New Michelin tire design
 

http://img48.exs.cx/img48/5017/miche...ense9au.th.jpg

Info and more pics :arrow: Here

What a cool idea. Tires with no air and that never have to be inflated.

craziness! so simple........but smart

Wow I like that. I won't have to buy new tires when a screw gets in the sidewall...

if they figure this out for highspeed applications, i think we can kiss all other tire makers goodbye.

It's a very cool idea but I would hope they will cover the sides though.

edit:
cirtainly an interesting idea, but i dont think it could have the ends justified by the meants... i mean, pressurized air doesnt weigh much... and how strong could the sidewalls be? cirtailny, the tire wont go flat... but its not looking like it will be the next generation of sports car tire design. mabey we will see this on SUV's... or something... i just cant see it replacing the versatility of air pressurre...

Clever...but I hope we will be able to fit rims on the whole wheel, these look a bit awkward to say the least...

wudnt it juz take a little pen knife for those lamers to create havoc on ur tyres?
the strips look sooo easy to cut :roll:

another concern: cant imagine how the sidewall holds up ... esp during high G corners

that just looks weird and not cool. Looks like it will fall apart anytime :P

this for real, very intresing.

they look shit thoe, they should make sidewalls just for the visual aspect me thinks.

i can't stop staring at the picture... it freaks me out, haha

interesting concept, though it would definitely freak me out to see something like that rolling down the road. I can't imagine with that current design that corndering would work too well...

Same sort of idea has been 'invented' by a Swedish guy named, Hans-Erik Hansson, a few years ago. His purpose was to achieve less rolling resistance. Also the thread of this tire is perforated so water can be drained away more easily, which reduces aquaplanning. This tire should also produce less noise.

The special S-shaped spokes of the composite rim have to do the job of the elasticity of the air in normal tires to guarantee enough comfort.

http://img26.exs.cx/img26/264/luchtl...band2kb.th.jpg

Wow, can't really imagine cars rolling on this thing :) ..but, as ever, it is a matter of getting used to it I reckon.

Very interesting idea :D
Interesting to see how many years will pass before something like that will go to production.

And this swedesh guy idea - this rim wuold not survive 5 munutes on our roads :D

I cant imagine it can withstand lateral forces very well.

Just another site on them:

http://www.gizmo.com.au/go/3603/

they would have to be made for non drive wheels. the TQ would bend and mess up the tires. But if they can pull it off. more power to them.

It looks like a car on stilts, maby if they pollish it up it might get in with the BLING BLING rappers

hahaha, i totally found a new york times article on this very topic which i meant to post but i completely forgot about it. thanks for starting this thread.

the article may still be up at www.nytimes.com (and if u don't have an account, go to www.bugmenot.com and get a fake).

they put forth a very convincing argument for this tire - most of which i unfortunately forget, but the concept of it made me a believer.

Does this give a good ride comfort then?

^^^
Like explained in the article and above posts, with these airless tires the special rims are elastic and do the work air does in a conventional tire. So they should be approx. as comfortable as a conventional tire. But of course with these airless tires one should also make a compromise between handling and ride comfort.

Some exerpts from nyt:
"One of the basic shortcomings of a tire filled with air is that the inflation pressure is distributed equally around the tire, both up and down (vertically) as well as side-to side (laterally). That property keeps the tire round, but it also means that raising the pressure to improve cornering - increasing lateral stiffness - also adds up-down stiffness, making the ride harsher.

With the Tweel's injection-molded spokes, those characteristics are no longer linked - a point of particular excitement to an engineer like Mr. Thompson because of the potential it holds for improving handling response. The spokes can be engineered to give the Tweel five times as much lateral stiffness as current pneumatic tires without any loss of ride comfort. "

Apparently the tires are very noisy, and "There are other negatives: the flexibility, at this stage, contributes to greater friction, though it is within 5 percent of that generated by a conventional radial tire. And so far, the Tweel is no lighter than the tire and wheel it replaces."

thoughts are it will start in military vehicles, but maybe if development continues reach mainstream.