tyres
Design
Concept Tyre Splits in Eight to Maintain Traction at all Times
11:00AM Adrian Covert | The idea behind these segmented, eight-part wheels is that your car can take a turn while maintaining speed and traction by having the wheels lean like the Tower of Pisa, More »
Toys
The Remote Controlled Tire is a World’s First, and With Good Reason
10:00AM Sean Fallon | No one has ever created a remote controlled tire before? Really? I’m shocked. Believe it or not, only one company was crazy enough to develop an RC tire, and that is a Vietnamese company named Tosy. In fact, because of its odd shape and apparent capability to move forward, backward, left and right–I’m not even sure this thing really exists. Still, the product is up on the Tosy site–sans pricing and availability information. [Tosy via DVICE] More »
Vehicles
Self Inflating Tires Do Just That
1:31AM Mark Wilson | If Coda’s claims are true, their Self Inflating Tires in development now seem like an inevitable future for car owners. The simple mechanism works with classic principles of a peristaltic pump: a tube is placed in each tire’s sidewall. As it’s run over, the tube’s compression forces air in (filling the tire). A cut-off makes sure the tire doesn’t explode. That’s it. Sound too good to be true? Maybe. But having all tires on the road at optimal inflation could lead to a huge gas/energy savings every year (and as our friends at Jalopnik point out, it’s pretty good for safety as well). So our ears are perked waiting for more information. (Note: the choice for no hyphen was that of the manufacturer, not our editors.) AU: And the choice to spell them “tires” was also the manufacturers choice, not your local editor’s. [product via jalopnik] More »
Vehicles
Kumho’s Lavender-Scented Tires Go By the Name of Ecsta DX; Probably Answer to the Name ‘Pointless’
8:34PM Addy Dugdale | Apparently, Kumho’s skid ‘n’ sniff tires are going out to the “trend-setting, fashion-conscious drivers” who want their cars to rock something that no one else has: the sweet smell of lavender. Now then, while I wholeheartedly applaud Kumho’s decision to bring something so unique to wheelwear, I question the choice of fragrance. Surely “Eau de Roadkill” or “Rocker’s Crotch” would have been more marketable than the scent most associated with a slightly incontinent old queen who thrilled millions during her lifetime—no, not Liberace, I’m talking about Britain’s late, lamented Queen Mother. Full blurb from Tire Rack’s product page is below. More »
Vehicles
Giz Pit Crew Is The Best, Around
3:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | When the Gizmodo Crew isn’t working, their favourite hobby is to pretend they are a world famous F1 pit crew. So when CES was finally over, they headed over to the BMW booth to test their pit stopin’, tire changin’ skills. With teams of two on each side of the BMW F1 car, the Giz pit-crew raced head-to-head to swap out the car’s tires. As you’ll see in the video, Team 2 (Adam Frucci / Benny Goldberg Goldman) beat Team 1 (Haroon Malik and Matt Buchanan) by a huge time of 1.2 seconds. Since both teams have the same coach, Wilson Rothman, he didn’t know if he should celebrate the win, or beat the losers; but in the end Rothman was still comfortable stating, “We’re the best around, and nothin’s ever gonna keep us down.” More »
