Run-flat tyres to remain a niche product - Michelin

By David Shaw, ERJ staff

Ladoux, France -- Michelin's research director Philippe Denimal, said Michelin research suggests that only three percent of drivers world wide want to use a run-flat tyre system. He said this means self-supporting sidewalls are a niche product, and destined to remain a niche.

He said the existing runflat solutions are heavy and tend to have much worse fuel consumption than standard tyres. Denimal said that in the future - within 10 years - most cars would be sold with only four tyres rather than five including a spare. Furthermore, the front tyres would be a different size from the rear tyres.

He said there will be a need for extended mobility, in the US, for example, where there are many locations which are many hours' drive from a tyre service station. Nevertheless, he added, a spare tyre was an inappropriate way to deliver extended mobility. Denimal also said the sealant paste used in some competitors' tyres also affected fuel consumption very badly. He said the Contiseal product delivers around 11.5 g of carbon dioxide per tonne, comared with around 7g/kg on a more normal tyre.

Denimal said Michelin is working on solutions, but declined to be drawn on exactly what form those solutions would take. he added that the chip-in-tyre technology offered by Conti and Pirelli is today too expensive for the market to adopt. “We work on solutions to impove the global performance of the car, to send data to ESP to many other sub-systems,.” He said Michelin has such systems available in large mining tyres, for example, but added, “but the question is can it be done at the right price. Today not.”

Nevertheless, Denimal said the experience learned in the mining tyre business and other applications is providing valuable lessons to Michelin. “we learn a lot from that. and one day it can be used in many more applications.”