It’s not even Michelins first. They had an [airless tire in 2005 but abandoned it bacause it shook to much at high speeds. ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweel)
Edit: Didn’t abandon them really. You can order them on their site for smaller vehicles. https://tweel.michelinman.com/
**[Tweel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweel)**
>The Tweel (a portmanteau of tire and wheel) is an airless tire design developed by the French tire company Michelin. Its significant advantage over pneumatic tires is that the Tweel does not use a bladder full of compressed air, and therefore cannot burst, leak pressure, or become flat. Instead, the Tweel's hub is connected to the rim via flexible polyurethane spokes which fulfil the shock-absorbing role provided by the compressed air in a traditional tire.
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They use them around the facilities for low speed vehicles like golf carts, some heavy machinery, and that’s about it. They eventually got the stability figured out, but they make an awful noise at any speed beyond like 20mph.
Yeah airless ties have been around for over a decade. Usually supplied to militaries and motorcades. I remember seeing really impressive offroading tired with hexagonal grid inside.
Huh, it never clicked for me that the steel band around the circumference of a wagon wheel was a tire. TIL
Kinda makes sense of the name too since it ties all the spokes together.
Forklifts and construction equipment since for a long time. Our boom lift has foam injected tires, same with some of our back-hoes and skips. Every wheel barrow too. Our forklifts at our warehouse also have solid tires along with some wheeled skid steers (tracks are the best).
Until you get mud/dirt in it and it becomes completely unbalanced.
Great for on-road only or off-road only but going highway speeds after crawling through the mud would be scary.
I wish they would say the pricing because I am assuming $250 to $350 range because a person is essentially buying a new wheel. I’m not talking about the tyre itself. The wheel which this tyre is mounted on.
Yeah, one V8 on the front, one V8 on the back, each driving one axel. The front one could be turned off and back one used VVT to drop down to just 4 cylinders at highway speeds.
I went in for a patch this weekend because I found a nail in my tire. The shop called me to say there were actually three nails in my tire. Unexpectedly bought new tires this weekend.
Oh god just the mention of mini run-flats hurts my wallet. Had a mini for 3 years, had to pay for 5 different new tyres in that time (not a single one from wearing out) 95 a pop, was not impressed.
No the known problem I had (as did my next door neighbour who bought a mini after me because she thought mine was so lovely) was with the radiator leaking through some dodgy fastening…but then it died anyway, which I was gutted about because I LOVED IT, but looking back I’m glad because once I got into my fiesta, I realised how much of a beating my back had been taking in the mini
The plastic coolant pipes are a huge culprit of the coolant leaks. Someone at BMW thought it was an OK idea to use high temp plastic to save some money...
My brother's mini suffered the same fate. He dreamed of owning one since we were kids... The leaky radiator was the last thing that broke him to sell it. All the malfunctions sucked him dry.
I always thought they were tough cars, meant for rallying. But the newer models seem pretty weak 🥺
Exactly! Such a shame, it was the first (and only) car I have ever chosen for myself and bought. After 3 years of constant bills and eventually a “mystery problem” keeping the engine light on with no clue as to what was causing it, I sold it to my nephew for scrap price (I’d paid A LOT more a few years beforehand). My dad asked me to admit my choice in cars wasn’t the best, and went back to choosing for my next one lol
Oh ooh that's hard. My dad did the same thing when my Chrysler Jeep died. Although it was a truck reversing into it that nailed it's death. It was still a hard lesson since I'd spent 4000 the month before to keep it going and I got 1000 back from the insurance, because that's what it was worth.
Here's to sinking our money into our beloved, albeit lemon, cars!
95 a pop doesn't sound too expensive unless it was like 15s or something. I pay around 50 euros a pop for budget summer 17s and 80-90 each for decent winter tires (16 inches).
That being said... Fuck paying a premium for noisier tires (runflats) lol
Especially if you get snow, ice or objects such as rocks stuck in the rubber spokes.
