Love it. Wonder what they cost!

I did a little poking around... the Michelin Twheel (has a dorky name and) is in testing now for "high speed" applications like highway vehicles. Put a snow-worthy A/T tread on there and I'm sold. But they're ten to fifteen years away from the consumer market. Bummer.

Quote from: DigitalBuddha on January 11, 2013, 09:10:21 PM

10 to 15 years?! WTF; that sucks how they can't get a good idea for a tire out in under 10 to 15 years, but cell phones are jammed down your throat every 2 years; the motto of "one new every two" seems to be the goal of every cell phone service provider around.

I could be wrong, but I kinda figure it's because you aren't likely to get killed by a cell phone falling apart so they don't have the stringent safety requirements that tires do.

I last thought about such things a year ago this week while sailing along like a cruise missile in my 6,000 pound truck at 90MPH on I-15 in Utah -- the speed limit was 85MPH, traffic was doing 90, so I wasn't out just being a fucking asshole Walter. I got to wondering what the speed rating on my tires was... all-terrain mud and snow tires don't usually go too high... hmmm... are those S rated, or only Q? If they're Q's I'm too near the top for my liking... that's a lot of energy in those 31 inch rolling donuts... not a lot of margin for error at 90 with half of the other drivers talking on their god damned phones... I'm glad I'm Mister Meticulous Maintenance and particularly twitchy about tires, brakes, suspension and steering... boy the old truck drives nice at 90...

If the good folks of Michelin require a decade or more to satisfy themselves and everyone else that their new design is safe, well then fuck it, I'll wait. I've only had four or maybe five flat tires in my life and the last one was... holy shit, it'll be 30 years in May.

I never even hear from my cell phone service provider. I guess I ought to consider myself one of the lucky ones.