Sounds good in theory. Can anyone think of any possible cons to these?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmL2LCb6q7Y

9/18/2011 8:22:38 AM

Holy fucking old thread

9/18/2011 9:07:22 AM

May bad. I don't post in the garage much.

9/18/2011 9:56:41 AM

but what if you get a flat

9/18/2011 11:17:31 AM

Just wait for the spokes to fill with rocks and mud........

9/18/2011 11:18:40 AM

con: they soften up considerably with heat and start to break down fast

con: they are currently unavailable

9/18/2011 2:14:58 PM

Quote :

"but what if you get a flat "

They showed in the video link where it ran over a land mine and blew half the wheel off and it kept going. They also took a reciprocating saw and cut out half the spokes and it kept going.

Quote :

"Just wait for the spokes to fill with rocks and mud........"

I'd imagine that would cause imbalance issues, but couldn't they just encapsulate the spokes for civilian purposes?

9/18/2011 2:30:46 PM

Bet it would cost $Texas to get them retreaded at your certified Michelin dealer

9/18/2011 2:41:25 PM

haha, i posted this same thread something like 5 years ago

it was old then

9/19/2011 8:42:19 AM

Quote :

"con: they are currently unavailable"

they are available in commercial applications. I see bobcats with these all the time

9/19/2011 8:43:02 AM

the main reason is what stowaway said...

Go off road with those and you won't be able to go on road without hosing them off, your tires will be more out of balance then if all the weights had flown off them.

9/19/2011 9:13:15 AM

There is noreasons for them NOT to have sidewalls that would act as a non-load bearing dust shield. in fact, passenger applications I've seen before had sidewalls and on the exterior looked just like a regular tire.

I was always wondering about why they are not used on a lot more vehicles, and according to Wikipedia

Quote :

"The Tweel does have several flaws, however, the worst being vibration. Above 50 mph (80 km/h), the Tweel vibrates considerably. That in itself is a big problem, but it also causes two other things: noise and heat. A fast moving Tweel is unpleasantly loud.[2] Also, long-distance driving at high speeds generates more heat than Michelin engineers would like, which might lead to premature failure"

Thhis would explain why these are dfound on earth moving machinery and off road vehicles, but not passenger cars.

9/19/2011 1:10:00 PM

^ i read that, too...and i was curious as to how much of that might be prevented using a cover on all those holes...

9/19/2011 2:23:37 PM

the vibration would probably be better but the heat would be significantly worse.

9/19/2011 2:54:42 PM

I assume the vibration is from the spokes. I wonder why they don't make more, smaller spokes or use a cellular structure, like a foam core of some sort?

9/19/2011 2:59:44 PM

i think these would look baller on your Lotus project. its like the spoked wheels of the 21st century. and you can top it off with OLED android-powered instrumentation

9/19/2011 3:57:17 PM

Heck, why not

9/19/2011 4:15:44 PM

^^^ the more rubber, the more heat

9/20/2011 1:38:40 AM