Were are the “tweels” at? cant hardly wait till they are availiable(if you can afford them) I know Michelin markets them for skid steer loaders -Kevin
I Need Tweels Like I Need Tap-Dance Lessons.
These things have some serious problems and I’m not sure they’ll ever get worked out to make them viable.
By now we were all supposed to be commuting by jet-pack and flying cars, too. I won’t hold my breath. I will go ahead and plan on buying regular old tires when mine become worn.
CSA
Maybe a decade, no sooner. I understand there are some plausible designs in the works, but that’s just a start. They will need to be either much cheaper or give much better performance (preferably the latter) before anyone will bite. A Lamborghini buyer will be the first to have them. Just to look super cool driving around Abu Dhabi. Or possibly an investment consortium who will lock it away undriven.
I just think the advantages are worth it,everything needs to evolve,even as i wrote about the afore mentioned skid steer loaders, most contractors are switching to rubber tracks(now if they just had “bogies” on these things-that would make a world of difference).
But as for the “Tweels” no more flats would suit me fine and having a set of new tires to bolt on delivered to my house every 3-4 years would suit me to a tee{ a 96 mph speed rating would work fine for me} I’m sure there were detractors when tubeless tires came out-Kevin
’ PS,-CSA,I for one am glad there are no plausible flying cars
Tweels were one interesting concept, but they had serious functional problems in real world applications. But they would make nice snow collectors.
For those with concerns about flats, “run flat tires” are available and are more more usable in the real world. And they’re readily available and affordable for most cars.
However,they will probaly evolve as they can actually enhance the suspension.Go Michelin!(the inventors of the radial tyre that some many of my hillbilly friends didnt like,the French made better things then Renault Dauphines)-Kevin
Since I first saw a story on these things, the first thing that comes to mind is load capacity. With pneumatic tires, You can add air with heavier loads. Aren’t these things going to give up something more then pneumatics in handling while carrying loads ? I feel there are too many questions left unanswered just to use them because they are bullet proof. The big one as “same” alludes to is snow and dirt collection that throw the balance way off. They would be totally useless for pick up trucks for those reasons IMO.
Actually they respond very well to loads,hence the availibility for skid steer loaders now,I watched a video with somebody trying to break them with 2 tons (they said) in the bucket of a Cat 242 skid steer loader and also watched a military vehicle run across a land mine and keep going,(damaged but still going) and demoed on a Humvee,wouldnt a Vector Mag have about the same disaadvantages in the mud?
Aren’t these pretty similar to the wheels the lunar rover used in the early 70s?
Tweels ... would make nice snow collectors.Would a fabric cover the "spokes" to prevent anything collecting and also to minimize windrag? Or must spoke heat be dissipated?
" Would a fabric cover the “spokes” to prevent anything collecting and also to minimize windrag? "
I suppose it could work, but why not make the cover out of light weight aluminum and to keep it in place make the wheel more rigid, maybe solid. Then To help absorb road impacts make the tire flexible with air in it to cushion the . . . oh, wait . . .
CSA
Thr tweels actually can function as part of the suspension,the concept is making some law enforcement a bit nervous,now they are developing a" tire net" to stop the bad guys.
We dont want the assembly rigid,I seriously doubt if snow or mud is really that much of a problem,maybe this is reinventing the wheel a bit,but Michelin is serious enough about it to pursue research,They already have uses like on wheelchairs(no flats and a better ride) and the aforementioned construction equipment,Everything can be improved-the oldtimers around here used to scorn Radial tires and you can bet the car manufacturers will start using if they promise a bit more elusive mpg-Kevin
Tweels have some inherant serious problems.
Between the high speed vibration and the higher rolling resistance, I doubt that we’ll see them on cars in the foreseeable future.
Beware of Wikipedia , the article sounds like the advantages outweigh the disadvantges
(CBS news?) I imagine an under inflated radial tire has more then 5% greater rolling resistance,besides they look sort of cool-Kevin
They vary widely in design and materials, and I’m sure can be engineered to have various tradeoffs. I wouldn’t trust Wikipedia generalizations about automotive tweels that exist only in research labs. No one who hasn’t signed an NDA knows how well they ride and handle. I really don’t expect to see them until they are competitive with wheels and tires since they will be expensive and likely found on sports or luxury cars first. The early run-flats a decade ago had a lousy ride from the super stiff sidewalls. A few years later and now they’re just fine.
Thank you MM-Kevin
Wikopedia’s comments are consistant with all of the many other articles I’ve read on tweels over the years. I didn’t rely on them only, but used them to decribe the problems with tweels that have been very well and consistantly documeted elsewhere.
Not all ideas work out. I’ve no doubt that tweels will find a great application, but perhaps not on cars.
Perhaps not,but look at the advances in other areas over the past few years-Kevin