Coming to a racing series near us soon™?

[Just_a_fan]

Don't know about sports cars / racing cars, but for off road use? Perfect. No pinched sidewalls, no risk of punctures, no sliced sidewalls. I can see them for agricultural and other big machines too. Lorries - no blow outs on the motorway.

But as racing tyres? Anything is possible with the will and the money.

[RZS10]

They've been selling the 'tweel' tyres for lawnmowers, golf karts, small agricultural and other similar vehicles for some time and that is basically off road.

[DiogoBrand]

Like someone already mentioned, this type of tyre has been coming soon for at least 10 years.
Regarding dirt and stones getting inside the rubber, couldn't it be solved by just adding a thin sidewall? It could possibly help with air noise as well and also would add somewhere for the manufacturers to add their branding and information like they do on regular tyres.
Wouldn't want to spend over a decade developing a revolutionary product only to be unable to write a big fat "MICHELIN" on the sides.

[Big Tea]

How would they stand up to the high sheer loads with grip v power? there would seem to be all sorts of loads in the 'tyre' that could focus in one spot.

[Slo Poke]

Caterpillar Tractor Company were using the type of wheel tyre forty maybe fifty years ago. Operators hated them. Best possible user Military.

[Zynerji]

I agree with lots of posters on here, but I would like to point out that 3d printing as a manufacturing methodology is far more recent than the previous iterations of these tyres. The ability to have hollow internal structures as well as directionally loaded tensors using modern filaments (carbon fiber etc).

I'd be VERY interested to see a set made for a time trial record attempt. Even if it is a one-off, at least we could see how they would perform against pneumatic variants.

[Pat Pending]

Yes yes yes, but will it drift?!

[Zynerji]

Yes yes yes, but will it drift?!

I thought drifting was all in the soft rear suspension??

[Just_a_fan]

I agree with lots of posters on here, but I would like to point out that 3d printing as a manufacturing methodology is far more recent than the previous iterations of these tyres. The ability to have hollow internal structures as well as directionally loaded tensors using modern filaments (carbon fiber etc).

I'd be VERY interested to see a set made for a time trial record attempt. Even if it is a one-off, at least we could see how they would perform against pneumatic variants.

Can a reinforced rubber be printed? Tyres have lots of reinforcement in them that, presumably even these tyres will need in some form or other.

Is everything printable? Honest question as I have no idea whether a tyre can be printed.

[Rodak]

I wonder how they keep it on the rim. Screws?

[Just_a_fan]

One thought about these tyres - they will need to be built for each make/model of car. Why? Well different manufacturers currently use the same size and make of tyre but will often specify different pressures to suit their car. So the new tyres will need to be engineered to suit each car manufacturer's requirements.

Or will we just see one of each size and all cars on that size will use the same tyre? What about changes in car weights? Today, we change the air pressure in the tyres for high / low car weights e.g. four adults plus luggage or a couple of adults. If the new tyre is designed to carry the higher loads needed in a size, a lighter car will effectively have very stiff tyres.

A lot of questions come to mind comparing this with traditional pneumatic tyres.

[Zynerji]

I agree with lots of posters on here, but I would like to point out that 3d printing as a manufacturing methodology is far more recent than the previous iterations of these tyres. The ability to have hollow internal structures as well as directionally loaded tensors using modern filaments (carbon fiber etc).

I'd be VERY interested to see a set made for a time trial record attempt. Even if it is a one-off, at least we could see how they would perform against pneumatic variants.

Can a reinforced rubber be printed? Tyres have lots of reinforcement in them that, presumably even these tyres will need in some form or other.

Is everything printable? Honest question as I have no idea whether a tyre can be printed.

Yes, and yes. FDM can print carbon Fibre filaments, and Resin printing can do hollow structured hard/flexible parts with near-perfect resolution.

There are then post-processing to cure them into usable items.

What I find fascinating is that they don't just make it a flat radiused rim (maybe cog it) with a replaceable rubber tread. The recycling gain from that alone would be enormous!

I've also wondered a bit about plastic wheels and HOT brake disc's being so intimate...