pushed the mud out. I'd think snow would react similarly.
 
DonTom said:
So do I. I just wonder why we are still not seeing airless tires by year 2024.

What I really want to see is tires that will not have blowouts.

It will also be nice when we no longer need our tire pumps and TPMSs.

-Don- Reno, NV
Click to expand...
Wheeled Industrial equipment has the option for airless tires, has had for perhaps 20 years. The downside is when having to drive through mud the "spokes" retain mud. On a car this just might throw the tire out of balance.
A local junk yard's yard equipment has airless tires = no more flats.
 
tlmgcamp said:
I remember these from some old magazine articles. Maybe Popular Mechanics or something. Interesting concept that will need some debugging. For instance, in the case of blowing snow when parked, how does one clean the snow out of the holes in the sidewalls of the tire so the balance doesn't get thrown off? Unless the pictures are cut-away versions for the purpose of the article
Click to expand...

That one is easy.. At 30 MPH or greater they will throw the snow off like a dog shaking water. IN fact may do it at 5mph.
 
Reasons would include:
High unsprung weight
Steep stiffness curve vs inflated
Rated load is fixed vs adjustable by changing pressure
Likely much stiffer than convential
Likely more easily damaged
Etc, etc, ...

Ernie
 
Michelin also makes versions for lawn mowers - I know John Deere offers some of their zero turn mowers with them. For car/truck use here in NY, regardless of how well they shake/spin out the snow and ice in motion, if snow/ice does freeze in there overnight, it would be a nightmare!
 
The pressure on those tire ribs has to be on the order of 800-1200 lbs, so I think that frozen snow & ice would crack off as the wheel turns. But it's not going to be instantaneous and there must be extreme conditions where this could be an issue. At least for a half-mile or so.

I remember back in the day when nylon was introduced for the sidewalls on the bias-ply tires used back then. It was a great material for high mileage and puncture resistance, but the semi-flat bottom portion of the tire would get stiff as a board when it sat for several hours in winter temperatures. It rode like a flat tire (which it literally was) until the tire warmed up from the flexing.
 
I had snow tires on my truck that would trap gravel in the treads until I manually pried them out. If gravel got into those sidewall openings I'd think it would be very difficult to remove and could wear the spokes out quickly.
 
The technology of airless tires notwithstanding... I bet the "National Association of Manufacturers of Conventional Tires That Use Air (NAMCTTUA)" lobby in Washington is busy trying to make sure that they never get approved for general consumer use.
 
Chef Duane said:
The technology of airless tires notwithstanding... I bet the "National Association of Manufacturers of Conventional Tires That Use Air (NAMCTTUA)" lobby in Washington is busy trying to make sure that they never get approved for general consumer use.
Click to expand...
I am not sure when the concept of the tweel was developed but the first time I remember hearing about was around 2004 and many said that it was going to end air filled tires very quickly. Two decades later it has not happened. Michelin was the one designing it and they sell a lot of air filled tires so my guess would be that it if was something that succeeded other manufacturers would have started producing them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,283 (members: 33, guests: 1,250)

Forum statistics

Threads
132,013
Posts
1,389,143
Members
137,758
Latest member
Sue2La
Back
Top Bottom