The chronicles of pneumatic tire have been written since 1888 when Irish inventor John Boyd Dunlop unveiled his creation. But there seems to be one common denominator: pneumatic tires go flat.
Michelin’s X Tweel (a combination of the word tire and wheel) Turf non-pneumatic radial tire was the result of two Michelin engineers having lunch where the conversation revolved around alternatives to pneumatic tires. At the same time, Chase Tew, group product manager of John Deere mowing solutions, got the wheels rolling when he watched a landscaping crew spend the first 45 minutes of its day fixing flat tires.
“We met with Michelin to talk about the Tweel technology,” Tew says. “Michelin coincidentally was looking for applications for this technology. So, the timing from both perspectives was quite ideal.”
“Our engineers – who have been designing tires for years – were given a new set of performance criteria they had never considered before,” says Jack Olney, director of sales for Michelin Tweel Technologies. “We had never before had to think about side-hill stability or turfing the tire’s tread. They were excited for the opportunity.”
Michelin Tweels is often referred to as a tire and wheel in one, a combination of “shear beam” with flexible poly-resin spokes.
Some highlights to mention:
3x Longer durability
- Forget punctures and uneven tire pressures
Consistent Cut
- Tyre pressures can cause an uneven cut by tilting the mower deck
Stay on Track
- Poly-resin spokes deform and take the pressure off your valuable turf.
Steady Ride
- The spoke cushioning prolongs your machine life
“Typical tires show wearing, depending on how much they are used on concrete or asphalt, at 750 to 1,000 hours. These tires show barely any wear at 2,500 hours” Tew says. “You’ve got ride-quality improvements from the ability of the tire to flex over a given terrain. One of the big advantages that most people don’t catch on to is a uniform cut height. There is no variance in tire pressure from the left side to the right side. If a tire gets a small leak or something goes wrong, all of a sudden, your machine could be sitting lopsided. (The Tweel X Turf) stays perfectly uniform for the life of the tire.”
