how do solid rubber tyres on standard vehicles work?

Question

I don’t know if this is technically a physics or an engineering question so I put it as physics but if it’s more in the engineering section feel free to let me know.
But I watched a movie called Dragged across concrete and there’s a bit where it’s demonstrated that a security vehicle can has solid rubber tyres. I thought a vehicle with solid rubber tyres would be too unweildy to operate. I’m not a physicist or mechanical engineer. Is that a fiction solid rubber tyres or are they actually used on day to day security vehicles on conventional roads?

In: Physics

Answer 1

You are right that a solid rubber tyre is not not going to handle well. So they have a fairly low top speed. You would not drive it on the highway. But solid rubber tyres are used a lot for low speed situations. They handle more weight and are more durable. So security vehicles based on golf cart with solid rubber tyres are quite common in industrial areas where it is likely to get a flat. You can even get softer rubber compounds that handles even at medium speeds. So you could have a city car on solid rubber tyres to drive around on city streets, but still not highways.

Another style of rubber tyres are run on flat inserts. These sit inside a regular tyre and normally does not touch the outside rubber. But if you get a flat the tyre can not collapse and you now run on the rubber or plastic insert. Again handling is a lot worse so speeds are limited. This is intended to get you home or to a tyre shop without stopping, not to drive around day after day. So if you get a flat on the highway you can slow down and limp to a suitable highway exit.

But there is more research being done with rubber tyres. There is a concept of cutting holes in a solid rubber tyre so that the remaining rubber forms a dampening lattice. This have properties much closer to compressed air which gives the tyre similar properties to a normal tyre. The handling is good enough to drive highway speeds. Even though this is still under research there are lots of prototypes of these types of tyres. But there may be issues with cost, durability, longevity, etc. preventing them from being sold commercially. Or at least only for very limited use cases.