THERE IS A BREAKTHROUGH DEVELOPMENT in the automotive tire industry.  The designer is calling it the Self Inflating Tire, or SIT.

There is a small air chamber built into the bead of the sidewall that receives atmospheric air and uses the weight of the car to compress the chamber and force the air into the tire itself.  After the tire is repressurized to its normal level, a check valve closes and leaves the air pressure at its nominal setting.

Since almost all tires will gradually lose some pressure over time, this design will maintain the correct amount with the resulting savings on lower fuel costs and especially the preservation of the designed life-span of the tire that can be shortened measurably by under-inflation.

CODA Development’s SIT website explains more fully how the system works and they also have an informative 2-minute video that shows a graphic display of the operation HERE.

Firegeezer says:  If this turns out to be as good as it looks, then I would expect all passenger cars to be equipped with this tire within the next 8 - 10 years, joining the Forever Battery in the march to the maintenance-free car.

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