Shark Wheels

[FutureBoy]

Does anyone think the SharkWheel might end up making for a good truck tire? Especially for off-roading and rock climbing.

SharkWheel is currently used primarily for skates and skateboards but seems to be expanding into some larger sizes. In fact, in the video below they actually have an example 400 lb wheel used for farming irrigators.


There are some airless tires that other companies are trying to make for vehicles. But I wonder if the SharkWheel in an airless truck tire would be a possible solution.

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[lancethibault]

I'm not sure why they don't build them for cars and trucks. I've been wondering this question for years. I don't know if they are just be too expensive for auto tires or if they just don't work in with air filled tires. All the shark wheels are in solid form. But it seems like they would be great if they could be air filled.

 

[Dids]

Possibly a speed thing? Tires have several specifications that need to meet requirements.
Shark wheels claim better traction than slicks in wet conditions, that's a duh though since any tread tire does that and I'm doubtful that their tread pattern is better than any other pattern.
Faster wheel due to lower friction is also a duh. Treaded tires have less contact than a slick and therefore have less rolling friction loss.
Smoother ride on rough terrain. Sure but this is a trade off. Rougher ride on smooth terrain. Honestly there are an infinite amount of roughness of terrain and I don't think their skate board wheel tread pattern will be any smoother on terrain of boulders than a smooth wheel. For pea gravel a treaded wheel out performs a slick and again I doubt their tread pattern out performs others.

But all thier claims aside, cars have other requirements....
1. Traction ( slicks outperform treaded on dry clean surface due to greater contact) race cars use slicks for this reason)
2. Speed ( car tires have a max speed rating because they can disintegrate) do you think shark wheel tread pattern would raise or lower that threshold?
3. Noise ( I don't know this for a fact, but I know it's true. That pattern would be noisy on the highway)
4. Longevity... Maybe their pattern is better than goodyear et all. But I doubt it.

 

[Crissa]

Well, because of how air pressure works, your air-filled tire wouldn't want to remain in the squiggle shape.

Because it always contacts the ground in a continuous albeit non-linear patch, it would probably be quieter than standard tread until the squiggle pattern was repeating at some multiple of a sympathetic frequency... using the edges the way they do is interesting but almost certainly requires the solid tire.

-Crissa

 

[ajdelange]

Three things come to mind:
1)Rotational moment
2)Rolling resistance
3)Slip characteristics

 

[TI4Dan]

Current tires that most of us use are constructed to carry load and have the ability to cushion from road irregularities plus a certain amount of traction to retain vehicle control. The smoother a tire operates the longer it can last. If anyone had a tire that cupped in wear it gets worse rather fast. It seems like the shark wheel will induce a frequency in to the wheel and drive train, and the effect of a vibration in a vehicle can cause fatigue types of failures. Of course I did not see a pneumatic tire but for a solid tire use I don't know if it would make my carts or hand truck better. They showed the shark wheel on a irrigation sprinkler, being airless would reduce maintenance. Farm tractors use chevron tread patterns for traction that they need to pull farm implements and sometimes you can see tractors with dual wheels for added traction. Most tractors the wheels can be adjusted to accommodate row distance as required. I maybe to critical here but tires that are not round or true are harder to balance but, they look cool on the skateboards.

 

[Crissa]

The shark wheel is basically making an advantage that 'tread' is the function of an edge. It just happens to have a tread depth as deep as possible on a wheel.

Which is pretty cool, but unless you're mudding like a tractor or dealing with random 6" rocks on pavement, not useful to the scale of a truck.

-Crissa

 

[speach]

@FutureBoy (OP) No, I do not. I put shark wheels on some of my son's longboards, and I do not expect to see them on any full-size vehicles any time soon.

Inline with @TI4Dan and @Crissa, Shark wheels have very specific advantages that do not translate to full-size vehicles.

The primary advantage we saw was the wheel's geometry helps make slides in hard turns more controlled - going into a carve the wheel doesn't hold and then suddenly breaks loose, rather it gently engages into a slide. Same for exiting a slide. It is also more consistent between various surfaces, including wet/dry. It doesn't stick like glue to the hot pavement and then slide in the wet (like slicks can). Given my son can carve at 50+mph inches from the ground, that's a welcome safety improvement (although he really just goes faster, right?)

I guess an increase in traction for changing terrain might be something that could be of interest to the CT offroaders, but as TI4Dan touches on - the wheels and tire compounds aren't comparable.

SW also claims increased speed. Long-boarders live in a hyper-competitive world where decreasing friction is one of their few advantages to increase speed, so I won't argue it doesn't, but the mechanical engineering advantage claimed here isn't as obvious.

However, there is (at least) one reason I could be completely wrong - the shark wheels look square when viewed off-angle, which has a wild and unusual look. I mean, they REALLY look cool. That reason alone will likely drive someone to do it anyway.