Airless Tires not adjustable

[charliemagpie]

Airless will be preferred on Mars. A given that they will be manufactured.

But I think they are a great idea for commercial use.. Who cares about road noise if you are an autonomous delivery vehicle.

But an essential item for commercial off the beaten track... If you're going to be using dirt roads with maybe sharp stones... it would be the preferred choice.

If the big companies suppress airless tyres, they will go the way of the Dodo, or the way of the Kodak when it invented and then shelved the digital camera.

Care about your tooling expenses all you want, the next guy is ready to step up.

 

[ldjessee]

I just do not think for most passenger vehicles (ie, cars and trucks) that airless tires will ever make sense.
Weight, expense, heat, mud, etc... Yet they keep trying...
Any improvement to materials will then make an inflated tire (ie, the 'air' tire) better as well.

 

[alan auerbach]

Tire design is a compromise. That is, making one aspect better will make another worse.

Airless design is well underway, notably by a Michelin division -- for combat vehicles.

Early civilian applications are expected to be for off-road machinery (many early farm-tractor tires were airless). Also, for anyone who wants a tire that's bulletproof (literally) in exchange for losing other features.

 

[Ogre]

Airless will be preferred on Mars. A given that they will be manufactured.

But I think they are a great idea for commercial use.. Who cares about road noise if you are an autonomous delivery vehicle.

But an essential item for commercial off the beaten track... If you're going to be using dirt roads with maybe sharp stones... it would be the preferred choice.

If the big companies suppress airless tyres, they will go the way of the Dodo, or the way of the Kodak when it invented and then shelved the digital camera.

Care about your tooling expenses all you want, the next guy is ready to step up.

Most people who want tires for off road want performance which airless tires cannot deliver. An inflated tire is compliant with the surface it is on which improves grip and helps the suspension. These tires do not look at all compliant. Pretty sure they are asphalt only.

 

[Bill906]

If the big companies suppress airless tyres, they will go the way of the Dodo, or the way of the Kodak when it invented and then shelved the digital camera.

Not sure why "big tire" would suppress airless tires. As I stated earlier, airless tires are going to cost a lot more than "air'ed" tires. Especially in the beginning. If I need to replace my tires every (roughly) 30,000 miles, won't "Big Tire" want to sell me the $1000 tire instead of the $400 tire.

 

[charliemagpie]

Not sure why "big tire" would suppress airless tires. As I stated earlier, airless tires are going to cost a lot more than "air'ed" tires. Especially in the beginning. If I need to replace my tires every (roughly) 30,000 miles, won't "Big Tire" want to sell me the $1000 tire instead of the $400 tire.

Agree

Somewhere I read companies may not want to make them because they would lose margin. Something like that. So I added my 5c lol

 

[Luke42]

Airless will be preferred on Mars. A given that they will be manufactured.

But I think they are a great idea for commercial use.. Who cares about road noise if you are an autonomous delivery vehicle.

But an essential item for commercial off the beaten track... If you're going to be using dirt roads with maybe sharp stones... it would be the preferred choice.

If the big companies suppress airless tyres, they will go the way of the Dodo, or the way of the Kodak when it invented and then shelved the digital camera.

Care about your tooling expenses all you want, the next guy is ready to step up.

I'm not sure it matters for Mars.

I run my truck tires at about 3 (earth) atmospheres. The truck manufacturer suggests about 2.25 ATM for smoothness, but the tire is rated up to about 3.7 ATM. My trailer requires a pressure of about 4 (earth) atmospheres in the trailer tires.

Martian air-pressure is around 0.006 ATM.

If I inflate my tires to the manufacturer recommended PSI on earth and send my GMC Sierra to Mars, I wouldn't even have to air down the tires in order to drive it -- though I'd probably want to in order to improve the grip in low gravity and to avoid sinking into sand. Also, since it's a hybrid, I could probably drive it a mile or so on battery power if I had to. It wouldn't be a great driving experience, but it would probably beat walking a mile in a spacesuit.

 

[Crissa]

Also, because it's usually thirty below zero on Mars?

-Crissa

 

[Luke42]

Also, because it's usually thirty below zero on Mars?

Good point - I didn't account the temperature variation.

Here's a decent tire pressure calculator:
https://tirepressure.com/winter-tire-pressure-calculator

If I inflate the tire to the manufacturer recommended 33psi (2.25ATM), then chill the tire to -81F, that brings the pressure down to about 15PSI, which is roughly 1ATM.

Then we take away 0.994 of ambient ATM by shipping my truck to mars, which brings the tire back up to around 30PSI.

With the gravity being 1/3rdish of earth, I'd be able to drive my truck without adjusting the tire pressure. But slowly, because of the reduced traction.

Another factor reducing traction is that rubber gets pretty hard below 0F, and more so at -81F.

Overall, it might be a bit bumpy (my suspension is designed for 3x the weight), and traction would be reduced because of the hard rubber and small traction patch.

My GMC Sierra Hybrid can't break 30mph on electric power, so all of that probably works out to a driving-challenge that's within the driving skills of someone who lives in the parts of the US which have Real Winter.

 

[hridge2020]

Airless tires being tested on Tesla Model 3

https://mashable.com/video/airless-tires-goodyear-tesla
Video Link