May

Airless Tire from Michelin

This technology has been out for more than a year but after watching the video from FreshCreation.nl I couldn’t resist to post it here. Why didn’t we think of this before ? VIDEO->

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COMMENTS

figureouturself

10 to 15 years!! y can’t they release it now? they already said it’s ready for use in low speed vehicles…

but seriously, that’s cool. it provides its own suspension, and you don’t have to worry about a flat tyre ever again. though, police might b pissed coz spiking the road, or shooting the tyres of excaping vehicles, won’t work as well, if not at all.
Babant

They said it could replace traditional tires, I think they mean that big majority of tires will be this new kind. I think they didn’t mean that they will start selling in 15 years.
asdf

if i remember right, im pretty sure one major problem behind those things is that they are very noisy at high speed.

might be wrong though
BTDM

Old! I saw this on IAMBORED like 2 years ago.
ARR

Yes this is old. but is always interesting to see if they are getting any further with these. And yes they are extremely noisy going faster than like 15-20. It would be cool not to worry about flat tires.
Ez

rofl they are called runflat tires they have been fitted to every bmw since 2001

http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/runflattyres
DLM

Run Flat tires are not the same thing. run flats can run with 0 air pressure for 50 miles at a maximum of 55 mph. The tires in this story are airless from the start.
Bob

In a book called 1800 Mechanical Movements and Devices (originally printed in 1899) there are a few pictures and drawings of suspention wheels, one in particular looks like a carbon copy. They say there is really nothing new, and this tends to prove it.
Will also be interesting to see if it ever does reach “mass” production. TTFN
http://www.insidejoeshead.com Joe Philipson

Ha…Good use in LA. Highway speed chases will now be longer. Thanks Michelin
Kal

I’m concerned about the wearing of those spokes, and what about the tire wear when there’s no equal pressure?
steve

Would those be able to be used for downhill drifting???
darko

so what if there noisy above 20 mph! who gives a fuck! by the time you’ve heard it..it’s just gone passed!!! (morons!!!!!!!!!!!)
footsteps

@darko – yeah, but the driver will hear it the entire time.
anyhow, I talked about these with an engineer who works on cars mostly. He said that they vibrated way too much at speeds past 55 mph – so its great for military applications and construction, but not really viable for cars.
Riyaz

Simply Gr8 approach. And above all Michelin dare enough to develop the Prototype and show their ideas are practical.
Cool Stuff.
VISHAK S PILLAI

GREAT THINK!!!!THERE IS LOT OF DISADVANTAGES ALSO……..