4 ms·

GOOD point by my wife, why don’t we work on puncture resistance instead? Reinforce the tires with Kevlar or carbon fiber?

ashtonkem 5y ago
Because traditional tires wear down over time even if they aren’t punctured. The goal is to make ones that last longer than that. Also, airless tires are puncture proof by definition.
- colejohnson66 5y ago
  Airless tires will still wear out though. That’s the nature of friction with the road. The important one is: how much more durable are these compared to your normal rubber ones?
  - sailfast 5y ago
    Per the video, their plan is to 3D print additional sustainable tread on demand and/or switch you over to snow tires if you need them using 3D printing techniques while you have a snack (apparently)
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    They can be re-belted like a semi truck tire, with a sacrificial wear layer on top of an airless support structure. Obviously they will still consume the rubber that wears down, but most of the tire will be reused rather than disposed of.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
masklinn 5y ago
Kevlar-reinforced tyres exist, they’re used on off-road vehicle. I expect they don’t protect much against the sort of very thin puncture you’d find on a standard road because there’s simply too much pressure being applied when driving a car over a nail/screw. I don’t think carbon fibre would be of any use here, it’s not super strong against high transversal forces AFAIK. It’d mostly be useful for sidewall rigidity (and I’d be surprised if it didn’t already exist).
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Handling and NVH tradeoffs. You can reduce tire pressure to combat these but a more substantially built tire will succumb to heat related early failure more easily if you do that. Also money. Tires with more stuff in them and more exotic stuff in them are more expensive because that directly translates to more manufacturing steps.
sudosysgen 5y ago
I have Kevlar reinforced tires on my ebike. It's expensive.
ben_w 5y ago
My bicycle tires are kevlar (I think) reinforced for puncture resistance. For me it was absolutely worth the cost, given how often I had been getting punctures before that: on a roughly 12-18 minute cycle commute, I went from one every month or so with normal tires to no puncture ever until the tire itself wore out.

ashtonkem 5y ago

Because traditional tires wear down over time even if they aren’t punctured. The goal is to make ones that last longer than that. Also, airless tires are puncture proof by definition.

colejohnson66 5y ago
Airless tires will still wear out though. That’s the nature of friction with the road. The important one is: how much more durable are these compared to your normal rubber ones?
- sailfast 5y ago
  Per the video, their plan is to 3D print additional sustainable tread on demand and/or switch you over to snow tires if you need them using 3D printing techniques while you have a snack (apparently)
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  They can be re-belted like a semi truck tire, with a sacrificial wear layer on top of an airless support structure. Obviously they will still consume the rubber that wears down, but most of the tire will be reused rather than disposed of.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

masklinn 5y ago

Kevlar-reinforced tyres exist, they’re used on off-road vehicle. I expect they don’t protect much against the sort of very thin puncture you’d find on a standard road because there’s simply too much pressure being applied when driving a car over a nail/screw. I don’t think carbon fibre would be of any use here, it’s not super strong against high transversal forces AFAIK. It’d mostly be useful for sidewall rigidity (and I’d be surprised if it didn’t already exist).

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

Handling and NVH tradeoffs. You can reduce tire pressure to combat these but a more substantially built tire will succumb to heat related early failure more easily if you do that. Also money. Tires with more stuff in them and more exotic stuff in them are more expensive because that directly translates to more manufacturing steps.

sudosysgen 5y ago

I have Kevlar reinforced tires on my ebike. It's expensive.

ben_w 5y ago

My bicycle tires are kevlar (I think) reinforced for puncture resistance. For me it was absolutely worth the cost, given how often I had been getting punctures before that: on a roughly 12-18 minute cycle commute, I went from one every month or so with normal tires to no puncture ever until the tire itself wore out.