Radical tire & wheel technology

Some things are just too ugly to be practical:

I think the Tweel is very promising, I just wonder what the hold up is. Why haven't they yet been able to bring it to market? It's been something like 12 years since they began R&D on this idea. All you get in the Michelin presentations is how wonderful these things are and all the advantages they offer, but there's never anything said about what problems they are still trying to solve before they can start selling them.

Doesn't look to me like they would handle that well in a curve.

Then there's always these:-

http://www.osmoswheel.com/?lang=en

http://www.choppersinc.com/html/bikes.asp?bikeID=2&Page=2

When you drive one of these, does it sound like someone blowing over the top of a really big bottle?

I've always thought the Tweel was cool. I'd like to seem them on a Roadster just for fun.

My question when I look at them is stuff getting inside them. If you go though a 2 inch puddle and the wheel carries water from the ground up to the top and around, how does that affect handling?

And even more curious is how they deal with gravel and rock. I can see stones of just the right size getting lodged in the open spaces and real mucking up the works. And if the wheel lets go of such a rock can you imagine the damage a projectile launching at several hundred miles an hour can do?

dsacks6 said:

A lot of new things are viewed as ugly at first.
I try to be open to new things even if they look strange at first.
It takes getting used to sometimes. Once we start to associate something with performance, we will perhaps start looking at it more favorably in terms of looks.

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I completely agree with that. I mean, think of the VW Beetle. It must have looked really peculiar when the first ones were brought into the US in the 1950s. By the 1990s it had become so loved that popular demand practically arm-twisted VW into producing the New Beetle.

A big part of how we interpret a car is based on the prior associations that it brings to mind. When I first saw the Pontiac Solstice, I was very put-off. To me, the rounded nose looked like some nerdy, archaic, underpowered, so-called "sports car" from the late 1950s or early 60s. It also reminded me of a swollen lump on wheels. (A lump of what, I'll leave to your imagination.)

However. . . I noticed after it was unveiled, almost everybody else online was raving about how beautiful it was. Okay. . . Clearly it didn't raise the same associations in their minds as it did in mine.

vfx said:

My question when I look at them is stuff getting inside them. If you go though a 2 inch puddle and the wheel carries water from the ground up to the top and around, how does that affect handling?

And even more curious is how they deal with gravel and rock. I can see stones of just the right size getting lodged in the open spaces and real mucking up the works. And if the wheel lets go of such a rock can you imagine the damage a projectile launching at several hundred miles an hour can do?

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I hadn't thought of that, but I can see how it might be a problem.

Also, I think noise and vibration at highway speeds might be a problem they are working on.

"Perhaps a thin, flexible membrane sidewall could solve that. I don't think they have to be open to the air like they have on the prototypes. "

Yeah but why? You'd be back to square 1 visually.

Now if it was clear, that would be cool.

Personally, I think the Tweel is perfect for EVs. I could put playing cards in the spokes to simulate engine noise.

Okay, sorry, just had to say that.

TEG said:

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Delivery is anticipated for 2011

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Nice. We just need a sport version

malcolm said:

Nice. We just need a sport version

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Hankook now has one.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/...st-to-roll-out-airless-tire-concept#src=10065

www.michelintweel.com