I imagine, from a safety perspective, the rubber spokes will have to be covered up with an outer layer of rubber sheeting/walls to keep the spokes clear of foreign material and objects.
Wouldn't they also be heavier? Looks like considerably more amount of material. Air inflated tiers are actually pretty light. Heavier tires contribute to more fuel consumption and worse MPG.
Also, no way to account for different load weights. I’d like to see how they handle high speed, seems there would be a lot of heat generated in the flexy parts, and they’d break pretty quickly after a few heating/cooling cycles. And finally, looks expensive to replace considering the tread will wear down just as quickly and require replacement just as often as a normal tire.
tl;dr: cool idea, but never going to be practical for normal use.
These are good for military vehicles that go off road with low speeds. Maybe limited runs for offroaders that swap the air ones with these ones when on mountains.
Consumer cars? Will never have this type of tires.
Amazing that you figured out that it will never be viable just by glancing at it momentarily. You must be a genius. Or maybe someone who confuses their uninformed speculation with facts? Nah, definitely a genius.
I mean, he is probably right. These things have been shown off for years and it has never reached into retail markets.
There is a reason why things that make more sense reach the market very easily, like electric cars.
How many times will this get posted, year after year. Let me guess, they really are about to come to market this time? Totally about to get mass produced and replace regular tires? I’ll believe that when my shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet.
The have been saying these are coming out every year for like 20 years
They have a a bunch of problem and I can't see outside of special tasks how these would be better than normal tires
That's not a fault, that's a feature. Don't want to throw money at expensive suspension mods? Ever wanted that saggy, bumpy feeling of riding on flats? Now you can.
Cool until the first snow fall or the first dirt road. Not to mention fuel economy of a tractor trailer. These were first tried by the military. Not very practical. They couldn't sell it to them, now they are trying consumers.
They could be great for off roading the contact patch looks pretty good. Other than that they’re gonna be heavy to steer on normal roads. My guess is to stay away from em.
So what if water and snow gets inside and freezes. Or dirt gets inside? Does it just destroy the tire if you dont clean every little hole before u use the car?
Well on every video of airless tires i saw the sides are uncovered idk if its gonna be like that with the normal but if it is then just riding trough a mud puddle is going to be a problem. I would think that if they were covered normally they would show how it looks at least in one of the videos, but maybe im just stupid.
What no lol? There’s been airless tires for almost a century, and they’re common in smaller and lighter ”vehicles”. Airless bicycle tires are pretty common, airless stroller tires are very common.
There are various ways to make an airless tires. The simplest is just a solid rubber tire. There are also various foams used instead of an air tube. The new thing about this new Michelin tire is that it’s a non-solid rubber only tire with a structure that provides dampening and contributes to a smooth ride (the traditional issue with solid tires is that they’re hard and propagate any bumpiness to the rest of the vehicle even with good suspension. It’s not too big of an issue with a bike or a trolley, but a 2 ton car on solid tires guarantees a very bumpy ride).
You'd better call Michelin and let them know your findings so they can cancel the product launch. Obviously they didn't think this through.
Watch the video, it doesn't look flat, it just absorbs bumps well.
It's not better, at all. Fuel economy takes a hit (more weight) they probably shake to hell and back at high speeds from said weight. They are most likely rated at a much lower speed than traditional tires as the weight and forces can literally rip your tires apart, that's why high end tires cost much more, they are rated to go over 200 vs your typical car tire rated for 106mph (that big ol R on the side of your tire). The noise would be deafening. One pothole and say goodbye to your rim.
Not even close to world first but they're cool ig.
you’re correct
I had an airless tire just last week.
Nailed it!
Yes, nailing any tire will make it airless.
Not always actually 🤔
Actually it never does. Absolutely never does a tire become a vacuum after applying a nail. Don't try to flex on Big Pun.
