Michelin Tires

[MikeA]

These tires are to be introduced to the Market in August. I can see some real benefits to them. Never have a flat! But I've never liked those low profile tires that have open wheels. There is a SUV in our town I see all the time. It looks like a toy of some kind with those open wheel and almost no rubber to them!

But these are so far beyond that!

[Freypower]

I have Michelins but then I have a French car; a Renault Clio. Other than that I can't say any more as I know nothing about tyres (as we spell it here). I have only had to have one replaced in the 9 years I've had the car & that was a puncture, not a flat.

[Annabel]

Can't help but think that side on it looks like a car on bicycle tyres.

[MikeA]

More information: I thought this might have been another carefully conceived April Fool's Joke but it isn't. I didn't seen anything in the web-article about any August Date of hitting the market. It is like the "flatless tire" that Michelin introduce about 10 or so years ago. You have to buy not only the tire but the wheel as well.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/3603/

I wonder what kind of ride they produce?

And what sort of aftermarket will they have...remember the cards we would clothespin to the frame so they would flap against the spokes and make noise? Those ribs on the new Michelins look a little like spokes.

Wonder if sticks on the roads after a storm would get stuck inside them.

How about mud? Get a glob of mud in those "spokes" and the tire would go badly out of balance.

Maybe none of those "fears" are warranted. Maybe they are the best thing since sliced bread!

[TimothyBFan]

With our winters around here, my first thought is how they would handle in feet of snow and ice! And wonder about the cost! I bet they our ridiculously priced this early on.

[MikeA]

Just imagine how much vibration you'd have after backing out of a snowpacked driveway, getting snow inside those "spokes" and then trying to drive at highway speeds out on a cleared freeway at 70mph!

It would rattle your teeth until the snow either melted or was thrown out of the tires! I've had it happen just with mud that packed onto the rims of conventional tires!

[Brooke]

Yes, me too Mike. I live on a gravel road that gets very muddy at times. I had that happen with my last car, a Hyundai. Can't imagine these!

[Lisa]

I'm also a fan of Michelin Tires.

[MikeA]

I've got nothing against Michelin. And, I think those tires are going to be a big hit with the folks who lower their cars to inches off the ground and put 24" wheels with super low profile tires on them.

And I think the technological development of an airless-tire is great. Practicality is my issue with those tires. Now, if they would take the "fad" factor out of the design and put some sidewalls on them to keep foreign matter out of the interior of the tire, I think they would be a very good and marketable development.

If they did that, the tires would "look" normal but still have all the benefits of the TWEEL as shown in the pictures and would have none of my imagined problems.