Strange Non-Pneumatic Tire Technology at SEMA

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

While wandering the Tire and Wheel area at SEMA, I found this interesting technology, developed for the military, that’s set to expand into more widespread everyday applications in the very near future. It’s a tire solution that was developed to prevent typical pneumatic tire failures caused by punctures, ballistics, or road conditions. This tire replacement has been in testing on the military’s HMMWV “Humvee” tactical vehicles–it’s meant to be a direct replacement for the standard tires currently used in “extreme” situations. Read more…

One of the most extreme tests include firing 5 large-caliber rounds from a high velocity rifle, which resulted in only a negligible loss in the tire’s structural integrity. Amazingly, the tire could still could perform its normal function at highway speeds of 75 MPH. Bulletproof!

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Posted at 3:21 pm in Military, SEMA, SEMA 2009, Tires, udman

Comments

Esoteric18
Nov 5, 2009 at 11:13 pm

If I remember right cardomain already did a blog on this. Cool regardless

GTwildfire
Nov 5, 2009 at 2:01 pm

This is like (or might even be made by the makers of the ) the “Tweel”.
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I’ve seen the Tweel on the same documentary for years, one of those “it’ll happen someday” inventions that never seems to materialize in the marketplace.
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An obvious gripe is the open sidewalls. One good snow or ice storm, not even a significant one and you’re wobbling down the roadway. Seems they got a good solution to eliminate the pneumatic tire, but no good solution to close the sides of Tweels apparently.
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IMO don’t hold your breath for these in the civilian market.

I_Luv_Dusty
Nov 5, 2009 at 12:34 pm

Just put some sidewalls on it, please.

DJs-zj360
Nov 5, 2009 at 6:33 am

These have been out for a while now but they’re still badass! And they are the only rubber band tire that I actually like.

TOPlamborghini
Nov 4, 2009 at 4:24 pm

This stuff was in the blog already some time ago, i remember it

Chris Bicknell
Nov 4, 2009 at 3:26 pm

Very cool. Being ex military I really appreciate these kind of breakthroughs. I’ve seen computer simulations where they are trying to put sensors in this type of tire to relay road conditions back to the DOT and then send crews to fix potholes and respond to other road hazards without the need for anyone to call it in. Pretty cool stuff.