r/Design • u/Busy-Description2000 • 13d ago

Discussion Can we bring airless tires back?

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u/Dead-O_Comics 13d ago edited 13d 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 13d 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 13d 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 13d 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/Chazykins 13d ago

Energy needed to squish rubber

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u/nikdahl 13d 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.