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Title: Why Cars Still Don't Have Airless Tires, Yet

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/14/1...

Twenty years after Michelin introduced the Tweel in 2005, airless tires
remain absent from passenger vehicles despite their promise to "eliminate
nearly 200 million scrap tires a year caused by flats and underinflation,"
according to Michelin's internal testing cited in a Jalopnik report. Current
prototypes "tend to transfer more road noise and vibration into the cabin
than traditional radials -- making the ride harsher, especially at highway
speeds." Heat dissipation poses additional challenges as "airless designs --
particularly those with internal webbing or solid cores -- have fewer ways to
shed thermal load." The added structural mass "can affect fuel economy and
increase unsprung weight -- bad news for handling and suspension tuning."
Federal regulations compound these technical barriers since vehicle tires are
subject to rigorous performance standards, many of which assume air pressure
as a baseline.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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