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Why on earth did they opt for bald tyres? Treaded tires have been known and used since 1905.
by dustintrex 5y ago
Why on earth did they opt for bald tyres? Treaded tires have been known and used since 1905.
- masklinn 5y agoMaybe they didn’t have the tech for good ridging on such massive tyres yet? LeTourneau’s overland trains from 15 years (and a world war) later have pretty simple ridging still.
- kragen 5y agoI feel like you can cut ridges into rubber tires with a hacksaw if the rubber is thick enough. I don't think technological limitations are a plausible explanation; they must have thought slicks were actually the right solution for some reason.
- masklinn 5y ago> I feel like you can cut ridges into rubber tires with a hacksaw if the rubber is thick enough. I don’t think that’s how you thread rubber, it’d essentially be like introducing cracks in the material which would weaken it significantly.
- kragen 5y agoI agree that that's not how treads are normally made, but it would definitely work. Rubber is really, really good at resisting crack propagation, at least above its Tg. I mean, it's not that crack propagation is not a consideration at all, but it's not the overriding concern that it is for ceramics and even, at times, metals.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoThat is how it can be done. You can find videos of south asians manually cutting new grooves on worn down truck tires. It was normal practice in the rest of the world before retreading was invented.
- genewitch 5y agoThey use a hot knife, which I don't know is technically cutting, but probably much less likely to damage the substrate.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoIt doesn't require a hot knife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zs34npA41I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zs34npA41I
- kragen 5y agoThat is seriously impressive workmanship. Do you suppose this is in Sialkot?