Tire Tech

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10098240-42.html?tag=rtcol;pop


Now this is interesting! We need offroad tires based on this!

Seen those before. Michelin has made a set for street use. Check it out!

This though is a really cool idea... Talk about reinventing the wheel.

Keil

rooneypower said:

Seen those before. Michelin has made a set for street use. Check it out!

This though is a really cool idea... Talk about reinventing the wheel.

Keil

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Michelin's are the tweels mentioned in the article. I'm not an engineer but they look very two dimension oriented = not able to handle side pressures. These Honeycomb design look more capable of handling a 4x4 situation. Especially if the consistency of the "comb" can be built to simulate low tire pressures. So sidewalls are the next frontier they need to look at from my perspective....

Yep, pretty cool. I assume they'll skin those sidewalls, or are they just gonna let 'em fill up with mud and sand? Thick, dried mud would make for a helluva balance issue until it all got thrown out of there, but it seems like it'd still clear okay by the time they hit highway speed.

Integrated side biters? No airing down required.

It's not that dissimilar to many forklift tires and other Ag/Con tires used also.
There is no reason they couldn't handle a very significant side load due to the honeycomb. Like Doug said the balance issue would be huge in muddy areas, probably not as much of a concern in the desert. Also, airing down isn't as much of an issue for the military because they need to vary air pressure as much as we typically do for a DD. That said, you could run these without the same "heat" issues as with a traditional tire filled with air, so you might be able to get a "soft" air pressure feel, but still run it safely on the street at 50 mph. I suspect getting a 5 or 6 psi tread pattern and then running safely at 65mph might be MUCH more difficult (but I am just guessing).

Also, probably no reason you couldn't add a side wall to them, heck why not make them an integrated wheel also, why seperate them and just put a new "re-tread" on them when you wear them out (since it is just tread and not the traditional ply's or belts).

Michael

Watching one of those come apart at freeway speeds would be a sight to see. Although I read about some the military were testing & if I remeber correctly, they can take one heck of a blast.

RRT said:

Watching one of those come apart at freeway speeds would be a sight to see. Although I read about some the military were testing & if I remeber correctly, they can take one heck of a blast.

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Why would it be that bad? When a "traditional" tire comes apart it looses all of it's support, if this was to come apart completely it would be like loosing a traditional tire, but I suspect it would be more likely to only loose part of it's structure because the structure of this is much more independant from one part of the tire to another.

Michael

2xtreme said:

Why would it be that bad? When a "traditional" tire comes apart it looses all of it's support, if this was to come apart completely it would be like loosing a traditional tire, but I suspect it would be more likely to only loose part of it's structure because the structure of this is much more independant from one part of the tire to another.

Michael

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Wishful thinking = Rick likes to see things go Boom. hasta

I saw those on the Discovery Ch. and instantly thought it was a briliant idea and wanted a set. I'm surprised that they have not hit the market years ago.

I'm guessing they would not receive DOT approval, based on their lack of highway speed rating. If they can't get said rating, they won't see market.