Archives

I was just wondering if they make tires that use carbon fiber instead of steel. Seems like that would be a good way to reduce weight and rolling resistance.

My guess is that CF won't wear well, because it is constantly being flexed. CF is extremely strong for its weight. I don't know how it stands up to flexing, but from the world bicycle frames I know that it is notoriously vulnerable to abrasion. Even minor abrasions can quickly weaken it beyond design parameters. And CF's mode of failure can be extremely abrupt, whereas steel's tends to be gradual.

But I'm no materials expert, just parroting the conventional wisdom about these materials from a very small niche of how they can be used. I'm sure someone could chime in here.

If it's workable in tires, I'm sure it could save several pounds per tire.

Goodyear has a wide line of tires that use CF as a sidewall rienforcement structure, but not belts. The Eagle ResponsEdge & Eagle F1 All Season have them...I know there are others but I can't think of them now.

Some bike tires use Kevlar belts for more puncture resistance with little increase in mass. It can also replace the wire reinforcement in the bead. This reduces mass, and makes the tire foldable (But don't expect a foldable car tire!). Kevlar can't handle repeated tight flexing (don't repeatedly knot and unknot Kevlar cord), but can easily handle a tire's flexing. There are some other high end fibers with similar strength, and even better flexibility.