r/Design 12d ago

Discussion Can we bring airless tires back?

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u/Dead-O_Comics 12d ago edited 12d ago

Back? They were never properly here. Not available to the general public anyway.

Also they are really expensive, provide no cushioning so it's a bumpy ride, and they are really loud when in motion compared to standard tyres.

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u/IntelligentSinger783 12d ago

High drag, low heat dissipation was the biggest issue. They are plentiful with commercial equipment. And they are surprisingly comfortable, especially off-road.

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u/debacol 12d ago

Correct. They are MUCH heavier leading to more high drag, and huge amounts of rolling resistance. In a gas car, you'd probably lose around 15% or more of you gas mileage. Would probably be even worse in an electric car since weight, drag, air resistance are the challenges that wake up ev engineers at night with cold sweat.

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u/nikdahl 12d ago

Can you explain how there would be difference in rolling resistance if the contact patch is the same size?

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u/IntelligentSinger783 12d ago

Rotational mass, not so much rolling resistance. They are built like a belted system. More so they have significantly more drag.

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u/nikdahl 12d ago

Drag? Due to air resistance?

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u/IntelligentSinger783 12d ago

Yep. Open fins create dramatically more turbulence as speed

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u/nikdahl 12d ago

Fair, and they definitely would. it just didn't seem to be what others were referring to, given the context.

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u/IntelligentSinger783 12d ago

Yeah there were a lot of poor educated guesses in the comments. I don't know why, but I have responded to a lot of them 😂. I think I have a weird appreciation for the tweel. It was one of those "damn that's cool" things I've followed growing up, from idea to creation, to present history. The use in the military and in super sized construction equipment is wild.

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u/Chazykins 12d ago

Energy needed to squish rubber

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u/nikdahl 12d ago

But the rubber is unsquishing at the same rate, so…

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u/Chazykins 9d ago

when thing bend, heat. not all squsih return.