121–130 of 316 posts
Well, maybe, but don't these new tires use more rubber instead of air? In which case they will actually increase the amount of discarded tires? Also, what about the recycling potential of these tires?
I'm not an automotive buff, but this claim of being "good for the environment" sounds like just empty marketing talk.
Weren’t we trying to reduce plastic waste? This seems to need multiple times the amount of rubber that a normal tire needs. And for what? To prevent a fixable puncture that may or may not happen in a lifespan of a tire?
Have you ever been driving when a tire blew out at high speed? It's extremely dangerous not only for the driver but all the nearby cars. This is a tradeoff between environmental concerns and safety, as are most safety features on a car. We could make a car that gets insanely good milage and has little raw material, but it would be terribly unsafe.
Have you? Your characterization of the experience makes me think you have not.
I have had two rear and one front blowout. Blowouts are just flat tires that have a loud intro before the typical "driving on flat tire" music. None of them were any more eventful than a normal flat tire. I'd take a blowout (or normal flat tire) over tread separation any day.
The internet highly highly highly highly highly overrates the danger, likely because blowouts are so rare these days and unfamiliarity tends to result in fear which compounds the Internet's tendency to reward certain commenting patterns. Other than the noise potentially causing a driver to incorrectly make massive control inputs (which would be equally hazardous to do after suffering a normal flat) there is no more hazard from a blowout than from a normal flat. And I say this as someone who drives old junk with fat sidewalls. On something with small modern sidewalls all the danger is less still.
Frankly, the one time I had a valve stem leak that caused a slow flat was much more unnerving as I initially wasn't sure if I was feeling things or if the vehicle was pulling to that side.
Former 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. (…
This does still look to be a marketing excercise for now - I see no product availability to market in 6-12 months still.
https://tweel.michelinman.com/michelin-tweel-family-of-produ...
I am skeptical that these will be better for the environment. Maybe there will be fewer tires discarded due to flats, but the tires will weigh more. That's more material discarded per tire and more energy to drive them around.
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Complete layman here, every 6 months or so for the past decade I see an article claiming someone got air-less tires working. What are the chances this would be it ?
I use nitro oxygen in my tyres. Pressure problems are gone.
What's "nitro oxygen", then?
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A lot of heavy equipment drives around with water-filled tires, so it's already there. Definitely not what you meant though.
Hmm, why water filled? I can't think of any advantages, but can think of downsides such as a massive increase in unsprung weight.