Michelin Airless Tires on MINI Cooper SE

  • Thread starter Thread starter Puppethead
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Puppethead

Puppethead

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Michelin's airless tires are almost ready for production, and they're testing on an SE. The video shows actually driving around on them in our favorite EV.

Some interesting commentary about handling, apparently they don't deform when cornering so turning is more responsive. I do wonder about rolling resistance, weight, and drag (Michelin says they can add sidewalls as decoration), and the wheels are integrated into the tires so that's an issue.

 
Definitely looks like improved traction but increased rolling resistance as it seems like more rubber will be in contact with the road. Very cool stuff. Can’t wait until it hits the mainstream.
 
OMG! I want, want, want these tires. This is so awesome. I suffered from too many nail punctures over my last 3 vehicles.
 
Thinking about the TPM more, the sensor modules go inside the tires (attached to the valve stems). There is no inside or valve stems to these Uptises (?) so it'd be like no sensors were installed. I once had a MINI with the old frequency TPMS, and when I put those wheels on one that needed the newer frequency I couldn't clear the error so I had to get newer sensors. This was the previous R55 (Clubman), so I don't know how the current F56 would behave without sensors.
 
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Puppethead said:
Thinking about the TPM more, the sensor modules go inside the tires (attached to the valve stems). There is no inside or valve stems to these Uptises (?) so it'd be like no sensors were installed. I once had a MINI with the old frequency TPMS, and when I put those wheels on one that needed the newer frequency I couldn't clear the error so I had to get newer sensors. This was the previous R55 (Clubman), so I don't know how the current F56 would behave without sensors.
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Perhaps along with your $5K (my guess) set of wheels/tires Michelin would provide an electronic fake-out device you'd mount under the hood.
 
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