In the never again jobs thread the other day, BBD complained about having to inflate tyres and I agreed, suggesting we could do with solid ones.
Michelin got there first. Today a friend sent me this
www.michelinman.com/difference/releases/pressrelea...l
About time too.
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I notice that this press release is rather annoyingly more than 18 months old. Has everyone else got these things on their cars already?
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I remember seeing this when it was released and thought it's almost the equivalent of Duracell inventing an everlasting battery. The tyre industry must earn billions from barely worn tyres replaced due to punctures - why invent something that potentially removes this lucrative area of their business?
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"it's almost the equivalent of Duracell inventing an everlasting battery"
Does anyone remember the tv series where two inventors in a silver TT (motoring connection!) went around designing better versions of things, including a new rinky-dink kind of shaver which didn't have blades. It worked very well from what I remember but did it ever go into production (I think Boots were interested) or was it sat on by the likes of Gillette and Wilkinson Sword?
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But those seethrough tyres don't look as if they'll last for ever. Indeed very likely not as long as pneumatic ones, certainly at first.
Do the 'spokes' fatigue and simply release the tread, for example? Bet they do.
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Do the 'spokes' fatigue and simply release the tread, for example? Bet they do.
I was thinking a similar thing. It says the black spokes are polyurethane, how long will they last in real world driving and weather conditions? Will we hear of people who have done 40000 miles and then kerbed one saying, "I've snapped some spokes on my front Tweel, I need a new one."
On the Chris Longhurst site ( www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html , about half way down the page), it says the tread should last 3 times as long as a normal tyre, and can be re-treaded. But the outer black bit must be bonded to the inner alloy hub, so presumably the initial purchase cost will reflect the fact that its an alloy and tyre in one. Will they be engineered to fail at x-thousand miles, to keep people buying new ones?
It would be interesting to try them, it says they are 5 times stiffer laterally than conventional tyres.
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Does anyone know what happened to the car that runs on water?
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"car that runs on water"
We call them boats
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The car that run's on water is alive and well:
tinyurl.com/k67sq
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Does anyone know what happened to the car that runs on water?
This jeep with 800bhp and paddle tyres runs on water: www.metacafe.com/watch/141868/cool_jeep/
Or do you mean a car that is powered by water? No I dont know about that one.
;o)
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Lud emailed me earlier asking how to post some pictures to the forum. Unfortunately at the time the pictures didn't come out in his email. I have since seen the pictures, and it turns out that Michelins "Tweels" were first mentioned here last Jan.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=28255
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Or did you mean this one Colin?
tinyurl.com/zx85o (New Scientist link, it's free until the 25th September as they've got a special offer on, then will revert to subscription only)
A car that *actually* runs on water (as opposed to diesel / petrol etc). Well, sort of.
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What happens when the proud owner of these "tweels" lets his wife have a drive, and she bashes the front nearside tweel on a curb?
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That's the one!
Thanks Gordon!
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Colin-E
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