Airless Tires not adjustable

[Dids]

Seems like Michellin/GM (and BMW if the public tests were in Munich on a Mini) are finally rolling out their Uptis airless tires at scale.

Maybe the CT will get them as an option if production is now slated for end of '22.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/michelin-gm-uptis-airless-tire-demo/

Oh look at the increased rolling resistance on the front vs. The rear. Betcha she handles well.

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[Bill906]

I know we've talked about this type of tire before... Without seeing/trying it myself I cannot say for sure but that design looks like it will have serious issues in mud, sand, snow, slush and ice conditions.

Example scenario: Warm, sunny winter day. Snow melted and created a 3 inch water puddle in my driveway. I park in that puddle and water goes "in" the tire. Overnight temperature drops below freezing. Puddle turns to ice. Next morning I leave. If the frozen water doesn't damage the tire as I take off there will be a large mass of ice in one part of the tire causing a serious tire imbalance. If I keep driving ice pellets may be flung out of tire at high speed and in random directions.

Maybe they've thought of that and have done something to prevent it. But I'm not seeing it in the pictures.

 

[Newton]

im sure they can easily cap the end, but ya know it wouldnt look as cool

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

I'd like to think that a company like Michelin would produce a tire that can be used in states and countries that have the conditions you are speaking of, and that is just about everywhere. Otherwise it is just a stunt.

 

[FutureBoy]

A next-generation Chevrolet could have airless tires

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business

Updated 1927 GMT (0327 HKT) February 17, 2022

(CNN)Michelin has been working with General Motors to develop airless tires that will be sold on a next-generation Chevrolet Bolt electric car, expected to go on sale in the next few years, a Michelin executive said. It could mark the decline of over 130 years of tire tradition but also the end of one of the most annoying aspects of car ownership: keeping air in the tires.

"We want to bring the next generation of the Chevrolet Bolt with airless tires," Alexis Garcin, president of Michelin North America said in an interview with CNN Business, "and it's going to happen now in the next three to five years."

Michelin is developing airless tires for passenger cars. The tires, called Uptis, are being tested on GM cars, like the Chevrolet Bolt EV shown here.


GM has not confirmed that it is working on a new car to be called the Chevrolet Bolt, the same name as the automaker's current EV, but GM has said it is working on a wide variety of electric vehicles including affordable ones similar to the Bolt in price. Michelin and GM have tested the airless tire on current-generation Bolt cars, though, something the companies have been open about.

It's ironic that the first airless tire for passenger cars might come from the French tire maker whose famous mascot -- Bibendum, more popularly known as the Michelin Man -- is made from air-filled tires. The company made its name in the late 1800s with advancements to pneumatic (air-filled) tires for bicycles and was among the first to produce and market them for use on automobiles. In 1899, the first car to set a world speed record using pneumatic tires, a rocket-shaped electric car that went 66 miles an hour, did it on Michelins. The company has gone on to produce pneumatic tires used in other speed record attempts by companies like Bugatti.

The disadvantages of filling tires with pressurized air are obvious. Air is a gas that can leak, and tires are vulnerable to punctures. Tire makers have spent over a century coming up with ways to minimize punctures and keep air inside these circular rubber tubes, but it still happens with some regularity.

Michelin's airless tire design relies on flexible ribs to provide a sort of spring action, roughly the same way air does in a pneumatic tire. If the tread gets punctured, it makes little difference since the tire doesn't hold in air. In fact, the sides of the airless tire are completely open.

Of course, there are reasons airless tires haven't been used on passenger cars in over a century. Air does have its advantages. For one thing, pressurized air allows tires to be customized for specific uses. For instance, a driver taking a four-wheel-drive truck off-road might reduce the air pressure in the tires, which allows the tire to flatten out a bit creating a larger footprint area on loose sand or dirt. The tires can then be re-inflated when the truck goes back to driving on asphalt.

Michelin is developing airless tires for passenger cars. The tires, called Uptis, are being tested on GM cars, like the Chevrolet Bolt EV.


Also, car companies have been engineering cars and their suspension systems for a century with the idea that the vehicles would be riding on air-inflated tires. Airless tires could perform differently, presenting a challenge for car engineers.

Michelin is trying to replicate as closely as possible the behavior of air-filled tires. Given the completely different structure of these tires compared to pneumatic ones it will be challenging to replicate that feel, said Ryan Pszczolkowski, who oversees tire testing at Consumer Reports. It's especially challenging given that pneumatic tires come in a wide variety and feel and behave differently from one another.

