This certainly isn’t new news, but the other day I was telling a friend about it and realized that most people still haven’t heard of the Michelin Tweel (Tire/WhEEL), an airless, integrated tire and wheel combination.
Michelin had this concept in development since 1995, and claim that it’s the future of tire technology with the potential to be in use on our roads by the mid 2010′s.
As you can see from the following video, tweels have been prototyped on everything from cars to Segways to Caterpillars. They look quite strange to me, but apparently they offer quite a few radical benefits such as increased comfort and safety.
The flexible spokes are fused with a flexible wheel that deforms to absorb shock and rebound with unimaginable ease. Without the air needed by conventional tires, Tweel still delivers pneumatic-like performance in weight-carrying capacity, ride comfort, and the ability to “envelope†road hazards. By varying the thickness and size of the spokes, Michelin can also generate a wide array of ride and handling qualities.
Michelin has also found that it can tune Tweel performances independently of each other, which is a significant change from conventional tires. This means that vertical stiffness (which primarily affects ride comfort) and lateral stiffness (which affects handling and cornering) can both be optimized, pushing the performance envelope in these applications and enabling new performances not possible for current inflated tires.
The Tweel prototype, demonstrated on the Audi A4 in the following video, is within five percent of the rolling resistance and mass levels of current pneumatic tires. That translates to within one percent of the fuel economy of the OE fitment. Additionally, Michelin has increased the lateral stiffness by a factor of five, making the prototype unusually responsive in its handling.
Michelin won a Gold Medal for Innovation at Intermat 2006 for the Tweel.
That’s pretty cool. Saves space in the car by not having a spare tire in the boot! Adam Tow recently blogged about air-free tires on his bike: http://www.tow.com/2007/08/28/more-on-air-free-tires/
Obviously the application is different. The spokes and make up of the tire in this product is quite a step up from simple bicycle tires! Hopefully these do reach the market sooner rather than later ..
I’ve heard of this tire, but I don’t very often think about it. Thanks for the information, and I think that it seems true that eventually this will be more pervasive in the tire market. It just makes sense because it eliminates certain problems that currently exist (popped tires, maintain pressure, etc). Hopefully they will have the motivation to really push this through until it gets to the consumer because it sure seems like a good idea to me!
Yeah, back when I was mountain biking regularly I tried some of those tires, but quickly gave them up for the same reasons. They are heavier, slower and uugh, I just hated them.
The interesting thing about these Tweels is that they should weigh the same as regular tires (though I bet they’ll eventually be lighter) but they will actually outperform traditional tires. So, we won’t really be giving anything up when they become available.
There is one problem though. Since Michelin surely holds patent on them, there won’t be any competition unless they license the technology. That means prices will be high! The only hope is that because they will still have to compete with regular tires perhaps they’ll keep the prices at least out of the insane range.
I keep wondering how my NSX would look with some of these suckers on it. ;-)
John
I first heard about this technology through my cousin, who unfortunately also said the same thing about his.
But necessity is the mother of invention and with the environmental concerns right now, perhaps this is the right time for something like this to come through.
I’ve been putting off re-inflating my tires in my car for months and it’s been costing me at least 3-4 MPG.
To never have to worry about that again.. would be sublime :)
Again, the most simple idea’s are the best.
he’s gonna be a rich man if Michelin is going to reward him for his invention.
It’s that simple anybody could think of it
looks pretty amazing, the next step should be suspensions inside the wheels, u can stiffen or soften them with a touch from inside the car while driving :) I’m also wondering if they will leave the sides open, i think it will give some aerodynamic boost, somehow like the rims do…
It flies in the face of the reality of why (most) cars are relatively cheap to begin with – they are made up of readily replaceable and modular parts.
Having a combo tyre/wheel goes against the production line theories of having mass=produced and cheap parts. If you trash the tweel, you’re up for the whole thing, rather than just the cheaper cost of say , a tyre, or a hubcap, or a wheel.
That’s the reason why cars are made up of so many smaller parts – to avoid having to pay for larger composite components.
So, the tweel may not the mind-blowing idea it’s touted to be.
But they claim that it can be re-treaded. So if that is the case you wouldn’t have to toss it, you just need it refurbished…
John
There having a problem right now with vibration over 50mph. I haven’t seen the issue addressed of snow getting packed into the spokes or how extreme cold or heat would affect them.
Yep, there are reasons why they make wheels the way they do. Retreading isn’t always the optimal thing to do with a worn tyre, and they’re never as good or as safe as an original whole tyre.
Like I said: great idea in theory – but that’s theory for you.