Airless Tires not adjustable

[Ehninger1212]

Do we even have mass produces airless tires for bicycles yet? Iv been wondering since I was a child why I have to keep fixing flats, at one point I stuffed old cut up sheets, I think it was, in the tire trying to make them.

And it worked!

Just kidding, it was like riding on wet spaghetti

Can you imagine the look on the tech's face at discount tire when you go to get your tires changed and a bunch of old sheets fall out?

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[Sirfun]

Can you imagine the look on the tech's face at discount tire when you go to get your tires changed and a bunch of old sheets fall out?

Holy Sheets!

 

[CyberMoose]

Ummm...because air costs so much?

You won't have to worry about flat tires and you will have a lower chance of irregular wear on tires since you won't have unevenly filled tires.

Not to mention that there are a lot of tires scrapped each year due to unfixable punctures. So it's not even just the cost of fixing a tire, but it could be a whole tire replacement. It also would greatly reduce any need for a spare tire, so you could pocket that savings right there.

 

[HaulingAss]

You won't have to worry about flat tires and you will have a lower chance of irregular wear on tires since you won't have unevenly filled tires.

Not to mention that there are a lot of tires scrapped each year due to unfixable punctures. So it's not even just the cost of fixing a tire, but it could be a whole tire replacement. It also would greatly reduce any need for a spare tire, so you could pocket that savings right there.

I don't worry about irregular tread wear or punctures. Of course I do make sure my tires are properly inflated - it's not difficult. Most flat tires are due to under-inflation. Even some punctures could be avoided with proper inflation pressure.

I would be in favor of switching to airless tires as soon as they offer better performance than what's available with inflatable tires but something tells me the trade-offs are not going to be worth it to me for at least a decade (if ever). I don't want to trade a tiny amount of convenience for actual performance because I have very little concern that my pneumatic tires will fail.

 

[CyberMoose]

I don't worry about irregular tread wear or punctures. Of course I do make sure my tires are properly inflated - it's not difficult. Most flat tires are due to under-inflation. Even some punctures could be avoided with proper inflation pressure.

I would be in favor of switching to airless tires as soon as they offer better performance than what's available with inflatable tires but something tells me the trade-offs are not going to be worth it to me for at least a decade (if ever). I don't want to trade a tiny amount of convenience for actual performance because I have very little concern that my pneumatic tires will fail.

I wish I never worried about punctures. I guess my eyes just aren't as good as yours to see a tiny object like a nail or a screw on road in the dark. I also never said they would be a better option, Just that it's possible that they could lower costs.

If they came out with airless tires that were usable without complications or being loud on highways, I would probably buy them. I would even trade a little performance to have airless tires because I've had flats before, not because I don't properly inflate my tires, but because shit happens and sometimes there is a nail or some jagged piece of metal that ends up on the road.

I'm not worried about a small drop in performance because i'm not going to use my Cybertruck to go 0-60 in 2.9 seconds off every red light, i'm not going to be driving the max 130mph speed when i'm on the highway, and if I lose a tiny amount of range off my 500m, i'm okay with that to know i'm not going to need a spare in the back of my truck. I also like offroading, if I could get some mud tread on airless tires, i'd be pretty happy with that investment.

As it stands, i'm already going to be trading performance on a daily basis because i'm not going to have performance tires on my truck 24/7. I will have a set of performance tires sitting in my garage for when I want to take it to a track, but my daily tires will probably just be a nice set of all season tires because they have a longer life, are often quieter, and I'm Canadian so it's nice to have so extra time to switch to winter tires before it gets to freezing without worrying about grip on a tiny layer of snow.

 

[HaulingAss]

I'm not worried about a small drop in performance because i'm not going to use my Cybertruck to go 0-60 in 2.9 seconds off every red light, i'm not going to be driving the max 130mph speed when i'm on the highway, and if I lose a tiny amount of range off my 500m, i'm okay with that to know i'm not going to need a spare in the back of my truck. I also like offroading, if I could get some mud tread on airless tires, i'd be pretty happy with that investment.

As it stands, i'm already going to be trading performance on a daily basis because i'm not going to have performance tires on my truck 24/7. I will have a set of performance tires sitting in my garage for when I want to take it to a track, but my daily tires will probably just be a nice set of all season tires because they have a longer life, are often quieter, and I'm Canadian so it's nice to have so extra time to switch to winter tires before it gets to freezing without worrying about grip on a tiny layer of snow.

When I mentioned giving up "performance" by running airless tires I was not thinking about 0-60 times or even a road race course. Tire performance encompasses many things including off-road traction and vehicle control on rough surfaces. The current state of the art airless tires result in too many trade-offs for me to even consider adopting them without major improvements. And that is why they are still far from going mainstream.

 

[CyberMoose]

There are many different categories of performance. Off road traction and control on rough surfaces would probably be benefitted by airless tires that are designed for off road use. Even now I will lower the air pressure when I take my Jeep offroad. That's one of the benefits that airless tires could provide that I would want; instead of adjusting my tire pressure for what im doing, or worrying about my tire pressure in the winter, my tires would always remain what is optimal.

Also as always, I'm not saying that airless tires will be 100% better or they will be the most optimal for every situation. I'm just saying that there are benefits for a theoretical airless tire.

Finally, there are no state of the art airless tires that you can just go out and buy, so don't say there are too many trade offs when they yet to exist. You sound like the ICE vehicle owners that hated electric cars before they Tesla even started producing them. There will be advantages and disadvantages and we don't even know the half of them until they are on the market.

 

[kdn]

I’m with cyber moose. When I want to go to my favorite trout lake in Ontario I don’t want to have to worry about scratches and scrapes on the body. I’m not going to be racing through the backwoods. I just don’t want to have to worry about changing a deflated tire. If I lose 5-10% range I guess I can live with that. I’ll be able to make it up to my cottage with one charging stop. Fair enough trade for me. Get my airless tires ready please

 

[T3slaDad]

I have had airless tires on my electric scooter and haaaaaated them. They are EXTREMELY uncomfortable and result in a much harder and stiffer ride. I hope that vehicle airless tires are better at solving this problem while maintaining durability, as tires are the first stage of vehicle suspension.

Speaking of unrepairable tire damage and tires being scrapped, my M3 got a nail in the sidewall shortly after we bought it. That sucked since sidewall damage ALWAYS means new tires (don't listen to anyone who says otherwise). An almost new Michelan tire going to the scrap yard. Airless tires would help solve that problem because they don't have sidewalls - bonus!

And to the question earlier about "do I need to replace with OEM tires?" NO!!! Even the fancy "sound dampening" tires that come with Tesla's don't need to be replaced with like materials. When I got my tire replaced, I had the choice of one Michelan same style tire for $320 + tax or a full set of new 4 tires for $360 installed. Yes, I went with the full set and kept the 3 good Michelans as spares (in my garage to this day). Do they have magic sound dampening voodoo powers? No. Are they just as good as my crazy expensive Michelans? Yes. Do I notice any difference in ride comfort or sound? No.

The choice is yours...

 

[FullyGrounded]

Elon and team could make airless tires for the CT, and they should. The big problem is tire manufacturers don't want anything to do with this, nor do they want anyone else to do with this. Replacing tires due to wear, leaks, catastrophic failure, are all things that keep them in business. So, it could be a balance question - balancing the need with a real-world solution that doesn't sink the tire manufacturers. peace