Bridgestone makes airless tire

by hans | December 2, 2011 9:45 am

• Non-pneumatic design, does not require air.
• Made from recycled thermoplastics.
• Not commercially available yet.

At this month’s Tokyo Motor Show, Japanese tire maker Bridgestone will be showing off a prototype for an airless tire designed for passenger vehicles. In place of conventional air pressure, Bridgestone’s airless tire concept supports the vehicle’s weight by using meshed thermoplastic resin spokes radiating outwards from the center. Bridgestone says tire is made of recyclable materials, with both the thread rubber and thermoplastic materials can be reused.

However don’t expect to find this at your local tire dealer anytime soon though, as the product is still at a very stage of development. So far, Bridgestone has only tested the tire on single seater electric carts and have not announced any timeline for commercial introduction.

The concept of an airless tire is nothing new. Similar concepts have been introduced by other tire makers, including Michelin Tweel and Yokohama Youmyaku. In fact, more than 50 years ago Goodyear already produced a fully functional airless tire for NASA’s Lunar Rover.

But with the tire market being what it is, consumers don’t see anything particularly wrong with current tire technology, so any adoption of new tire solutions will be very slow. Run flat tires have been around for more than almost a decade already and they are still only adopted by the premium vehicles segment. In many markets, including Malaysia, many consumers still don’t see the benefits of a compact, lightweight, easy to replace space saver tire and insist on getting a heavy full size tire from car manufacturers.

Source URL: http://www.motorindustry.org/2011/12/02/bridgestone-makes-airless-tire/

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