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Automotive Tires Without Air
pcman writes "It appears that in 10 years or so Michelin will have an airless tire. They are presenting them at the Paris Auto Show this week. They hope to adapt them for motorcycles, cars and heavier vehicles. They are non-pneumatic and made of elastic. You can read the whole story here. I am very interested and look forward to the day when I don't have to check tire air pressure. It is the 21st century after all."
Where's the flying car everyone predicted we'd have by now? By 1014 we'll have tires with no air in them. big deal....
Some cars check it for you.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Modern technology, my foot! You can't fool me, it's super-elastic bubble plastic, right?
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
I for one welcome our non-pneumatic overlords.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
What we really need these for is bicycles... and I'll bet there is a bigger market in India and China for bicycle tires than for automobile tires.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Airless tires have been around since the 1920s, at least... here's proof.
I am very interested and look forward to the day when I don't have to check tire air pressure. It is the 21st century after all.
God knows that people in the 21st century wouldn't want to add air to compensate for heavier loads or towing. People in the 21st century wouldn't want to adjust tire pressure to acount for differences in weight between two vehicles that use the same size tires. Modern people in the 21st century won't want to reduce air pressure for traction in the snow. Oh, and we'll all have personal helicopters. I saw it in Popular Science.
So basically... they're reinventing the wheel.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
A lot of off-road equipment already have foam-filled or "airless" tyres.
:
:-)
The difficulty is that you can't adjust the foam compound inside the tyre - once you've filled that tyre and the foam is set that's it. If it's too hard, well, too bad.
The underground mine that I work at trialled some tyres for their light vehicles (toyota utes and such), as we regularly tear up tyres on rocks and sharp objects.
The main problems we found were
Cost - they were AUD600 or so *each*. But they don't go flat, of course
Ride quality- you could tell the vehicles with the foam-filled tyres straight away - they were ABSOLUTELY ROCK SOLID.
Weight - Think about the average volume of a tyre. The tyres on our vehicles were about 60kg each. That's a fair bit more unsprung weight rattling around and loading up your suspension components. The vehicles we trialled them on became noticeably "rattlier" in the suspension over the course of a month. "rattlier" to the point of people saying "what the hell is that noise? Oh , it's just the toyota going by."
They also trialled them on our heavy equipment, but again , they were too hard on the suspension components, even after trying half a dozen different fill compounds. A worrying number of cracks appeared in the bodies of our trial haul trucks as well... so they decided to can that idea.
But hey, you know the relentless march of technology, maybe they'll sort it out. Still think they'd be too heavy for my liking - one of the goals of getting good suspension is to reduce unsprung weight (mag wheels, drilled rotors, etc) and adding another 20kg of extra rubber compound on each wheel aint gonna help.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Police spike strips will become useless. Anything innovating the DOJ wont like gets outlawed.
By the way, I beleive the problem with wheel weight relates to turning and accelerating/decelerating, since each wheel is essentially a large gyroscope. It really shouldn't effect your steady velocity straight-ahead performance any more than, say, carrying a tire pump and flat repair kit!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
We have more than one tractor with propane in its tires. It keeps one from smoking while working, that's for sure. :-)
well that was a pretty vague article, and what's with this:
and would be able to operate via a cleaner electric fuel-cell engine
because I'm sure normal tires don't work with an electric fuel-cell engine...
Really?
"Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
Here is more info on the off-road tire inserts:
http://motous.webmichelin.com/tires/mousse.htm
Was I the only one who thought the fuel-cell comment was a gratuitous use enviro-buzzwords?
because michelin is a french company.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Legs by their very nature are a pulsing power stroke, thus continously accelerating, even if by a small amount, it happens every single stroke. Rotating mass is the very devil on a human powered vehicle. I have seen estimates that weight on the rims is worth ten times as much weight on the frame.
Infuriate left and right
That think looks like it's from the movies. It has its own frickin' jet boat! I want to work for the megalomatiac that paid for it.
It is a lack of clear thinking like you show above that limits your JackBootedThug potential. You are looking for the tired to be outlawed, which is wrong. The goverment will just mandate that every new vehicled that can have said tires installed on them will have a remote, LEO only, kill switch. They will also mandate that any older vehicle have such a device installed if they get said tires.
;->
To improve you JBT potential please check how the GOP/DEMS treat protesters. Look for "free speach zones" in your search!
hola
After all, it is the 21st century
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I'm more excited about nuclear spacecraft.
Stick Men
I wonder how these new tires would effect the miles per gallon.
Hybrid cars do a a good job of increasing the the MPG. I would hate to see these tire wipe out the gains in efficiency.
Laugh at my ignorance while I learn Rails - a Real ne
But in practice, people don't know much more than that and don't care. Heck, most people are only even vaguely aware of where their tires are at any given time -- you wouldn't believe the sheer number of times I see people who can't turn a corner on a two lane road without sliding into other lane.
Or don't use turn signals. Or don't fully understand the concept of a four-way stop. Or don't understand that sometimes on a yield you may need to stop if you can't safely go since the other people aren't required to give you the right of way.
I agree with should, but I've seen way too many examples to the contrary to expect it.
People learn enough to pass their test and then get set loose on the roads. From that moment on, they remember less and less. Some people barely pass and still get sent out into the world.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
http://www.theaircar.com/
D) turn your ignition switch to the "accessory" position
Oh yeah, and lose all power braking and steering functions? Put the mother in neutral, burning out the engine is the last thing you should be worrying about. Worry about that after you've stopped in control.
Or maybe do what you think. I LOVE to see natural selection at work.