Tubeless Tyres Vs Tube Tyres : Advantages And Disadvantages

You are travelling in your car and suddenly an absurd moment occurs, wherein you find your car’s one of the tyres go flat. After parking your car safely at one side of the road, you get out of the car and look for the spare tyre (stepney) and start the replacement process. Now, this is just another scene that’s witnessed on Indian roads after every prick in the tyre, in other words, yeh hai aam zindagi, so what’s smart? To understand this better, let’s get back to the key cause, why the tyre got punctured. This was because your car’s wheel consisted of a traditional combination of tube and tyre. Now you’ll ask, so what? Is there any other solution? Yes, there is. Say hello to tubeless tyres. Gone are the days when the OEMs offered tubeless tyres only on high-end luxury vehicles, these days even motorbikes are seen equipped with puncture-resistant aka tubeless tyres.

Before getting to the war room and discussing the tubeless tyres advantages and disadvantages, let’s first understand what generally a wheel, as a whole, consists of. The wheel of your vehicle embraces 3 components. First is the wheel, which is basically the steel or the alloy rim; then is the tyre, which is a thick rubber encircling the circumference of the wheel. Whilst between the two rests the tube, which is above the tyre and below the steel/alloy rim.

Buy Tubeless Tyre Online at Affordable Price

What are tubeless tyres?

Here, you can make out with the name itself, ‘tubeless’ the tyre comprises of no tube, however, there is an inner liner integrated inside the tyre. Here the rim or alloy has tubeless tyre valve permanently attached to it, making the two tightly sealed. In a layman’s term, there is nothing but an air cushion between tyre and rim.

How do tubeless tyre work?

Now, this is interesting. When a run-flat or tubeless tyre gets pierced, the air inside discharges at a very low pace and that too, only from fine opening at the prick point, which eventually reduces the fear of driver losing the control over the vehicle.

Tubeless Tyre Advantages

• No tube: Since there’s no tube involved, hence you don’t have to search for any roadside puncture repair wala for immediate assistance.
• Low pressure running: Yes that’s possible. As in a tube or a tyre, the pressure of air does vary and usually tyres run at low pressures inviting the tube to be pinched causing a puncture. But this is not the case with tubeless tyres as it can run for about 30 to 50 kilometres with its injury alias puncture.
• Enhanced safety: If puncture happens the air release is quite slow, giving ample time to the driver to control the vehicle, especially at high speeds or on highways, consequently reducing the probability of accidents, courtesy sudden air seepage.
• Fuel efficient and cost-saving: Now, this one will definitely catch the eye of the folks obsessed with ‘kitna deti hai’ factor. As due to the absence of a tube, the tyre becomes lighter resulting in less burning of fuel and thus, increased mileage. The absence of a tube also saves on the tube cost and its maintenance.
• Risk free-No friction: Driving on highways at relatively high speed may lead to the friction of tube and tyre, which may result in tyre or tube explosion due to increased temperature.
• Weight balance: Manoeuvring your car at high speeds is safer with tubeless tyres, as the air is filled in the tyre itself and not in the tube, which makes the vehicle stable with no uneven pressure, thanks to the side rims that are reinforced to uphold the shape and last long.

Tubeless tyre disadvantages

• Not easy to fit: Since the tyre needs to be fixed airtight against the alloy/rim to hold air, it takes longer than usual for tube tyre to fit. Moreover, it requires professional help or else you might end up damaging the alloy/rim. Don’t worry, as with an edge of ‘travelling certain kilometres with puncture’ you can surely find some aid and get it fixed.
• Sidewall concern: Tubeless tyre puncture at sidewall can be a nightmare, as in a tube-type case, you just have to replace the tube and get going. However, a tubeless tyre, if damaged badly will require a swap, which is a testing task. Nevertheless, sidewall issues occur rarely these days as they are very hard-wearing, hence not a big deal.
• Expensive: Cost-wise, if you compare tubeless tyres vs tube tyres, the tubeless ones will cost you a bit more. But don’t worry, this extra cost can be recovered with the extra fuel savings you get, credit light tyres.

Conclusion:

Sighting all the pros and cons of the tubeless tyres, we can sum up with the fact that there are more numbers of realistic advantages rather than once in a blue moon disadvantages. So if you are planning for an upgrade, you can undoubtedly trust tubeless tyres for its better performance, reliability, safety and fuel efficiency.

Author: Ankit verma

My need for speed began at a very early age and I realised this as soon as I got my first bicycle at the age of 8. When all the other kids would break downhill I would pedal harder just to go faster and enjoy the thrill. Adding to my interest for speed, I grew engrossed in the working mechanics of two wheelers thanks to my father as he is a hydraulic mechanic and would take me along with him on his repair sessions. Eventually I became familiar with the tools and basic technical concepts of two wheelers.Super sport and sport tourers are more of my liking and the sparks to these flames were ignited the first time I experienced the maddening power of a Yamaha YZF R1. I was just 14 years old at the time and got to ride as a pillion with an older acquaintance. This one short ride influenced my every decision in terms of the bikes I want to own. As of today I’m 26 years old and a proud owner of a Yamaha Fz15 version 2.0 and a Kawasaki Ninja 650 2014 model having clocked a decent 30k Kms only while touring, waiting to clock 1000s more as riding makes me feel whole again after enduring the dismal routines of life. My need for speed began at a very early age and I realised this as soon as I got my first bicycle at the age of 8. When all the other kids would break downhill I would pedal harder just to go faster and enjoy the thrill. Adding to my interest for speed, I grew engrossed in the working mechanics Read more