Will The Pneumatic Tire Become Obsolete ?

[350HP930]

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

I can see this technology eventually making pneumatic wheels obsolete for most applications.

I think p-wheels will always be around though for reasons like legacy support and specialty apps like off roading.

I can see how the design would give the tires excellent 'sidewall stiffness' capabilities that p-tires could never meet too. That and not having to worry about blowouts would certainly make me want to use these on a high performace vehicle.

It looks like they would also make good drag radials too since it looks like the design could allow for the torsional distortion that is so important for drag racing.

[project935]

Is it me or does that car application just look ridiculous?

I think the key here is 'low speed and low weight application' - which 99% of the auto industry is not.

They look like they would work great driving in a straight line or over nasty objects - oh yeah, we do that all the time . I don't want to be the first guy driving the car that pulls more than 0.5g around a corner at speed. I'd like to see that video mentioned to see what kind of maneuvers they did with the Audi.

I'd also worry about snow/mud packing ... there goes the balance.

[928ram]

How are you going to add the bling-bling to that?

The Tweel! does everything a convetional tire does and looks like a bag of smashed asses too!

Imagine parking this in curb-side slush and coming out to find it frozen in till the next thaw.

[350HP930]

One could fill the voids with a light foam to take care of the above problems.

What is important is its ability to take care of the structural issues related to a non pneumatic tire.

And this concept is not just limited to slow and lightweight apps, thats just where the commercial rollout will start. If you read the whole article you would have seen . . .

The Tweel promises performance levels beyond those possible with conventional pneumatic technology.

[audi2.7t]

Might be a good thing for breaking land speed records on the salt flats but it has no future for street use, todays high performance tires along with traction control offer higher handling and stability characteristics than needed for most vehicles and actually outperform the road surface properties. ie. even if they were any better it wouldn't do you any good because asphalt and concrete ain't that great themselves as far as traction and who drives around at 200+ mph ?.

[Moses]

Those Fikses look like a diamond in a goats ass.

[ronin]

Originally posted by 350HP930
... for reasons like legacy support and specialty apps ....

oh please. can't the lingo just die an ugly death already?

[ronin]

Originally posted by Moses
Those Fikses look like a diamond in a goats ass.

very much so. but the technology could actually be viable if it is simply encased in a traditional-looking tire casing

[Simon S]

Originally posted by audi2.7t
who drives around at 200+ mph ?.

would if i could..

As for the looks, I think it’s something I could get used to.

wonder what motorcycle applications would look like?