The Michelin Tweel

bottle

bottle

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Michelin invented the radial tyre fifty years ago. The first tubeless tyre was invented 100 years ago. Now the tyre has been reinvented again.

The next step in tyre technology has been unveiled. The Tweel is a simple looking hub and spoke design which eliminates the need for air pressure.

How does it work?



Flexible spokes are fused with a flexible wheel which deforms to absorb shock. The Tweel also has a unique capability to have different vertical and lateral stiffness.

Vertical stiffness affects ride comfort, and lateral stiffness affects handling and cornering. The ability to tune these two parameters differently allows the best of both worlds, ride comfort and superb handling!
The Tweel is not only for cars. Bulldozers can use them too.



Works well over rocky terrains like this, so it should work well for 4WDs too. You can see how the outer thread and the spokes bend to go over the uneven surface.

How far are we from mass-production and how much will it cost? Michelin says radial tyres will be the standard for a long long time to come, but research gained from the Tweel is helping it develop reinvent the way future vehicles move. Things like checking tyre pressure, fixing flat tyres, and balancing between traction and comfort could all fade into memory.
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Source | Click Here
 
as the article says , maybe they left the sides open for the demo.. regular tyres should look more normal if they are introduced
 
Things like checking tyre pressure, fixing flat tyres, and balancing between traction and comfort could all fade into memory.
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thats wat it says...so hopefully no punctures but then again it says radial tyres are gonna stay for a long time still.
 
that car is an audi and you ppl seem to have missed the part where they said the sides are left open for the demo :p
 
The tubeless is becoming a standard now in India. It is from April this year that all the cars in India comes with tubeless tyres... It will take a long time for this to become a standard...
 
Yeah you are right Kinkrool but it is now that govt have put a strict ruling on car manufacturers to use tubeless... Now all cars comes with tubeless...
 
Some people put tubes in tubeless tyres I hear!! Apparently it is some weird form of double protection, but I have never seen this myself. Can someone confirm?
 
havent heard of that but last time a mechanic mentioned that in really bad roads tubeless are not advisable since they could get knocked slightly off the rims if you hit a bad bump or a stone.. is this true ?
 
^^ interesting.. i dont know.. lets see if someone knows.. :D

KingKrool said:
Some people put tubes in tubeless tyres I hear!!
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Yes, i have heard of that.. ppl who dont understand technology are a li'l stubborn in their beliefs and stick to older tech. so, without understanding the tech behind tubeless tyres, ppl used to put tubes in them. But that was 3 or 4 years back. I think there is enough awareness now about tubeless that ppl realise that a tube in a tubeless tyre invalidtes the whole point of going tubeless. :D
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
Err.. What are tubeless tyres? :D
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here's an explanation..

In the older type of pneumatic tire, air is sealed in an inner tube of butyl rubber beneath the body. In a tubeless tire the seal between the beads and the wheel rim is airtight and the underside of the tire body is coated with butyl rubber to keep the air from escaping. A puncture in a tire leads to loss of air and a so-called flat tire. Self-sealing tires are lined with a rubber or rubberlike compound that, when the tire is punctured by a slim object, such as a nail, coats the object and seals the hole to prevent air from escaping.

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/tire-1
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More Read - http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/tubeless_tyres.html
 
bottle said:
havent heard of that but last time a mechanic mentioned that in really bad roads tubeless are not advisable since they could get knocked slightly off the rims if you hit a bad bump or a stone.. is this true ?
Click to expand...

This particular pic is old.... my dad showed it to me ages ago.... But then he has an unfair advantage... he is part of the tyre business :bleh:

Anyway to answer Bottle's question...

the tubeless tyre literally hugs the rims very closely and when the tyre is filled with air, there is no leakage because there is no gap between the tyre and rim.

this is PERFECT for alloy wheels as they do not get bent or anything.

But with steel rims, when you hit a pothole at high speed, it gets bent. That is why we have Rim-Bend removal machines.

Now, with a regular tyre, it doesn't matter much coz all the air is inside the tube which is airtight. But in a tubeless tyre, a small gap develops between the rim and the tyre and the air leaks out of this....

This is why tubeless tyres are not particularly recommended on steel rims.... They are best for Alloy wheels.

But the govt being as intelligent as they are, have made it mandatory for ALL cars to be manufactured with tubless tyres..... this is being dumb.
 
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