Airless Tires A Random Discussion (Haters Welcome)

Was just really bored this rainy Sunday morning and searching for random things on the internet in relation to vehicle technological advancements. Normally, I just search for different features, gadgets and gizmos coming out for newer Tacos. But, one thing I have never considered is changing or taking aadifferent approach to how we use tires. Honestly, never really heard anything different when it comes to tires except for that whole nitrogen filled tire debacle

Doing a quick search there seem to be two main thoughts or approaches come up. One being, mostly just random people mind you, asking about a solid tire design. And two, an actual airless design or concept, which, apparently a couple of companies seem to be working on, that incorporates different cone or hive like designs.

So...was just wondering how the community feels or what thoughts people might have in relation to tires, either with the current ideas out there or with their own personal thoughts on what changes should be made. This might be a somewhat "dry" topic", but it seems to have tickled my fancy this morning, lol.

 

+1 for air

I've only seen airless tire applications utilized on forkifts.

 

Yeah, same here on both choosing air filled tires and airless on either industrial or iirc some heavy equipment type vehicles.

I don't see there being an advantage with airless tires on an actual personal owned vehicle especially with an solid rubber tire, but kind of cool to see the different takes on airless that Bridgestone and Micheline we're playing with even though I'm not really sold on the fact that those designs would be better than a good ol air filled tire.

 

I've driven tractors and some other heavy equipment with airless tires. To be honest, I've never even considered their use on passenger vehicles. But see no reason why the technology can't be used there at some point in the future. On a 4X4 driven off road I can see huge advantages. It would completely eliminate the need to carry a spare tire and free up that space, and weight, for more cargo. I'm not sure it will be cost effective though.

 

Any reason you prefer nitrogen? Just curious as I have heard more haters and have been talked out of it more than anyone ever recommending it.

 

True dat, I can maybe see an advantage during off-road use, but I'm thinking more of an overall replacement for air filled tires. A solid tire on a personal vehicle just seems really dumb to me, and that comes with no knowledge or experience on the matter, but just seems they would be stupid heavy and more stressful on the engine and/or other equipment. I have 35x12.50r17 on my taco now and they are already a pain so I couldn't imagine a solid variant of that lol.

 

It is my understanding that the run flat tires cost considerably more, are harder to balance, have lower mileage ratings, and must be replaced if/when a flat occurs. I have never had them on a vehicle, this information comes from from friends and coworkers.

I would expect that an airless tire would be similar in many regards. I have had bicycles, years ago, with airless tires and can say they did cost more, were more difficult to mount, and the ride quality was not greatly different. With that said I was not doing highway (60-80mph) speeds, had no need to balance them, or concerned with getting 40+K miles out of the tires.

For a wheeling rig I could see the benefit. At the typically lower speeds of over landing and rock crawling there should be no problems. I could definitely see them more likely to have issues at higher speed applications, such as highway driving, desert running, endurance racing, etc.

 

Lol

 

I have also seen some honeycomb style airless tires on the web as "in development". These would reduce weight and soften the ride allowing much more flex. I would have to see them in high speed applications before I wold be wiling to throw more cash than a typical tire for my truck.

 

It's kind of funny, the other day I was looking at "bad/idiot drivers from Russia" videos and there were a lot of videos with tires flying of cars and for some reason was the first thing that popped in my head when thinking of higher speeds with a solid tire. Could you imagine how much it would suck to get hit by the force of a run away tire at 70-80mph...a crappy day indeed.

In relation to this thread, it had me thinking to what would be needed or upgraded hardware wise to keep a solid tire on at those speeds...not the smartest when it comes to mechanical knowledge but seems like some upgrades would be needed.

 

These are probably good in the desert but it would suck trying to clean mud out of them

 

I work on solid tires for a living. You wouldn’t want them on a car. A size equivalent to a 33 tire would way close to 250-300 pounds for just the tire. Plus it couldn’t be driven on the streets as it would heat, stretch and fly off the rim. Only meant for slow speeds.

 

Yeah I saw those "in development" tires but I'm still not sure what I think about them. With a normal air filled tire you really only have to worry about punctures and blowouts from tire wear or whatever. With the honey comb type design I feel that the cases, causes or reasons for having to change a tire kind of increases. To kind of explain what I mean...

A normal air tire gets a flat you patch it plug it whatever and move on or just run the damn thing done bare treds and then replace.

With a honeycomb tire I can see having to change the whole tire more frequently. Yes, you don't have to worry about flats anymore but seems to me that any damage to the honey comb design would require a complete replacement of the tire. For example, hit a curb wrong and one of the cones break tears or fractures then that whole tire becomes flawed as that one damaged combs can cause situations were others combs break or warp from stress and inconsistencies from that one broken comb would cause in the tire design. One broken comb and I would be scared to get on the highway and have that tire shred on me lol.

Now, I'm not really sure on how durable those honey comb type tire would be, but depending on what happens while off-roading..that could/would probably require a tire change before driving home.