Just don't let it dry out with mud in it!
Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
131–140 of 196 posts
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#132>Through its Vision Concept, the company wants to make tires that are airless, rechargeable, connected, and sustainable. 1) airless, check. 2) rechargeable ?? 3) connected ?? 4) sustainable ??
>rechargeable >sustainable "retreadable" but the marketing department didn't think that had sufficient appeal for the demographics the press release was targeted it.
It's common for aircraft and other heavy duty equipment's tires to be retreaded. Seems like a reasonable thing to do on passenger vehicles if it can be scaled.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#133I wonder about ride quality. My car had runflats when I bought it, when it was time for new tires, I went with some high quality all seasons. My ride quality improved, my gas mileage went up and they brake / corner better. The risk of an unplugable flat is a small price to pay for that.
These tires look like they use about 4x the rubber.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any noise a normal-ish passenger car is of no consequence compared to the noise of heavy trucks and motorcycles. You don't even notice it. It's only "blighted" because the people who self select to live beside a highway tend not to be the ones who care a ton about making their residence look nice from the street (manicured lawn, nice siding, sealed driveway, etc, etc) so the prices stay cheap, the rents stay low and…
“Houses nearby highways are low value because the owners are too lazy to manicure their lawns” is an explanation I don’t buy one bit. It’s too “just so” for my tastes, and it also contradicts my own personal experience of having my house value go up despite us purposefully killing the yard. Home values change for a lot of reasons outside the owners control; blaming it on the owners for not caring sufficiently about c…
>“Houses nearby highways are low value because the owners are too lazy to manicure their lawns”
Well you're in luck because if you re-read my comment without the intent of building a strawman you'll see that that's not my explanation. My explanation is more or less "selection bias" I tried to offer some examples as to the mechanisms of such selection but you read right past them.
>A more likely explanation is that living near a highway sucks.
I like it specifically because people "who are willing to pay a premium for a quiet and peaceful back yard" do not elect to live in places like this if they have the option of paying that premium. This means I am free to use power tools into the evening, the business across the street is free to use heavy equipment in the morning, my neighbors are free to play loud music, have barking dogs, yell at their kids, etc. etc. etc. Things like not having to be anal about cutting our grass and keeping our houses nice follow quite naturally from that. If you don't care about other people's business in a similar manner the cost savings from living in this environment are tempting.
>The fact that we see a similar effect near airport runways is a supporting data point.
Yes, people who care about noise avoid those too. What's your point.
>I would in fact argue that you’ve got causation backwards. The curb appeal of houses near the highway is low because the home values are low
Values are low because a subset of people don't want to live here. Selection bias applies to both groups increasing the disparity.
You are foolishly projecting your opinions onto everyone. Some people simply don't care about the noise. They cluster where it is noisy because why would they pay more to avoid something they don't place a high value on avoiding. Are these people a minority when you look at the population overall? Probably. Are these neighborhoods composed of many people who simply tolerate noise because they have no other rational option. You call this blight but I call this a reflection of our priorities.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#135Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tires where purchasing decisions are driven almost exclusively by cost per time or distance are routinely retreaded. But that does not describe the passenger car tire market.
Doesn't it? I mean, I get that some people want to try a different make/model of tire when replacing it for performance/noise/appearance, I've been one of those people at times. But I also think there are plenty of people who get the tire that's available to them and reducing the cost per year of use would be welcome. I will say that having an EV, the cost of tires really stands out. In 60K miles the only maintenance…
I remember retreads being a thing you could buy for your car in the 1970s/80s. I remember local radio ads from retread shops. I haven't heard of passenger car retreads in decades though, so I don't think it's really done anymore.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#137Anyone know the lifetime of the threads or tire? How often will they have to be replaced? So if it's the same it's not really much of a improvement. Just for the luxury of being "airfree". There will be some negative aspects or tradeoffs to be made with the tire? Companies are in it to make money and surely they won't make a new time that is 100x lasting than the current because that will be a losing proposition in their view.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#138These remind me of the Tannus[1] solid bike tyres that have been around for (...guessing from memory...) about a decade now.
I think last time I looked that them the rolling resistance was a little more than I'd like on my "fun" bikes but for commuting that they look great option.
I think my personal preference for a "ride flat" system would be for a tubeless tyre, sealant and an insert like Tannus' Armour Tubeless (...or tubs I guess)
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#139That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --
I saw them on bikes in China 5 years ago .... perhaps they're already here
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Truck tires are retreaded all the time. It’s why you see bits of tread on the highway. They do fall off now and then. Apparently saves a lot of money.
Tires where purchasing decisions are driven almost exclusively by cost per time or distance are routinely retreaded. But that does not describe the passenger car tire market.
In New Zealand you could get tyres retreaded decades ago, however it was banned for light vehicles, due to safety reasons I believe.
Truck and specialty tyres in NZ still get retreaded by a company called Bandag, and you sometimes see detached tread at the side of the road. I am guessing that retreads are only allowed for dual tyres on trailers, where if a tyre fails it isn’t catastrophic. I imagine they are not allowed for the critical front steering/braking tyres on the tractor unit.