Anyone have info on these tires?

Knuckles76 said:
Have their been any issues that you know of?

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Don't know a whole lot about them. But as Overlander said, the article regarding them has been out for 10+ years. My thoughts are that they're kind of overkill for civilian use. For one, I'm sure the cost would be crazy high at least for the first few years of production. Second, how often do flat tires actually occur? If you're wondering about off road use on the trails, I hope they put a sidewall on them, can't imagine how the balance would be if one half of them gets packed with mud
 
I see a lot of equipment on construction sites with similar tires. Fork lifts , high lifts etc..
Just because of debre, nails , that cause flats all the time. They seem to be getting popular
At least here in colo...
 
They look horrible for offroad.

As mentioned.. They would pack with mud, but my main concern is not being able to air down. Airing down is the number one key to offroad in most terrains.
 
OverlanderJK said:
You wouldn't need to. These tires mold to the terrain.
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Yeah, but then they would do terrible on the street. There is no adjustability. And there is no way it would work as well as an aired down tire on the sand.

Besides, they didn't look to flex around that parking block much.

Makes me want to air down and take a pic of my tire on a parking block.
 
Here is a pic that was on Polaris' website last year. Not sure if they're still putting them on this quad anymore, but my local dealer had one when they first came out. ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1413172595.003582.jpg
 
That looks sharp but I do question the performance in muddy conditions.

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Not being able to adjust the air pressure would ruin the whole idea. If they are soft enough for offroad then they are likely too soft for highway use. The materials used would also likely be temperature sensitive and deliver a harsh ride in sub zero weather while being very soft in Phoenix in August.

I don't see it ever hitting production for on highway use. Pneumatic tires work WAY too well.
 
For more than 100 years, vehicles have been rolling along on cushions of air encased in rubber. The pneumatic tire has served drivers and passengers well on road and off, but a new design by Michelin could change all that - the Tweel Airless Tire.

*In this article, we'll look at what the Tweel Airless Tire is, why you would use it in place of traditional tires, some of the problems that may occur with a Tweel Airless Tire and where you might see the Tweel Airless Tire in the future.

Michelin first announced the Tweel in 2005. The name is a combination of the words tire and wheel because the Tweel doesn’t use a traditional wheel hub assembly. A solid inner hub mounts to the axle. That’s surrounded by polyurethane spokes arrayed in a pattern of wedges. A shear band is stretched across the spokes, forming the outer edge of the tire (the part that comes in contact with the road). The tension of the shear band on the spokes and the strength of the spokes themselves replace the air pressure of a traditional tire. The tread is then attached to the shear band. The Tweel looks sort of like a very large, futuristic bicycle wheel.



The parts of a Tweel Airless Tire.
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When the Tweel is put to the road, the spokes absorb road impacts the same way air pressure does in pneumatic tires. The tread and shear bands deform temporarily as the spokes bend, then quickly spring back into shape. Tweels can be made with different spoke tensions, allowing for different handling characteristics.

More pliant spokes result in a more comfortable ride with improved handling. The lateral stiffness of the Tweel is also adjustable. However, you can’t adjust a Tweel once it has been manufactured. You’ll have to select a different Tweel. For testing, Michelin equipped an Audi A4 with Tweels made with five times as much lateral stiffness as a pneumatic tire, resulting in “very responsive handling” [Source: Michelin].

Michelin reports that “the Tweel prototype… is within five percent of the rolling resistance and mass levels of current pneumatic tires. That translates to mean within one percent of the fuel economy” of the tires on your own car. Since the Tweel is very early in its development, Michelin could be expected to improve those numbers.
 
Snow, rocks and sticks would get caught in these. That would make for a fun drive home (that's if you could even drive at freeway speeds because they would be totally out of balance).

No thanks!
 
These were tested primarily for combat vehicles to prevent the tires from being shot and going flat. I actually rode in vehicles with these type of tires and in my opinion the are OK at best. When on the road they deformed during evasive maneuvers, and I would hate to see how they hold up to the weight, of say an 11,500 lb armored HMMWV. On a personal vehicle, there is still no way I would purchase these even if they found a way around the quirks these types of tires have, unless I was worried about my tires getting shot. In which case I would move!
 
I for one am glad to see Michelin trying to advance the ball. This effort might not go anywhere since it's been under development for a decade or more, but like rumors of IFS on the Wrangler, if we don't try new technology we're really going backwards.:twocents:
 
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