Bridgestone Announces Airless Eco-Tires

Well-known tire manufacturer Bridgestone announced their new prototype tire, claiming it requires no air at all. The prototype is also supposed to be greener to produce and recycle, and is on display at the Tokyo Motor Show this week.

The new prototype looks normal on the outside, but underneath the conventional wheel tread is a honeycomb of curved spokes. The spokes themselves are made of reusable and recyclable materials, allowing the tires to be recycled with little more difficulty than current traditional tires.

Bridgestone’s prototype has a number of safety considerations to recommend it, as well. As it doesn’t rely on air pressure, it should be more puncture-proof than traditional tires, and that same lack of air pressure eliminates the need to check tire pressure. Smaller rims also allegedly give the tire points in crash safety tests.

According to Bridgestone, they’ve developed the prototype with an eye towards mass production. Would you like to see zero-air tires on your car? Let us know in the comments, below.

Source | Image: Auto Motor Und Sport.

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Tags: airless, airless tires, automobiles, bridgestone, car, Conventional Cars, Environment, New Technology, prototype, recyclable tires, recycle, reduce reuse recycle, research, reuse, tires, transportation

About the Author

Charis Michelsen spent 7 years living in Germany and Japan, studying both languages extensively, doing translation and education with companies like Bosch, Nissan, Fuji Heavy, and others. Charis has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. She also believes that Janeway was the best Star Trek Captain.

Charles Byam

Sure would love to have a set of 4 for my PT
Jerry

Yes, with more cars going without a spare, I would love a set for my Leaf. But I would also like to know if it is a terribly heavy wheel / tire combination compared to current technology.
- http://importantmedia.org/members/joborras/ Jo Borras
  
  The reason most cars are going without spares these days is because of the massive weight of the things (and the jack required to lift the car). It’s like carrying luggage for a weekend trip for 2 everywhere you go … always … for no reason.
http://maxhedrm.montebellopark.com/blog Maxhedrm

There have been videos of these, or similar, floating around for years. I would also be concerned about weight. Not only that, but those tiny wheels won’t fit over many decent modern brakes. And, no more adjusting your pressure for load, handling, & ride compliance considerations.
- http://importantmedia.org/members/joborras/ Jo Borras
  
  Those other videos were of a product called the “twheel” (spelling?) which didn’t have much chance for production. As for the comment that these won’t fit over many “decent” modern brakes, several cars (including sportscars like Porsche’s GT3 hybrid and virtually every F1 racecar) relegate a good portion of their braking duties not to spinning ferrous masses of unsprung weight, but to flywheels or other energy-recovery systems, meaning you can have “decent” braking, while still using a smaller wheel with more aspect ratio for a smoother ride on real-world (read: crap) roads.
  
  Finally, that whole “big rotor” thing is a machismo-posturing joke, anyway. The best brakes in the world are on F1 cars, and they run (approx.) 13″ rims – and “adjusting your pressure for load, handling, and ride compliance” can still be achieved without air pressure – go check out one of the suspended goPed scooters for the over-simplified version. It’s basically a rubberized torsion spring that you can “pre-load”, which should be doable on something like this, as well, without anyone winning any design awards.
  - http://www.sublimeburnout.com Christopher DeMorro
    
    F1 cars also cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and build, and weigh 1,400 pounds. Not really a fair comparison.
    
    But this is Bridgestone here, and if they’re going to develop an airless tire, why develop one that can’t go on most cars? If you’re running oversized brakes you’re limiting your tire options in the first place.
    
    These tires are awesome. ..if they make them.
Mark Perry

Great idea! So how do you keep them high speed balanced when they fill up with mud,pebbles, or other road debris?Are the sides covered?
T Adkins

if they end up being lighter than standard wheels I do wonder how they will affect the performance and ride of motorcycles.

-T
Aaron

I would love one for my spare tire. I have never check the pressure in my spare tire but have used one a few times. I would also take the lowest weight jack that could be made. I would also trade my rear brakes for a 2 direction electric motor.
- T Adkins
  
  One of the things with a tire like this is if you had all your tires like this one you shouldnt need a spare if you had 1 nail or 10 nails in the tire you would just pull them out and go or more likely just keep diving until someone pointed out you had a nail or twelve in your tire. Then after all that driving you should just be able to put a new tread on the tire instead of replacing all of the tires that is if this tire is similar to the a fore mentioned “twheel” this tire looks like it should perform better than the twheel.
  
  -T
http://importantmedia.org/members/susannaschick/ Susanna Schick

nifty! perfect for downtown LA. I get waaaay too many flats. But I wonder if this would work for motorcycle tires.
Aaron

I guess the first step may be this.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3995/