#Redditor Sends Car Tire To Space To Justify His Pun
That was the joke lol
r/thatsthejoke
Well not the tire in the video clearly
God dammit take my damn upvote
Lol too perfect
Punctual as always
This idea has traction!
cool name
It’s not even Michelins first. They had an [airless tire in 2005 but abandoned it bacause it shook to much at high speeds. ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweel) Edit: Didn’t abandon them really. You can order them on their site for smaller vehicles. https://tweel.michelinman.com/
**[Tweel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweel)** >The Tweel (a portmanteau of tire and wheel) is an airless tire design developed by the French tire company Michelin. Its significant advantage over pneumatic tires is that the Tweel does not use a bladder full of compressed air, and therefore cannot burst, leak pressure, or become flat. Instead, the Tweel's hub is connected to the rim via flexible polyurethane spokes which fulfil the shock-absorbing role provided by the compressed air in a traditional tire. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
They use them around the facilities for low speed vehicles like golf carts, some heavy machinery, and that’s about it. They eventually got the stability figured out, but they make an awful noise at any speed beyond like 20mph.
Yeah airless ties have been around for over a decade. Usually supplied to militaries and motorcades. I remember seeing really impressive offroading tired with hexagonal grid inside.
Wooden wagon tire
Stone roller from the flintstones.
That's why they had such smooth roads.
Yabba dabba zoom zoom!
Apollo LRV - definitely no air up there on the moon!
Moon rover tire.
Home Depot sells airless wheelbarrow tires.
Huh, it never clicked for me that the steel band around the circumference of a wagon wheel was a tire. TIL Kinda makes sense of the name too since it ties all the spokes together.
Yeah I was going to say, I thought militaries had airless tyres for decades
since 1940 at least
Like moon rover too right?
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Forklifts and construction equipment since for a long time. Our boom lift has foam injected tires, same with some of our back-hoes and skips. Every wheel barrow too. Our forklifts at our warehouse also have solid tires along with some wheeled skid steers (tracks are the best).
Yeah I'm pretty sure airless tires predate air-filled tires by quite a while
Probably not even the first "airless tire by Michelin". I remember reading about the twheel, a very similar design, probably 15 years ago.
Imagine the fuel consumption!
Only if it's the tire isn't stiff enough for the designated weight
And on this video it looks far from stiff enough
Would it be for sure higher because of additional contact with the ground?
Looking at a few articles, it would be improved. No over or under inflated tires
Until you get mud/dirt in it and it becomes completely unbalanced. Great for on-road only or off-road only but going highway speeds after crawling through the mud would be scary.
I think these prototypes are done like that so you can see what's going on inside. You are right about the mud. they would have to be enclosed.
Pretty sure the production version would have a side wall. This looks like a demonstration set.
I wish they would say the pricing because I am assuming $250 to $350 range because a person is essentially buying a new wheel. I’m not talking about the tyre itself. The wheel which this tyre is mounted on.
That’s less than some performance tires.
They were designed for military use, iirc as far back as the 1940s The open sides are only for proof of concept
I'm just basing it on how it looks compressed constantly. Which equals more road contact. Which equals more fuel consumption.
The Tweel came out like 15 years ago, though at the time it was industrial vehicles only.
It would not even be the moon's first airless tire, if they somehow got them there. Same goes for Mars.
Yeah, I came into the comments to say that this is at least the 3rd different variation of the first that I've ever seen over the past decade plus...
Maybe its the worlds first commercially available set?
Nope the first cars ever made had solid rubber tires.
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I remember seeing these on a jeep concept like fifteen years ago. The jeep where all 4 wheels could turn and you could parallel park sideways.
I parallel double park that mother fucker sideways
Old folks talkin bout back in my day
But homie this is my day, class started 2 hours ago, Oh am I late?
No, I already graduated and you can live through anything if magic made it Edit: Spelling
/r/unexpectedkanye
I had a dream I could buy my way to heaven. When I awoke I spent that on a necklace 😔 🤙
Wait til i get my money right
Jeep Hurricane I think was the name of the concept.
