Gizmodo Australia » tyres

Concept Tyre Splits in Eight to Maintain Traction at all Times

Adrian Covert — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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,

Yanko says the Dynamic Augmented Wheel System are guided by a magnetic guide rail on the inside that hold’s the wheel in place while driving straight, and moves to let it shift with the car’s centre of gravity while turning. The current design is inspired by motorcycle wheels and the human foot, making uses of servos, a drive gear and embedded magnets in each segment to pull this feat off.

Currently, the prototype wheel works on a 1:2 scale, but no word on actual implementation plans. [DAWs via Yanko]

The Remote Controlled Tire is a World’s First, and With Good Reason

Sean Fallon — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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]

Self Inflating Tires Do Just That

Mark Wilson — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:31:00 +0000

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]

Kumho’s Lavender-Scented Tires Go By the Name of Ecsta DX; Probably Answer to the Name ‘Pointless’

Addy Dugdale — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:34:11 +0000

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.

The Ecsta DX Aroma is Kumho’s Grand Touring All-Season tire designed for trend-setting, fashion-conscious drivers who enjoy products that will set their luxury coupes and sedans apart from everyone else’s. In addition to delivering an alluring aroma that replaces a tire’s normal “rubber” smell with the subtle scent of fresh lavender, the Ecsta DX Aroma is designed to deliver a comfortable ride and low noise, while blending good wear with dry, wet and year-round traction, even in light snow.
Using a special mixing technology to blend the synthetic oils that provide the fragrant scent into the rubber compound, these heat-resistant oils are said to enhance the bonding of rubber chains and maximize the viscoelasticity of the rubber compound, which helps reduce braking distances on wet or dry roads. The Ecsta DX Aroma compound also features silica to improve all-weather performance and wet traction.

This unique compound is molded into a sophisticated directional tread design that features a continuous center rib for constant road contact to enhance highway stability, along with tread blocks designed to provide uniform stiffness to maintain ride comfort throughout the life of the tire. The tread blocks also feature an optimized pitch sequence resulting in variable pitch lengths to help minimize noise, while four wide circumferential and numerous sweeping intermediate grooves help evacuate water reducing the risk of hydroplaning. The tire’s structure includes high-tensile steel belts and a jointless nylon cap ply to help improve ride comfort and durability, while an undertread reduces unwanted heat buildup for consistent performance.

NOTE: The lavender scent lasts approximately 1 year and while always present, is most noticeable immediately after normal driving when the tires are warm.

The Ecsta DX tires cost US$81 each, all the self-esteem you ever had and a lilac-coloured paintjob on your muscle car. [Tire Rack via Tips—thanks, Wikkit]

Giz Pit Crew Is The Best, Around

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000

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.”

Tyre Pressure Monitor for Lazy Car Nerds

Brian Lam — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:27:16 +0000

To check your car’s air pressure, you could get an air pressure gauge, or kick the tyres, but that wouldn’t be quite as geeky as this aftermarket tyre pressure monitor. Four caps with sensor read each tyre’s pressure and relay it wirelessly to the dashboard-mounted LCD. The setup also informs you if your tyre rapidly deflates, alerting you of a flat. Coo, but two problems: If the caps are indeed monitoring pressure, that means they depend on jamming a tyre’s internal valve open, meaning that your tyres are going to need refilling often. Secondly, you are definitely going to lose these things.

AU: I agree you’re likely to have them stolen, but I doubt they would contribute to faster air loss than usual. If they’ve been designed well, that is. -SB

[Suzhou State Auto Electronics via Sci Fi]