Goodyear's 'On TheGo' Self Inflating Tire 207
A reader writes with a bit of maintenance saving tech for drivers. From the article: "When was the last time you checked your tire pressure? If you're scratching your head, you might want to put a set of Goodyear's new self-inflating tires on your ride. The company's Air Maintenance Technology was rolled out of the lab this week for debut at a car show in Germany. Commercial truckers will be the first to put the rubber to test, but a consumer version is in the works. A regulator in the tire senses when tire-inflation pressure drops below a pre-set point and opens to allow air flow into the pumping tube. As the tire rolls, deformation flattens the tube, pushing air through the tire to the inlet valve and then into the tire cavity. All this technology, in Goodyear's words, eliminates the need for 'external inflation pressure intervention.'"
Re:At the cost of fuel economy (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you're missing the point. This is EXACTLY what we need with gas at $4/gallon.
When your tire pressure is low, you get less MPG. So this tire, when the pressure gets low will open a valve to "reinflate" your tire to specified pressure. Ensuring proper ride, handling and better gas mileage.
It's not going to inflate constantly, rather just when the tire drops below a set level. Kind of like a thermostat. but for pressure. A barometricstat.
Re:Price is key... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Self-foaming tires. (Score:3, Insightful)
+5 insightful
Bad idea. Foam filled and other "airless tires" all have very high rolling resistance (takes more energy to roll than an air filled tire). Their only applications are where the cost of a flat is very high (or very inconvenient) -- for example military vehicles or wheel chairs.
Re:Self-foaming tires. (Score:0, Insightful)
-5 you're a fucking moron.
Re:At the cost of fuel economy (Score:4, Insightful)
Where this technology is needed is RV and trailer tires. If a car tire blows, usually one has a time where it runs flat. A travel trailer or a fifth wheel, you don't feel the blown tire until it has blown off the rim and caused significant amounts of damage to the rig. Having something like this wouldn't just save 1-2 MPG, it might save a $50,000 trailer or more if it keeps a tire on the rim.
Re:Price is key... (Score:5, Insightful)
I was reading a DOT report on "Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study" (DOT HS 811 060) and an inference that approximately 50% of tire failures are due to belt separation and that 50% of the probable cause is due to under inflation (both refer to "all tire failures").
And not enough of the cost of tread separation is borne by users of retreads. Aside from the all too common problem of tire guts strewn along the shoulder of the highway, there is the very real danger of a retread causing damage to a vehicle or possibly an accident with injuries. Last year, I had the pleasure of driving along Rt 128 here in Bostonland at night. An 18 wheeler decided to cast off one of its tires; I managed to avoid all but one of the pieces. My reward is a large dent in my once pristine car, and no clue who is responsible beyond the fact that it is 17 wheeler now.
I'm not saying retreads are always bad, nor am I suggesting we should soak truckers because they are evil. But the way retreads are currently used have significant externalities for other road users. The very same road users who would have bought an item that the truck was carrying if they didn't have to fix their car.
Performance in wet weather? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not trolling here, but how does it pump only air and not water? I've driven in some wet parts of the country, and many more that were snowy and slushy. There's a lot of dust and moisture down there on the road at times.
Re:Police Tires, no? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just out of curiosity, what do people around here think of "run flat" tires? A new car I'm considering getting comes with them standard and I'm curious...
That depends. If you buy a car to get from point A to point B, they aren't that bad. Factor in that replacements are more expensive, wear out quicker, and mechanics often charge more to mount/balance them, versus the extremely occasional flat tire.
However, if you are any sort of auto enthusiast, run-flat tires are the work of the devil. Very small selection, all with bad handling and poor traction. Many people are not buying BMWs any more simply because they all come with run-flats, and the extra added expense of buying four real tires for a brand new old car is just silly.
Re:At the cost of fuel economy (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see how his would help with blowouts other than perhaps by reducing tire wear a bit by maintaining ideal pressure. No amount of "trickle-charging" is going to compensate for the fact that there is a gaping hole preventing the tire from holding air. And the usage scenario for trailers and RVs is generally sit around for months on end and then get driven around for a short while - unless the charge rate is pretty fast you'd still want to top off your tires before you hit the road, though I suppose it would be handy for those absent-minded individuals that forget to do so until they've been on the road for a hundred miles or so.
Re:Sounds different from the bike one. (Score:5, Insightful)
Or you could get a Toyota Avalon, and do standard maintenance... 220,000 miles and nothing has ever gone wrong. I've got all those things you don't have and it still works like a champ. Could the real problem be American planned obsolescence? Just a thought.
The problem with that is a well maintained Toyota Avalon is still a Toyota Avalon. BTW, Toyota doesn't have to plan obsolescence, the Japanese government has legislated it for them. It gets expensive to keep old cars in Japan.