Forget jacks, spares, air checks and best of all punctures - an American company has announced it is planning to sell
airless tires from the beginning of next year.
According to Fox News, all-terrain vehicle manufacturer Polaris have announced they will put a consumer airless tire into production by early 2014.
The firm is not the only company to design a tire which doesn't need air but it is the first to come out of testing and manufacturing with a consumer launch date.
Coming to a car near you: The honeycomb design gives the Polaris tire the edge, according to the company
'The tire works very similar to a bicycle wheel, where the load is carried in tension across the top of the wheel,' Polaris spokesman Jason Difuccia told the broadcaster.
'The bottom of the wheel is designed to give in to obstacles like rocks, curbs, and other terrain.'
The company has been testing the airless tire designs of Wisconsin-based start-up called Resilient Technologies, which they bought last year.
The firm, which was paid to develop the tires over four years for the department of defense, sold the technology for Polaris to take to the consumer motoring world.
A web of honeycomb-shaped plastic makes up the tire's center which is surrounded by a rubber tread band and held on by an inner steel core.
Tested: Polaris says the tires have been put through all number of tests including being shot at and being driven over thousands of miles
They allow heat to dissipate - something not possible with solid rubber tires which are also hazardous if a bit of the tire is chipped off.
They are also designed to let shrapnel pass through.
As well as helping motorists avoid the misery of the tire change, Polaris claim the tires provide smoother journeys over rough terrain and are quieter than their air-filled rivals.
'There is nowhere for the sound to pool, so there’s no humming or drumming like there is with a standard pneumatic tire,' Polaris business development representative Joaquin Salas said.
The firm claims they've put the invention through 'military grade testing'.
The tires have withstood gunshots and have been driven on for hundreds of hours and over 5,000 miles.
Road race: Several companies have been exploring airless tires. The Michelin Tweel, left, was unveiled in 2005 and a Bridgestone version in 2011, right. Neither company has yet reported plans to put the tires in production
Michelin model: The Tweel unveiled in 2005 but not yet in production reveals the thinking behind most airless tires. A series of plastic webbing - in the Tweel's case spokes - replace the air aspect of pneumatic tires
They say they continue working even if up to 30 per cent of the web is damaged, meaning motorists will rarely need to replace them.
According to the Star Tribune, Wisconsin inventor Ali Manesh sold the 12-man firm and the technology they developed to Polaris so they could take it to market.
'We developed the idea, had a design and proved that it worked. But we could not take it into full production,' he told the newspaper. 'So Polaris took it from there. I am grateful because that is my baby. I am glad that somebody grew it.'
The airless tire has long been said to be the future of motoring.
In 2005 Michelin unveiled 'The Tweel' a similar idea but with a web of prongs in the central web rather than honeycomb.
In 2011 Bridgestone unveiled its colorful version which is still being tested.
Polaris and Resilient obviously think their design is the best.
'We definitely brainstormed,' Resilient employee Eric Foltz said in 2008. 'We wanted to create more of a matrix of cells within the tire, and it seemed kind of natural to go with the honeycomb’s hexagon shape. We tried some other shapes, such as diamond shapes, and they didn’t perform as well.'
One thing they are yet to announce is what price of the tires will be and how they will be introduced into the world of motoring - something they may not want their competitors to know.
