Radical new tire design by Michelin. The next generation of tires.

These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon. The bad news for law enforcement is that spike strips will not work on these tires. This is what great R&D will do, and just think of the impact on existing technology:
a. no more air valves
b. no more air compressors at gas stations or in our Crossfires
c. no more repair kits
These are actual pictures taken in the South Carolina plant of Michelin.
It will be a while before they are available to the automotive industry.

 

Neat tire. Here are some more pictures and a description of how they work.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/tweel-airless-tire.htm

 

How odd does that Audi look running with these wheels?! That would take some getting used to looking at!

MikeR

 

Car designers will have to start looking at the esthetic look of what sits behind the wheel. Most wheel well areas aren't all too appealing looking - they never had to be before... with these tires you will see a lot more...

 

Tweels have been around for some time now in the news from Michelin. It was announced in 2005.

They are wonderful technology that can only improve the handling and safety of modern vehicles.

No, spike strips won't work, but I'm sure there are other methods.

Lastly, the look. They only need to make a simple side skirt or wall that has splits in it to allow air to go in and out or just a single sidewall. Either would work and the public would be more apt to adopt them since they would look like "normal" tires. Also any sidewalls on these would allow 'muck', mud and other substances not to get caught in the 'spokes'... I think this would be the biggest issue with the tweel.

Cheers!