We're pumped: see the car tyre that inflates itself

SICK of pumping up your car's tyres? Or don't you bother at all? Well, a new tyre that inflates itself while on the move is set to hit roads .

Self-inflating Tyre graphic

TIRED of untangling the air hose at the petrol station?

Or are you among the majority of drivers who check their tyres less than once a year? 

Goodyear has invented a tyre that inflates itself while on the move – which, it claims, will save drivers money due to more even wear and better fuel economy. 

The self-inflating system was unveiled earlier this year, but Goodyear has just announced real-world fleet trials of the technology.

Self-inflating Tyre graphic

The tyre, awarded “best breakthrough” by US magazine Popular Mechanics, maintains the correct pressure via a valve mounted inside the tyre – but which pokes through a gap in the tread. 

As the tyre rolls, the deformation of the tyre flattens the tube, pushing air through an inlet valve. Air is released – or sucked in – as required. 

Although it will be on North American roads in trial conditions next year, it’s not likely to be available in Australia until 2014 at the earliest. 

“The concept has been tested and it works, we’re now just looking at bringing it to market,” says James Peate, communications manager at Goodyear Australia. 

“There would be a price premium but it’s too early to estimate what it would cost.” 

Goodyear’s North American division is developing the truck version of the technology, while its Luxembourg facility is developing it for passenger cars. 

The self-inflating tyre is just one of many advancements in tyre technology in the past decade. 

In 2000, French tyre maker Michelin introduced “run flat” tyres that can be driven at low speeds, even when punctured. 

Other tyre manufacturers followed, but car buyers have been slow to embrace the technology because of their cost (they were initially double the price of regular tyres) and uncomfortably firm ride (because of the thicker rubber used in the sidewalls). 

Less than 1 per cent of tyres sold are of the “run flat” variety, Michelin estimates. 

Meanwhile, Michelin has been working on a "see-through" air-less tyre called the “Tweel”. The tyre has no sidewalls, the tread is held up by thick cross sections of rubber – but it is still in the experimental stage.