For the past fifteen years, Michelin has been working to produce airless loader tires. Although the concept may sound surprising to some, the stated goal was to produce a heavy-duty tire that would never go flat.
In the end they succeeded, but the process wasn't cheap. According to Popular Science, the company spent fifty million dollars bringing their dream to life and building a factory dedicated to building the X Tweel. That may sound like a hefty price tag, but descriptions of the end product make it sound as if this was money well invested:
Unlike pneumatic tires, which cushion rides using a bed of pressurized air, the X Tweel uses a combination of deformable polyurethane spokes, a steel-and-rubber outer rim, and rigid metal hub. The outer rim—called a shear beam—carries most of the load. The spokes and hub distribute the load across different parts of the shear beam as the tire rolls over objects. (Popular Science)A combination tire-and-wheel, the Tweel is not indestructible (it can still be bent and/or damaged by impact or obstacles), but the weight-saving advantages and the impossibility of going flat still combine to bring exciting new benefits to the world of loader tires.
The good news is that working equipment operators aren't the only ones who can benefit from this technology. Polaris now offers airless tires for ATVs, bringing buyers one step closer to building their very own "post-apocalyptic four-wheelers."
Remember that we carry a full range of OTR tires for all of your heavy equipment needs. Please feel free to contact us for the best deals.
Image credit: "MICHELIN X-Tweel on Skid Steer" by TweelTech - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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