"I mean, we're literally reinventing the wheel here," he said.

Michelin already sells an airless tire, called the X Tweel, for use on lawnmowers and similar off-road equipment like ATVs. One X Tweel for a lawnmower -- it includes the tire and its integrated wheel, rather than the tire and wheel being separate -- can cost over $600, according the product website. But Michelin claims they last longer than pneumatic tires and offer a more a comfortable ride because they aren't as bouncy.

But passenger car drivers are going to be pickier than lawnmower drivers about things like ride, handling and noise. Cars operate at much higher speeds and take corners much faster than off-road machinery. Michelin engineers have to replicate the feel and performance of pneumatic tires under this more demanding daily use.

For these reasons, the passenger car version Michelin is developing, called the Uptis, has a different construction even though it looks almost the same as the X Tweel. The central ribs that hold it up are made from rubber reinforced with resin-injected fiberglass while the X Tweel's ribs are made with polyurethane, for instance.

Garcin also envisions the tire incorporating other technological advancements. It will be completely recyclable and renewable -- it will easy to retread and reuse -- and it will have real-time connectivity so drivers will be able to easily monitor tread wear.

Of course, any consumer acceptance of an airless tire will also depend on the cost. But its introduction on a next generation of Bolt, a car that starts just shy of $32,000, appears to indicate that airless tires won't be limited to the upper end of the market
Beyond this first electric car, the sheer variety of tire sizes and types already on the market will create its own challenges, said Pszczolkowski, as Michelin works to create airless tires for more vehicles.

"It seems like every time a new vehicle comes out a new tire size is invented," he said. "It's really maddening."

In the end, said Pszczolkowski, the success of airless tires really depends on how much trouble and expense consumers are willing to go to to avoid a flat tire.

 

[FutureBoy]

A next-generation Chevrolet could have airless tires

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business

Updated 1927 GMT (0327 HKT) February 17, 2022

(CNN)Michelin has been working with General Motors to develop airless tires that will be sold on a next-generation Chevrolet Bolt electric car, expected to go on sale in the next few years, a Michelin executive said. It could mark the decline of over 130 years of tire tradition but also the end of one of the most annoying aspects of car ownership: keeping air in the tires.

"We want to bring the next generation of the Chevrolet Bolt with airless tires," Alexis Garcin, president of Michelin North America said in an interview with CNN Business, "and it's going to happen now in the next three to five years."

Michelin is developing airless tires for passenger cars. The tires, called Uptis, are being tested on GM cars, like the Chevrolet Bolt EV shown here.


GM has not confirmed that it is working on a new car to be called the Chevrolet Bolt, the same name as the automaker's current EV, but GM has said it is working on a wide variety of electric vehicles including affordable ones similar to the Bolt in price. Michelin and GM have tested the airless tire on current-generation Bolt cars, though, something the companies have been open about.

It's ironic that the first airless tire for passenger cars might come from the French tire maker whose famous mascot -- Bibendum, more popularly known as the Michelin Man -- is made from air-filled tires. The company made its name in the late 1800s with advancements to pneumatic (air-filled) tires for bicycles and was among the first to produce and market them for use on automobiles. In 1899, the first car to set a world speed record using pneumatic tires, a rocket-shaped electric car that went 66 miles an hour, did it on Michelins. The company has gone on to produce pneumatic tires used in other speed record attempts by companies like Bugatti.

The disadvantages of filling tires with pressurized air are obvious. Air is a gas that can leak, and tires are vulnerable to punctures. Tire makers have spent over a century coming up with ways to minimize punctures and keep air inside these circular rubber tubes, but it still happens with some regularity.

Michelin's airless tire design relies on flexible ribs to provide a sort of spring action, roughly the same way air does in a pneumatic tire. If the tread gets punctured, it makes little difference since the tire doesn't hold in air. In fact, the sides of the airless tire are completely open.

Of course, there are reasons airless tires haven't been used on passenger cars in over a century. Air does have its advantages. For one thing, pressurized air allows tires to be customized for specific uses. For instance, a driver taking a four-wheel-drive truck off-road might reduce the air pressure in the tires, which allows the tire to flatten out a bit creating a larger footprint area on loose sand or dirt. The tires can then be re-inflated when the truck goes back to driving on asphalt.

Michelin is developing airless tires for passenger cars. The tires, called Uptis, are being tested on GM cars, like the Chevrolet Bolt EV.


Also, car companies have been engineering cars and their suspension systems for a century with the idea that the vehicles would be riding on air-inflated tires. Airless tires could perform differently, presenting a challenge for car engineers.

