With supercomputers capable of beating our best chess and Jeopardy players, you’d think that being able to simulate the sounds a tire makes while rolling on a road was easy—but it’s not. In fact, Yokohama had to team up with the Japanese equivalent of NASA to finally recreate how air and sound behave around the company’s tires.
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Goodyear’s unnamed concept builds on a standard SUV tire with a large central groove to improve rolling resistance by having a reduced contact patch with the road. But as you can see from the tread, this is strictly a concept with no intention of being put into production. Yet.
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Remember the lazy summer days of your youth spent whiling away the hours on your backyard tire swing? It only stands to reason that your local bird population—who are all clearly unemployed—are looking for a lazy spot to hang out too. So this 5.5-inch ceramic tire swing bird feeder is the perfect way to lure them to your yard.
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Studded tires are probably the best way to avoid sliding all over the place on slippery, icy roads. But when that layer of snow and ice is gone, they’re not particularly friendly to bare asphalt. Nokian Tyres, though, has developed this concept tire with studs that extend and retract with the push of a button on your dashboard.
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Those big chunky tires used on mountain bikes don’t just help plow through rough terrain and absorb shocks. When under-inflated, they also have a much larger footprint for extra grip on uneven surfaces—but there’s a tradeoff. When an impact compresses the inner tube too far it can cause what’s known as snake bite punctures, an all too common problem faced by bikers that a new double-chambered tire might solve.
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If you’ve ever had a flat tire on your motorcycle, scooter, or ATV, you know how helpless you can feel. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no help coming, especially if you’re stuck somewhere without cell service. This can mean a trek back to civilization, or waiting for some help. This will never happen with this ATV.
The Polaris Sportsman WV850 HO ATV will stand up to any punishment you feel fit to deal upon it. It’s built to military specifications, and features the industry’s first non-pneumatic tires, which will never get flats, tear, rip or puncture. They can actually stand up to a .50-calibre round and still work for another 350 miles.
It comes equipped with a steel exoskeleton, racks, a large towing capacity, and powered by a 77 hp engine.
All this military technology doesn’t come cheap, as you’ll have to fork over at least $14,999(USD) to get yours. Think about how much money you’ll save on flats. Ok, it’s probably not that much, but this thing is still pretty damned impressive.
Bridgestone continues to taunt us with its wonderful airless tires that promise enhanced durability, minimal maintenance, and the ability to never go flat. Previously, the tiremaker was only demonstrating smaller versions of the wheel
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Airless—or non-pneumatic tires—have popped up from time to time over the past few years, and while they offer many advantages over traditional air-filled tires, they haven’t been available outside of research labs—until now. Polaris is officially the first company to offer a vehicle with non-pneumatic tires on its new Sportsman WV850 H.O. all-terrain vehicle.
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This lion sculpture is made entirely out of old shredded tires by artist Yong Ho Ji and was spotted by Redditor m1keyth while at the Beyond Limits sculpture expo in Chatsworth, UK. All I can say is that lions look awesome made from tires. I’d love to see a dragon now too.
Who knew that tire art could look this good? We should be making tire sculptures everywhere just to stop them from going to the landfills. At least we know that if this lion ever comes to life, it is going to be able to get a firm grip on you with its claws, even in the rain.
I would hate to be the guy who has to Armor All this sucker. That would be an all day job.
You can check out numerous other awesome tire sculptures over on Yong Ho Ji’s website.
[via Geekologie]
Inspired by Bridgestone’s puncture-proof tires
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