Gizmodo: tires

Honeycomb Tires Take a Lick, Just Don't Actually Lick Them

Mark Wilson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:15:00 EST

This 37-inch tire can take the explosion of an IED along with a few rounds of rife fire and still haul an armored Humvee out of a battle at 50mph. Completely airless and supported by a honeycomb-inspired series of hexagons, the tire's structure can distribute weight loads evenly while taunting the enemy that it doesn't even require a hubcap (unlike Michelin's Tweel). The tires are expected to teach the military by 2011 when they're promised to carry comparable costs to current models. [CNET]

Hummer Tank: Right In Time for Winter/Economic Crisis

Mark Wilson — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:40:00 EST

In case gas mileage on your Hummer wasn't spiting Prius drivers everywhere enough, engineers have pooled their talents to add aftermarket tracked belts in place of the "nothing wrong with 'em" wheels. Needless to say, MPG and top speed will be greatly diminished on this H2. But the tears shed in the face of its general lack of humanity should be voluminous enough to wash away the world's pollution one or two times over. [Jalopnik]

Kumho's Lavender-Scented Tires Go By the Name of Ecsta DX; Probably Answer to the Name 'Pointless'

AddyDugdale — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:34:11 EST

Apparently, Kumho's skid 'n' sniff tires are going out to the "trend-setting, fashion-conscious drivers" who want their cars to rock something that no one else has: the sweet smell of lavender. Now then, while I wholeheartedly applaud Kumho's decision to bring something so unique to wheelwear, I question the choice of fragrance. Surely "Eau de Roadkill" or "Rocker's Crotch" would have been more marketable than the scent most associated with a slightly incontinent old queen who thrilled millions during her lifetime—no, not Liberace, I'm talking about Britain's late, lamented Queen Mother. Full blurb from Tire Rack's product page is below.

The Ecsta DX Aroma is Kumho's Grand Touring All-Season tire designed for trend-setting, fashion-conscious drivers who enjoy products that will set their luxury coupes and sedans apart from everyone else's. In addition to delivering an alluring aroma that replaces a tire's normal "rubber" smell with the subtle scent of fresh lavender, the Ecsta DX Aroma is designed to deliver a comfortable ride and low noise, while blending good wear with dry, wet and year-round traction, even in light snow.
Using a special mixing technology to blend the synthetic oils that provide the fragrant scent into the rubber compound, these heat-resistant oils are said to enhance the bonding of rubber chains and maximize the viscoelasticity of the rubber compound, which helps reduce braking distances on wet or dry roads. The Ecsta DX Aroma compound also features silica to improve all-weather performance and wet traction.

This unique compound is molded into a sophisticated directional tread design that features a continuous center rib for constant road contact to enhance highway stability, along with tread blocks designed to provide uniform stiffness to maintain ride comfort throughout the life of the tire. The tread blocks also feature an optimized pitch sequence resulting in variable pitch lengths to help minimize noise, while four wide circumferential and numerous sweeping intermediate grooves help evacuate water reducing the risk of hydroplaning. The tire's structure includes high-tensile steel belts and a jointless nylon cap ply to help improve ride comfort and durability, while an undertread reduces unwanted heat buildup for consistent performance.

NOTE: The lavender scent lasts approximately 1 year and while always present, is most noticeable immediately after normal driving when the tires are warm.

The Ecsta DX tires cost $81 each, all the self-esteem you ever had and a lilac-colored paintjob on your muscle car. [Tire Rack via Tips—thanks, Wikkit]

Qtires Make Swapping Tires Obsolete

Adam Frucci — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:30:00 EDT

Swapping your snow tires off for regular tires at the end of every winter, and vice-versa at the start of every winter, is one of those tasks, like going to the dentist, that's an annoying inevitability every year. But that doesn't have to be so!

Celsius's Qtires have retractable studs that come out when the weather conditions call for them. I'm not sure exactly how these things work, but apparently they work great as all-weather tires as well as snow tires. Say goodbye to your twice-yearly trips to JiffyLube, my friends. –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via Oh Gizmo!]

Michelin Develops Airless Tires

Travis Hudson — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 10:15:37 EDT

Worrying about running over a nail, or making sure your tires are always full may be a thing of the past thanks to the R&D team at Michelin. This is a prototype for airless tires. Instead of the regular inflated tire, this tire has the traditional outer treads wrapped around flexible, yet sturdy spokes. Apparently these tires are going by the name tweel, which is completely stupid. Jump to see a video of the tweel in action. Image via Fourtitude

– Travis Hudson

The Future of Tires......Tweels [Wall Street Fighter]

Tire Pressure Check Caps Concept

Travis Hudson — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:07:34 EDT

This product neatly falls nicely into the category of "Why didn't I think of that." This conceptual design comes way of John Wrightson. The tire cap has a small LCD screen that will display the current tire pressure with a push of the button. Now if only Wrightson could figure out a way for the caps to know what the recommended pressure is for said tires. Smart idea, but would definitely suck when the caps are lost—which is likely to happen. – Travis Hudson

Tire Pressure Check [Yanko]

RFID Tags Embedded in Daytona 500 Tires

johnb — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:13:52 EST

Vroom. NASCAR and Goodyear have teamed up to mark all Goodyear Eagle tires with RFID tags. Pit crews, and potentially score-keepers, can read the tags as the cars come around the track or take pit stops. In the ultimate in PR-douchery, however, we get this sort of explanation from the tag manufacturer:

"We are pleased that we were able to cross the finish line with Goodyear and that they chose us to collaborate with them on the development and manufacture of their RFID tire tag," said Dan Finch, president and CEO of Advanced ID, the tag manufacturing company.

Chock full of info, right?

RFID tags embedded in Daytona 500 tires