luckyAKAhappy

Might be a repost but first time I saw these. Not sure if it's real or not but someone just reinvented the wheel.





Sorry for not posting a TL but I don't know how to photochop.

Wave of the future? No worrying about punctures, air loss, valves/stems, and other problems associated with current tire setup.

AnthraciteAspec

iTrader: (6)

These have been around for awhile now, I think I saw pic/video of these about a year ago. I think they are great for military use on humvees or other applications where function outweighs aesthetics, but as far as putting them on my car, they are far too ugly, lol

myron

iTrader: (4)

how does that work

luckyAKAhappy

As with anything new, a better looking center can be made. But for utility purposes, if it works, this can do away with current tires and those expensive run flats.

luckyAKAhappy

Not quite sure but if you happen to be running from the law, these would help if police throw down those puncture spikes on the roads. No air to lose on these setup.

ttribe

They could be made to be aesthetically identical to what you have now...you just wouldn't have to put air in them...ever.

AnthraciteAspec

iTrader: (6)

If they can do that, I will buy them. As they sit on that Audi posted above, I will not buy them.

TLNY04

ruber band tires FTW lol

Jays_04TL

It looks like a car riding on bicycle tires/wheels

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

I would like to see them in deep snow (NEVER)

msala524

iTrader: (3)

I think there called sweels or something close to that. Pretty cool idea but ugly

AZHottie

^UGLY...I agree

Fulani has a TL

iTrader: (1)

interesting, wonder if they will ever be made for 20s......

ssmtl2nv

iTrader: (2)

talk about rubberbands....

CarrieLynn

iTrader: (2)

Ugly

BigESG

These tires are called the tweel (part tire part wheel, hence t-wheel). They consist of a hub and tire assembly. The tires we have on our cars now provide grip for many reasons, one of which being that they act as a kind of spring/damper system. In our case the damping material is air. The tweel uses a set of ribs that connect the tire's traction surface to its hub. These ribs are the subject of intensive materials research at Michelin and are designed to allow people to have a tire that will never go flat, and can be designed to have different amounts of "give" for different applications with different weight or traction requirements. They have been around for about three years now as far as R&D is concerned, but I don’t know when the ETA for them to hit the market is. Sorry for the long windedness, but I was working for them as a college intern when they were developing these.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the ribs are exposed merely to show the technology, these tires could have be made with a sidewall at some poitn if they ever hit production.