By Andrew Liszewski
The Qtires line of Celsius tires seem to have come straight out of the lab at MI6. Using what appears to be a special air bladder the tires actually have retractable studs that can be extended to give the vehicle a bit of extra grip when road conditions become slippery. When no longer needed the studs can then be retracted where they sit below the tread surface.
Besides the obvious safety benefits for driving on snowy, icy or even wet roads the Celsius tires are claimed to actually work better than conventional studded, winter or ‘all season’ tires. And because the studs are no bigger than they need to be they don’t tear up the surface of the road like snow chains can. While they do cost more than a standard tire they also mean you don’t need to buy a second set for winter driving.
The company even claims the tires can help save the environment since there’s less need to apply damaging salts and chemicals to icy roads when using them. Of course that would require every single vehicle on the road to have a set of Celsius tires installed and that’s probably not going to happen.
An interesting side note, in college I was actually known as the ‘retractable stud.’ To this day I’m not really sure what that meant but I still wear the T-shirt they made me.
[ Qtires Celsius Tires ] VIA [ gizmag ]
