Airless Tires

[PantherRacer]

Agreed, I am sure there will be a sidewall. I think its just a matter of time before wheels are solid (airless). For instance, wheel chairs can come with solid wheels so no need to pump air (i'm a therapist), its an easy concept, however, like mentioned before the industry may not be ready for this change yet.

There's a reason car tires aren't solid, and it's a very good reason. when I remember it I'll come back and state what it is lol.

it has something to do with ride comfortability and reducing shock from the road, solid tires would not flex and send all vibrations to the suspension, rendering them useless/crap much much sooner. and not to mention it'd be much worse for your back and bum (if I remember correctly right now)

[Dattebayo]

There would still need to be holes in the tire to allow for air displacement when you drive on them, so stuff freezing in themn would still be an issue if you think about it.

[superDorifto]

dude,...look at the pic....its not "solid", it just has a flexable side wall that not only absorbs impacts for the road, but also supports the weight of the car...im sure tha prolly give a better ride than many of todays tires....

[Dattebayo]

OMG DUDE!!!

You should have noticed people were talking about putting a cosmetic sidewall on them. You would not be able to use these in winter otherwise.

[rsmithdrift]

There's a reason car tires aren't solid, and it's a very good reason. when I remember it I'll come back and state what it is lol.

it has something to do with ride comfortability and reducing shock from the road, solid tires would not flex and send all vibrations to the suspension, rendering them useless/crap much much sooner. and not to mention it'd be much worse for your back and bum (if I remember correctly right now)

I'll tell you why we don't use solid tires......THEY'D WEIGH A ****ING TON!! Seriously solid bike tires weigh as much as a car tire + alloy wheel, and that's just a hoop, now imagine if that was the size of a 205/60r15 tire....HOLY CRAP it'd be like 90lbs per tire.....then added weight of the rim.

Also in racing setup you learn that 1psi in the tire = 25+ lbs of spring rate, more depending on the demensions of the tire and compound of rubber. If you want stiffer springs, don't buy stiffer springs, get low profile tires and air them to 75psi. That thing will ride firm as hell. You can think of your tires as another form of spring/damper. Higher psi = stiffer tire = stiffer suspensin. Think about it w/o psi a tire goes flat because it's not strong enough to support the weight of the car, add psi and the tire gets taller till it's at it's max size, if you add too much it'll keep getting harder till it explodes. So it makes sense that the tire absorbs as much impact/bumps as the suspension does, if not more. And think of handling. How much of your handling is controlled by tire psi?? A LOT. Too much psi = no grip, not enough = tire roll = no grip

A solid tire has a approximate psi equivalent of something way over 200psi. A foam tube for a bicycle tire has a equivalent of 60psi. And that's soft foam. Imagine hard rubber......... My bushings, suspension and but hurt just thinking about it.... NO THANKS.
Modified by rsmithdrift at 12:18 AM 9/26/2006

[SR20drftSX]

rawr!

[hannibal]

Interesting! And I think they look badass, especially in the side pic with the A4 driving. But will these mount on the current JJ type wheels? And how are these held onto the rim? Imagine trying to launch and have your wheel spin inside the tire. That would make one ugly burnout.

But I can see these being used on low production exotic cars (like current run flats).

[Defiant]

Video from January of '05 (news wonks)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories...shtml

Sales wonks:

http://video.google.com/videop...16882
Modified by Defiant at 7:26 PM 9/26/2006

[C-Kwik]

Eveything is really just speculation at this time as there's no objective test data out yet. From a safety standpoint, I can see this potentially being a good thing, considering how many people don't check their tire pressures regularly.

I wonder if keeping the ribs exposed would offer any cooling of the tire (albeit rubber probably isn't a great heat conductor).

[naed240sx]

Also in racing setup you learn that 1psi in the tire = 25+ lbs of spring rate, more depending on the demensions of the tire and compound of rubber. If you want stiffer springs, don't buy stiffer springs, get low profile tires and air them to 75psi. That thing will ride firm as hell. You can think of your tires as another form of spring/damper. Higher psi = stiffer tire = stiffer suspensin. Think about it w/o psi a tire goes flat because it's not strong enough to support the weight of the car, add psi and the tire gets taller till it's at it's max size, if you add too much it'll keep getting harder till it explodes. So it makes sense that the tire absorbs as much impact/bumps as the suspension does, if not more. And think of handling. How much of your handling is controlled by tire psi?? A LOT. Too much psi = no grip, not enough = tire roll = no grip

A solid tire has a approximate psi equivalent of something way over 200psi. A foam tube for a bicycle tire has a equivalent of 60psi. And that's soft foam. Imagine hard rubber......... My bushings, suspension and but hurt just thinking about it.... NO THANKS.

Nearly everything you said here is totally untrue. I'm not going to specifically disprove each thing individually, but what you need to realize is that spring rates don't add linearly.

Lets say you are on stock springs. Stock s13 rates are 1.9kg/mm. Now lets estimate the effective tire spring rate at 32 psi to be 40kg/mm. Your total effective spring rate is NOT going to be 41.9 kg/mm. It will in fact be very close to the spring rate of the actual springs. Increasing the spring spring rate on a car has a FAR greater effect on ride comfort than increasing the spring rate of the tire.

[elgarvo616]

****in tweels

[adrianfromthecastle]

the tire pattern matches the meshies

[C-Kwik]

the tire pattern matches the meshies

You could paint the outer edges of the tire "spokes" silver and it would look like a dual mesh wheel with an uber low profile tire. This will be better than spinners! I better patent my idea...

[adrianfromthecastle]

You could paint the outer edges of the tire "spokes" silver and it would look like a dual mesh wheel with an uber low profile tire. This will be better than spinners! I better patent my idea...

lol.. i like your sig

[SPIRONIUM]

No more bitching about how they look, obviously they're not traditional wheels, and there is *potentialy* a huge amount of performance benefit from this wheel. These things must weigh 10-15lbs tire and wheel!!

for anyone wondering, the tire and wheel is one piece, you have to change the whole thing with the rim when the tire treads gone. If i'm not mistaken. i remember reading on these years back, i hope they have the balls to market and sell these things but i guess they are halfway there yes?

[chandler]

Once again I state............... UNLESS THEY COME IN 3 INCH GANGSTA WHITE WALLS................. they wont sell d!ck