Michelin is trying to replicate as closely as possible the behavior of air-filled tires. Given the completely different structure of these tires compared to pneumatic ones it will be challenging to replicate that feel, said Ryan Pszczolkowski, who oversees tire testing at Consumer Reports. It's especially challenging given that pneumatic tires come in a wide variety and feel and behave differently from one another.

"I mean, we're literally reinventing the wheel here," he said.

Michelin already sells an airless tire, called the X Tweel, for use on lawnmowers and similar off-road equipment like ATVs. One X Tweel for a lawnmower -- it includes the tire and its integrated wheel, rather than the tire and wheel being separate -- can cost over $600, according the product website. But Michelin claims they last longer than pneumatic tires and offer a more a comfortable ride because they aren't as bouncy.

But passenger car drivers are going to be pickier than lawnmower drivers about things like ride, handling and noise. Cars operate at much higher speeds and take corners much faster than off-road machinery. Michelin engineers have to replicate the feel and performance of pneumatic tires under this more demanding daily use.

For these reasons, the passenger car version Michelin is developing, called the Uptis, has a different construction even though it looks almost the same as the X Tweel. The central ribs that hold it up are made from rubber reinforced with resin-injected fiberglass while the X Tweel's ribs are made with polyurethane, for instance.

Garcin also envisions the tire incorporating other technological advancements. It will be completely recyclable and renewable -- it will easy to retread and reuse -- and it will have real-time connectivity so drivers will be able to easily monitor tread wear.

Of course, any consumer acceptance of an airless tire will also depend on the cost. But its introduction on a next generation of Bolt, a car that starts just shy of $32,000, appears to indicate that airless tires won't be limited to the upper end of the market
Beyond this first electric car, the sheer variety of tire sizes and types already on the market will create its own challenges, said Pszczolkowski, as Michelin works to create airless tires for more vehicles.

"It seems like every time a new vehicle comes out a new tire size is invented," he said. "It's really maddening."

In the end, said Pszczolkowski, the success of airless tires really depends on how much trouble and expense consumers are willing to go to to avoid a flat tire.

Isn't the Chevy Bolt basically a banned product at the moment? Nice choice for your tire debut.

 

[Ogre]

Isn't the Chevy Bolt basically a banned product at the moment? Nice choice for your tire debut.

Probably the biggest fact in here is that Chevy is actually considering a next generation Bolt.

 

[ldjessee]

As the polymer flexes for years, it will not get weaker? I assume it will sag. Then you have a ‘low’ tire situation but no way to easily fix it.

I think airless tires are a solution looking for a problem to fix.

 

[Ogre]

I think airless tires are a solution looking for a problem to fix.

That’s pretty much the nut right there.

With maybe 1 exception. Might make a nice alternative to a donut spare tire. Don’t have to worry about it being flat, maybe it can get a little smaller and lighter than even a donut?

 

[ldjessee]

That’s pretty much the nut right there.

With maybe 1 exception. Might make a nice alternative to a donut spare tire. Don’t have to worry about it being flat, maybe it can get a little smaller and lighter than even a donut?

That might be it, but everything I have seen shows that they are heavier than a normal tire.?

 

[Ogre]

That might be it, but everything I have seen shows that they are heavier than a normal tire.?

Well if it’s heavier then makes even less sense.

 

[charliemagpie]

Thats deflating !

 

[FutureBoy]

Manufacturers getting to grips with airless tyres

By Guardian Nigeria
22 May 2022

Airless tyres that never go flat or need to be inflated: It’s a decades-long dream that manufacturers hope to turn into a reality soon, but for truck drivers first.

The challenges that the technology faces were put on display at a Goodyear test track in Luxembourg, where a group of journalists put a Tesla equipped with airless tyres through its paces.

Instead of being filled with air, the tyres have a web of spokes that keep the wheels firm and give them a see-through look.

The thin layer of rubber gripping the asphalt has a gargantuan physical challenge to meet: supporting the weight of the car and absorbing shocks as well as standard pneumatic tyres for thousands and thousands of kilometres.

That challenge is being overcome: the tyre’s rubber and plastic structure resisted the huge stress as the car banked into the track’s tight turns.

The ride is smooth but the grip is not as good as on conventional tyres — and they are noisier.

The tyres were tested for 120,000 kilometres (75,000 miles) at speeds of up to 160 kph in both scorching temperatures as well as snow, said Michael Rachita, who heads up Goodyear’s efforts to develop airless tyres.

