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Thread started 11/02/06 4:29am

Fauxie

New Michelin Airless Tires



http://www.technoride.com...044_1.aspx

Just as we're getting used to run-flat tires, which means you run them flat for 50 or 100 miles before repairing or replacing them, along comes an airless tire. It's called Tweel, from Michelin, and it's a thick band of rubber (essentially the tire tread) applied to a wheel with deformable spokes. With a normal tire, when you hit a bump, the tire flexes (as does the suspension), but not the wheel. Hit a bump hard with low-profile tires (tiny sidewalls), and your expensive alloy wheel flexes – actually, it breaks, as may the tire itself.

With Tweel, the polyurethane spokes flex instead of the tire sidewalls. Because the tires are air-free, Michelin says lateral stiffness can be increased by a factor of five. Translation: When you corner hard (or accelerate, or brake), a traditional tire deforms and the tread loses some of its grip. Increase air pressure from 32 psi to 45 psi, and the tire deforms less, but ride quality goes down the drain. With Tweel, that's a non-issue.

Prototype vehicles are noisy, so there are no immediate passenger-car plans. Tweel might come sooner to commercial vehicles or the military: Imagine a Hummer that wouldn't be stopped by spikes in the road.

For Michelin, Tweel could be an end-run around the run-flat tire issue and the need for costly tire-pressure monitors. Competitor Bridgestone's run-flats work on any wheel; Michelin run-flats require a separate wheel system called PAX, and tire buyers with long memories recall an ill-fated, proprietary 1980s Michelin wheel specification called TRX that locked buyers in to one brand and a handful of tire choices. On the other hand, Michelin had another radical concept that worked out well, eventually: the radial tire.


hmmm They don't look very good though do they?
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Reply #1 posted 11/02/06 4:36am

Fauxie

Oh, up yer bum prince.org. You don't deserve airless tires. mad
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Reply #2 posted 11/02/06 4:50am

CarrieMpls

Ex-Moderator

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Fauxie said:

Oh, up yer bum prince.org. You don't deserve airless tires. mad


giggle
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Reply #3 posted 11/02/06 4:51am

Fauxie

CarrieMpls said:

Fauxie said:

Oh, up yer bum prince.org. You don't deserve airless tires. mad


giggle


lol On every thread I start I end up posting something along those lines.
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Reply #4 posted 11/02/06 4:52am

AsianBomb777

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Reply #5 posted 11/02/06 4:53am

CarrieMpls

Ex-Moderator

avatar

Fauxie said:

CarrieMpls said:



giggle


lol On every thread I start I end up posting something along those lines.


And you complain about my threads. rolleyes
































wink
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Reply #6 posted 11/02/06 4:53am

Fauxie

AsianBomb777 said:



mad
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Reply #7 posted 11/02/06 4:53am

Fauxie

CarrieMpls said:

Fauxie said:



lol On every thread I start I end up posting something along those lines.


And you complain about my threads. rolleyes
































wink



Just because my threads are bad doesn't mean yours aren't too. hug
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Reply #8 posted 11/02/06 4:59am

Christopher

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this is very T2!
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Reply #9 posted 11/02/06 5:03am

Fauxie

Should've gone with assless pants instead. sigh
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Reply #10 posted 11/02/06 5:03am

Christopher

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Fauxie said:

Should've gone with assless pants instead. sigh

i tried to help! lolz
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Reply #11 posted 11/02/06 5:08am

AsianBomb777

Christopher said:

this is very T2!


lol


hug
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Reply #12 posted 11/02/06 5:12am

Fauxie

What do you think about the MOTHER FUCKING AIRLESS TIRES????? pissed
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Reply #13 posted 11/02/06 6:29am

Handclapsfinga
snapz

they look like bicycle tires.
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Reply #14 posted 11/02/06 6:31am

sinisterpentat
onic

will i still be able to burn rubber with these?
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Reply #15 posted 11/02/06 6:32am

Handclapsfinga
snapz

sinisterpentatonic said:

will i still be able to burn rubber with these?



whistle why you wanna hurt me, sin...
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Reply #16 posted 11/02/06 7:11am

sinisterpentat
onic

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

sinisterpentatonic said:

will i still be able to burn rubber with these?



whistle why you wanna hurt me, sin...


i have a lead foot. redface



so inevitably, that makes me push the pedal to the metal



and burn rubber on you, dansy....smile

<-----That's you underneath my tire.


OH NO NO NONO!!!! disbelief
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Reply #17 posted 11/02/06 7:18am

Handclapsfinga
snapz

sinisterpentatonic said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:




whistle why you wanna hurt me, sin...


i have a lead foot. redface



so inevitably, that makes me push the pedal to the metal



and burn rubber on you, dansy....smile

<-----That's you underneath my tire.


OH NO NO NONO!!!! disbelief

evillol woot!
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Reply #18 posted 11/02/06 7:23am

sinisterpentat
onic

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

sinisterpentatonic said:



i have a lead foot. redface



so inevitably, that makes me push the pedal to the metal



and burn rubber on you, dansy....smile

<-----That's you underneath my tire.


OH NO NO NONO!!!! disbelief

evillol woot!


woot!
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Reply #19 posted 11/02/06 8:41am

Giovanni777

avatar

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

sinisterpentatonic said:

will i still be able to burn rubber with these?



whistle why you wanna hurt me, sin...


I never ever had a lover put the pedal 2 the metal and burn rubber on me, Charlie...
"He's a musician's musician..."
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Reply #20 posted 11/02/06 8:56am

Handclapsfinga
snapz

sinisterpentatonic said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:


evillol woot!


woot!

you burnin rubber on my woot?
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Reply #21 posted 11/03/06 9:53pm

AsianBomb777

Mods:

Please do the right thing lock
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Reply #22 posted 11/03/06 11:15pm

brownsugar

Fauxie said:

What do you think about the MOTHER FUCKING AIRLESS TIRES????? pissed


falloff
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Reply #23 posted 11/04/06 9:32am

Spookymuffin

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Reply #24 posted 11/04/06 4:41pm

Fauxie

Spookymuffin said:




mad
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