Radical new tire design by Michelin. The next generation of tires. They had a pair at the Philadelphia car show. These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon. The bad news for law enforcement is that spike strips will not work on these.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/80500555/

Michelin has been testing that design for a few years now. It will be interesting to see if the public accepts them if they hit the market. I can see the possibility of balance issues in the winter with snow and ice getting into the structure of the tire. BTW, that design concept goes back at least to the '60's and the lunar rovers of the Apollo program. They tested a number of designs.

Old news.

http://www.michelinmedia.com/pressSingle/value=MCH2005091458780

It is a pretty cool concept.

If public acceptance is a problem, why not just put sidewalls on it so it would look conventional?

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^Good idea. That may be exactly what they plan to do. Would also solve the snow & ice problem. These could just be demos to show off the design.