“The most obvious advantage is that it’s puncture proof,” said Rachita.

“It will never run flat, you could drive over any nail and expect not to lose performance,” he added.

Rachita said airless tyres will also be maintenance free for drivers as they will never need to check and adjust air pressure.

He said a second generation of airless tyres that are lighter, quieter and roll better are in the works.

Gradual transition seen
Michelin has released the Tweel, but it is for construction vehicles rather than cars where the demands in terms of driving performance are much greater.

The French firm has also unveiled the Uptis which it is developing with US car manufacturer General Motors, and which it hopes can make the jump from auto shows to showrooms next year.

Its researchers are working on a cocktail of fibreglass and resin to hold the rubber onto the honeycomb structure of the new tyre.

But Michelin’s CEO Florent Menegaux doesn’t expect airless tyres to squeeze out regular tyres anytime soon.

“We’re going continue to have air tyres for several decades,” he said.

Goodyear, which submitted its first patent on airless tyre technology in 1982, has recently put its food down on the accelerator in terms of research and development.

The US firm aims to have a maintenance-free and long-lasting airless tyre for cars by the end of the decade.

It already has an early version for shuttle buses and automated delivery vehicles on university campuses.

Bridgestone also hopes to have an airless tyre ready within a decade, having already tested early versions on utility vehicles.

Other manufacturers are more sceptical that airless tyres will ever offer comparable shock absorption as traditional tyres and the noise can be reduced sufficiently.

“They aren’t a viable solution and I don’t expect they will become one,” a Continental researcher, Gerrit Bolz, said at a tyre convention in 2017.

Environmental benefits, economic concerns
But independent researcher Ulf Sandberg at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, which is working on an airless tyre for trucks, believes they will eventually become a viable alternative.

“I believe that sooner or later airless tyres could take over,” he told AFP.

“If rolling resistance is reduced by 50 percent, it would increase the range of vehicles by 25 percent, and could be extremely valuable” for car manufacturers, particularly for electric vehicles where range is a key concern.

Airless tyres could prove to be environmentally beneficial as they could last the entire lifetime of most vehicles and could then be recycled or retreaded for a second life.

But manufacturers may not be burning rubber to bring airless tyres to market because they also pose threats to their business model, said Sandberg.

A switch to airless tyres would strand the manufacturing equipment used for pneumatic tyres, a heavy cost for the companies to bear.

Given the longevity of the airless tyres, companies would be making less of them.

Goodyear’s vice president for product development in Europe, Xavier Fraipont, acknowledged that airless tyres requires a “rethinking our business model, of rethinking our manufacturing”.

Yet the possibility of gaining a lead on competitors or being left behind by an affordable and high-performing airless tyre for the consumer market keeps their research rolling forward.

 

[FutureBoy]

“If rolling resistance is reduced by 50 percent, it would increase the range of vehicles by 25 percent, and could be extremely valuable” for car manufacturers, particularly for electric vehicles where range is a key concern.

Airless tyres could prove to be environmentally beneficial as they could last the entire lifetime of most vehicles and could then be recycled or retreaded for a second life.

But manufacturers may not be burning rubber to bring airless tyres to market because they also pose threats to their business model, said Sandberg.

A switch to airless tyres would strand the manufacturing equipment used for pneumatic tyres, a heavy cost for the companies to bear.

Given the longevity of the airless tyres, companies would be making less of them.

Goodyear’s vice president for product development in Europe, Xavier Fraipont, acknowledged that airless tyres requires a “rethinking our business model, of rethinking our manufacturing”.

Yet the possibility of gaining a lead on competitors or being left behind by an affordable and high-performing airless tyre for the consumer market keeps their research rolling forward.

Given the financial difficulties, I am seeing airless tires as being a suppressed product for now. It is too detrimental to the current tire business model so there is no incentive for them to be produced.

Perhaps an independent and well-financed upstart could make an end-run around the industry and force the issue... Something like what Tesla did for electric vehicles...

 

[Bill906]

I feel pretty safe in assuming the cost of these airless tires are going to be MUCH more expensive than conventional air’ed tires and they are still going to wear out after so many miles. I doubt they will have much if any improvements on tread wear life.

Also, being airless doesn’t make them indestructible. Sure they’ll survive a bunch of nail punctures, but how wil they hold out hitting a nasty pothole at speed?

I don’t think airless tires have the benefits everyone thinks they’ll have. I’ve had very few tire punctures in my life. Not sure that’s a problem we need to invest in.

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