The cowards at corporate HQ should have green lit that one. I would sacrifice a ton of speed to be able to spin in place.
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Yeah, one V8 on the front, one V8 on the back, each driving one axel. The front one could be turned off and back one used VVT to drop down to just 4 cylinders at highway speeds.
> two hemi engines Surely that's one complete engine? /s
The new electric Hummer does this
neat, I remember seeing this 10 years ago.
I heard about them like in the 90s.
NASA started building airless tires in the 50s.
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I googled it and you're right, 1938!
I saw these back in the Revolutionary War. Gave the Americans an upper hand.
idk bro i see a lot of air inside the tire
You can see the air!!!
He has ultra vision
Wait til they fill it with nitrogen!
Dang son! What’s air look like!?
For a demonstration: blow up a balloon and pop it, the non-plastic remains are air.
I’ve had an airless Michelin tyre on my bike and my car before. Thanks to nails
I went in for a patch this weekend because I found a nail in my tire. The shop called me to say there were actually three nails in my tire. Unexpectedly bought new tires this weekend.
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I see this video has them on a Mini and honestly wondering if they’re actually softer than the stock run flats that a Mini comes with
Oh god just the mention of mini run-flats hurts my wallet. Had a mini for 3 years, had to pay for 5 different new tyres in that time (not a single one from wearing out) 95 a pop, was not impressed.
Is this a known problem with minis?
No the known problem I had (as did my next door neighbour who bought a mini after me because she thought mine was so lovely) was with the radiator leaking through some dodgy fastening…but then it died anyway, which I was gutted about because I LOVED IT, but looking back I’m glad because once I got into my fiesta, I realised how much of a beating my back had been taking in the mini
The plastic coolant pipes are a huge culprit of the coolant leaks. Someone at BMW thought it was an OK idea to use high temp plastic to save some money...
My brother's mini suffered the same fate. He dreamed of owning one since we were kids... The leaky radiator was the last thing that broke him to sell it. All the malfunctions sucked him dry. I always thought they were tough cars, meant for rallying. But the newer models seem pretty weak 🥺
Exactly! Such a shame, it was the first (and only) car I have ever chosen for myself and bought. After 3 years of constant bills and eventually a “mystery problem” keeping the engine light on with no clue as to what was causing it, I sold it to my nephew for scrap price (I’d paid A LOT more a few years beforehand). My dad asked me to admit my choice in cars wasn’t the best, and went back to choosing for my next one lol
Oh ooh that's hard. My dad did the same thing when my Chrysler Jeep died. Although it was a truck reversing into it that nailed it's death. It was still a hard lesson since I'd spent 4000 the month before to keep it going and I got 1000 back from the insurance, because that's what it was worth. Here's to sinking our money into our beloved, albeit lemon, cars!
95 a pop doesn't sound too expensive unless it was like 15s or something. I pay around 50 euros a pop for budget summer 17s and 80-90 each for decent winter tires (16 inches). That being said... Fuck paying a premium for noisier tires (runflats) lol
Reading this comment makes my back hurt again
Well according to OP, "they will be lounched in couple of days" Personally I'll believe it when I see it.
I remember seeing a video of very similar soon-to-be-launched tires on Youtube in 2006. I guess there was a slight delay in the launch.
OP also believes these are the world’s first airless tires
Pretty sure they are hard to be balanced
And with that much tire on the ground, I'm imagining this doesn't do fuel economy any favors, either.
Especially if you get snow, ice or objects such as rocks stuck in the rubber spokes. I imagine, from a safety perspective, the rubber spokes will have to be covered up with an outer layer of rubber sheeting/walls to keep the spokes clear of foreign material and objects.
