Wouldnt a solid rubber tire do the same job with no risk of punctures?
In: 296
A solid rubber tire would be extremely rigid compared to a pneumatic tire, and thus produce an extremely rough ride and poor handling in comparison. (They’re also heavy)
Solid rubber tires would be much heavier, which would weight the car down, reduce fuel efficiency, make them harder to manage/maneuver for replacement.
Solid tires would be much more harsh of a ride because it wouldn’t absorb as much of the road bumps, etc.
Cost would be significantly higher due to the added material, but they’d still need to be replaced as often due to treat wear.
Expense, partially. Pressurized air is far cheaper than vulcanized rubber and as long as the tire is reasonably thick then punctures are the exception rather than the rule. With the costs of one solid rubber tire you can buy several pneumatic tires, including all the replacements you’d need for punctures.
There’s also the matter of weight to consider as well as shock absorption. Pressurized air tires are just better for the vehicle and riders than solid rubber tires.
Also efficiency, if you made a purely rubber tire of equivalent squishiness as an air filled tire, it’d be burning a lot more of the energy as heat when it gets squished instead of storing it in the air and returning it when it springs back.
One of the major issues that people forget about is heat.
Tires are compressed against the road, they flex with every revolution, and flexing rubber creates heat. At higher speeds, that rapid flexing creates so much heat they they basically start to melt and fall apart.
That’s why you only see solid rubber tires on low-speed vehicles like lawnmowers and forklifts, and it’s why there’s laws limiting the top speed of vehicles with solid rubber tires.
EX: [Tex. Transp. Code § 545.361](https://casetext.com/statute/texas-codes/transportation-code/title-7-vehicles-and-traffic/subtitle-c-rules-of-the-road/chapter-545-operation-and-movement-of-vehicles/subchapter-h-speed-restrictions/section-545361-special-speed-limitations): “(b) An operator of a vehicle equipped with solid rubber or cushion tires may not drive at a speed of more than 10 miles per hour.”
[AZ Transp. Code 28-706](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00706.htm), [SD Codified Laws 32-25-6.2](https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-25-6), etc.
They do make them. But they’re heavy, hard to put on, and they don’t always stay on in high pressure cornering. Best use case is that i’ve found is bicycle trailers.
Air is compressible and acts as a spring. Crucially, *all* of the air in a tire can compress to absorb a bump, versus a tire with springs or compressible material where only the material directly between the ground and the rim can compress (like Tannus tires or moon buggy tires)
Eventually someone will develop and mass produce a “tweel” that actually works. Advances in 3D printing should help in coming years.
As someone who operates heavy equipment that runs on solid rubber tires
Because the ride is fucking brutal, they’re loud, heavy and far more expensive than traditional tires
There are tires that don’t require air, and yes they don’t risk punctures. But they lose the benefit of having less resistance to the ground and therefore cause more drag. More drag leads to less fuel efficiency. Pneumatic tires are also pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things and flats aren’t so common that you need to replace a tire so often. The US Army is trying to look into various designs that both save weight and don’t require air.
Latest Answers