I will believe it once I see them drive the same tires on West Michigan roads for 29k miles during the spring. We’ve had highways just disintegrate during the thaw here.
Michelin Airless
41–50 of 316 posts
Re: Michelin Airless
#42Former automotive engineer chiming in. "Tweels" have been around a long time, but have always failed in terms of "NVH" (noise, vibration, harshness). Michelin is claiming that this generation of tweels are appropriate for passenger cars, which means that they think they've solved the NVH problem. They seem to be marketing these alongside EVs, I wonder if they're only really intended for lighter, compact-style cars. (…
Compact EVs aren't "lighter" though, are they? I wonder if it is the inverse of that - heavier compact-style cars with relatively large amounts of sprung weight.
The issue with tweels is generally the unsprung mass, not the sprung mass. In general they will want to install tweels on vehicles with lower unsprung mass, which means smaller form factor (again, in general).
And I should have been a little clearer in my parent post: I'm mentally comparing something like the BMW i3 to something like the BMW X3; the i3 is about 1000 pounds lighter.
Re: Michelin Airless
#43I don't worry about punctures at all, despite living in a country with a shitty roads. What I worry about A LOT is a catastrophic collision of tire with a 90 degree sharp pothole edge, often made by roadworkers before doing point repair, which potentially can destroy tire irreparably. I wonder if these tires are better protected against such impacts, and just looking at them it seems they are - no side walls which ar…
I'm in the same boat.
I lose 1-2 tires per year due to sidewall damage from potholes. Lucky for me, the Discount Tire road hazard warranty covers that. Costs me $16/tire each time this happens.
It's so bad that I had to replace the factory wheels with aftermarket ones that wouldn't get bent from the impact.
Of course, I didn't consider changing the wheel size when I did that. I should have gone with 15" wheels and a higher ratio tire to get the same effective outside radius with more tire between the wheel and the road.
Oh well, replacing this car soon anyways as now I am in need of ground clearance and AWD due to having moved to where roads do not always exist year round.
Re: Michelin Airless
#44Would these work on Mars rovers too?
Or how about bicycles?
Re: Michelin Airless
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
These tires do have sidewalls. The sidewalls are removed for marketing and demonstration purposes only.
I guess the point is if they can be removed for demonstrations, then they're not critical to the structure.
Sidewalls are critical for NVH at higher speeds, as well as fuel economy. But a demo of a tire on a car going 55 mph doesn't make sense, so they are able to remove the sidewalls for these stationary photoshoots and low speed rolling tests.
Re: Michelin Airless
#46Ride comfort on those?
Ride comfort on tweels has historically been poor. But Michelin seems to be claiming they've solved that problem for this generation.
Re: Michelin Airless
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
These tires do have sidewalls. The sidewalls are removed for marketing and demonstration purposes only.
I'm sure everyone in the tire industry (?) knows that, but it would be nice if Michelin had something to suggest that on their page.
The only little clue is that one photo of the EV where the sidewalls are visible on the tires. You have to squint to see it :)
Re: Michelin Airless
#48I don't worry about punctures at all, despite living in a country with a shitty roads. What I worry about A LOT is a catastrophic collision of tire with a 90 degree sharp pothole edge, often made by roadworkers before doing point repair, which potentially can destroy tire irreparably. I wonder if these tires are better protected against such impacts, and just looking at them it seems they are - no side walls which ar…
Other comments here say that production tires will have sidewalls to protect the spokes and keep out rocks. If so, I'm a bit disappointed since I like the look of the spokes. Regarding catastrophic collision with sharp edge, I think these tires will be susceptible as well. If it's enough of a bump to "bottom out", it's going to dent the rim. Also, your comment about potholes reminded me of a time that I was driving w…
> My friend was driving and looked a the flat front tire and said "I'm glad I have a spare". I look at the flat back tire and said "Unless you have two, we're still going to need assistance.
I did this one time. Ran over a pothole and bottomed out. As I'm replacing my front tire I look to my rear tire and see that it's also flat. That wasn't even the cherry on top. At that point I had my front wheel off and tried putting on the spare anyways.
I had a Kia Stinger GT and the GT version has Brembo brakes which have a much larger caliper than the regular version. Well QA at Kia never thought to check if their spare tire actually fits with the larger caliper. Spoiler alert: it doesn't.
Re: Michelin Airless
#49I wonder, how would airless tires be able to handle offroading? On the one hand they seem like the perfect candidate as running over a rock or stick won't cause the tire to puncture. But on the other hand you loose the ability to air down the tire for more traction.
Re: Michelin Airless
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure everyone in the tire industry (?) knows that, but it would be nice if Michelin had something to suggest that on their page.
The only little clue is that one photo of the EV where the sidewalls are visible on the tires. You have to squint to see it :)
good catch!