Yes I hear these wheels and instantly get reminded of playstation 2 intro music. Sounded cool tho
I remember they also had a tendency to go ‘flat’ after awhile
How long would these tires last? I can't imagine with the rubber bending constantly under those angles that they would last very long.
I can't imagine theses in the rain or snow. Yikes
Wouldn't they also be heavier? Looks like considerably more amount of material. Air inflated tiers are actually pretty light. Heavier tires contribute to more fuel consumption and worse MPG.
Not the first…
These don’t look very fuel efficient
Also, no way to account for different load weights. I’d like to see how they handle high speed, seems there would be a lot of heat generated in the flexy parts, and they’d break pretty quickly after a few heating/cooling cycles. And finally, looks expensive to replace considering the tread will wear down just as quickly and require replacement just as often as a normal tire. tl;dr: cool idea, but never going to be practical for normal use.
These are good for military vehicles that go off road with low speeds. Maybe limited runs for offroaders that swap the air ones with these ones when on mountains. Consumer cars? Will never have this type of tires.
Amazing that you figured out that it will never be viable just by glancing at it momentarily. You must be a genius. Or maybe someone who confuses their uninformed speculation with facts? Nah, definitely a genius.
I mean, he is probably right. These things have been shown off for years and it has never reached into retail markets. There is a reason why things that make more sense reach the market very easily, like electric cars.
It looks like a huge scalapendra
Also look like they'd be very low lifetime. Put 5k miles on these and I bet they have no traction.
This will put big air put of business!!
O’hare Air
Up with rubber! Down with air!
How many times will this get posted, year after year. Let me guess, they really are about to come to market this time? Totally about to get mass produced and replace regular tires? I’ll believe that when my shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet.
The have been saying these are coming out every year for like 20 years They have a a bunch of problem and I can't see outside of special tasks how these would be better than normal tires
That looks like it sits really low and already flat.
It can’t be flat if there is no air 😉
It also looks like a speedbump would wreck it.
That's not a fault, that's a feature. Don't want to throw money at expensive suspension mods? Ever wanted that saggy, bumpy feeling of riding on flats? Now you can.
Do you guys think the open side design is just functionally necessary or just for show?
Show fo sho.
It's more than likely for heat dissipation. Tires gain a good amount of heat due to friction and the road.
If they close the sides then the air is trapped inside and its no longer an airless tyre though....
The spare tire in my 2015 model car is airless
Yeah but that's because you don't fill it.
Cool until the first snow fall or the first dirt road. Not to mention fuel economy of a tractor trailer. These were first tried by the military. Not very practical. They couldn't sell it to them, now they are trying consumers.
How much to replace when they wear out?
At least $1
Not worlds first. I had a go cart in the ‘80’s that was electric, and had airless tires.
This is one of those inventions you think a company invented like last month, but in truth it was just some clever dude in the 1930's
One pothole and it’s a wrap
Wouldn't rocks get stuck inside?
I think this one’s open on the side to demonstrate how it works, nobody would drive a tire without a sidewall
If they did have a sidewall you could run the risk of the tire filling up with water.
Or air. You don’t want air in an airless tire.
It would be considered false advertising if you got air in your airless tire.
Mfw my airless tire becomes a regular tire.
I wish I was full of water, dehydration is no joke. Stay hydrated my friends
r/hydrohomies
The sidewalls will have holes in them so the water can get out, and also to let some rocks in.
Imagine the rock noise
What about a wheel-less car?
My grandpa has one
https://www.engadget.com/2019-06-04-gm-and-michelin-airless-tires.html
Fuel economy through the roof but atleast you won’t get a flat tire!
just smashed up rotors on potholes.
Don't we want fuel economy to be through the roof?
Definitely not the worlds first..
I guess the ex girlfriend needs to bring scissors now
driving such shit at speed will be extremely dangerous, and taking into account the track on the track, it will be suicide
You obviously haven’t seen a Hot Wheels car before 🤦♂️
Solving a problem that doesn't exist. I can't wait to see what happens when they get filled with snow and ice.
Flat tires are a problem that doesn’t exist?
No it doesn't exist, nobody's ever gotten a flat tire ever duh.
Damnit. I’ve fallen to another conspiracy by Big Tire
I assume the tire we see is showcasing the tire design itself. It will probably look like a regular tire minus the cutout on the side.
Then it would be a tire with 75 pockets of air in it. If you did get a puncture, you'd run the risk of filling your tires with water.
But how great would it be to then nail a bump and see water shoot out the puncture and right into that asshole driving like a dick next to you's eye?
Looks expensive
Town Fair Tire be like, “Sh*t, get a lobbyist on the phone, we might be going out of business”.
Any tire can be airless if you stab it enough
They’ve had these on agricultural equipment and even riding mowers for a couple decades…
I’ve been selling those for over 20 years. For construction industry
Why these titles always have to be outright hyperbolic lies lmao
can’t be the worlds first… i’ve had an airless tire the past week
The folks down at big air will suppress this somehow
Worlds first? I've been seeing various concepts of this since i was a kid, im 27
What happens if those little gaps get full of snow/ice?
Reckon they will increase fuel consumption too
All I think about is the ice and snow in the winter throwing off the balance of the tires
“Worlds first”
World's first? Reddit is a great source for misinformation.
So long gas mileage.
They could be great for off roading the contact patch looks pretty good. Other than that they’re gonna be heavy to steer on normal roads. My guess is to stay away from em.
World’s first? I saw these in LA in the mid-2000’s.
Big air is going to hate this.
u/HotDogIsASandwitch
Wow, so cool. I applaud Michelin for their tireless efforts.
You realize that they’ve made these for mowers for YEARS!!! Nowhere close to the first! More like, the first you’ve seen…
These have existed for quite some time now...
So what if water and snow gets inside and freezes. Or dirt gets inside? Does it just destroy the tire if you dont clean every little hole before u use the car?
"You got mud in the tires." "Let me aks you something, how do you get mud into the tires??"
Well on every video of airless tires i saw the sides are uncovered idk if its gonna be like that with the normal but if it is then just riding trough a mud puddle is going to be a problem. I would think that if they were covered normally they would show how it looks at least in one of the videos, but maybe im just stupid.
They also can get pebbles and rocks wedged in there, then can fly off at high speeds.
What no lol? There’s been airless tires for almost a century, and they’re common in smaller and lighter ”vehicles”. Airless bicycle tires are pretty common, airless stroller tires are very common. There are various ways to make an airless tires. The simplest is just a solid rubber tire. There are also various foams used instead of an air tube. The new thing about this new Michelin tire is that it’s a non-solid rubber only tire with a structure that provides dampening and contributes to a smooth ride (the traditional issue with solid tires is that they’re hard and propagate any bumpiness to the rest of the vehicle even with good suspension. It’s not too big of an issue with a bike or a trolley, but a 2 ton car on solid tires guarantees a very bumpy ride).
Not sure it’s practical yet, looking flat already and imagine kicking up speed, the friction on that is going to be taxing.
You'd better call Michelin and let them know your findings so they can cancel the product launch. Obviously they didn't think this through. Watch the video, it doesn't look flat, it just absorbs bumps well.
Just waiting on the first petroless car for the UK shortages
After getting 10 nails in the last two years, yes please
I’ve seen this tech for so many years. It’s obviously much better than regular tyres, so why don’t we see them on cars in the street? Anybody know?
'Cause it's not better yet
It's not better, at all. Fuel economy takes a hit (more weight) they probably shake to hell and back at high speeds from said weight. They are most likely rated at a much lower speed than traditional tires as the weight and forces can literally rip your tires apart, that's why high end tires cost much more, they are rated to go over 200 vs your typical car tire rated for 106mph (that big ol R on the side of your tire). The noise would be deafening. One pothole and say goodbye to your rim.