If you get a nail or a screw in your tire while driving, you will eventually have a flat tire; unless the tires have a special coating.
Question: What are Seal Technology tires?
Response from Peter Milde, Technical Expert at Michelin : tires with Seal technology – at Michelin they are called “Selfseal” – are able to seal small punctures in the tread. This is possible because self-sealing tires have a thin layer of tough natural rubber-based sealant on the inside of the tread. As soon as a nail or a screw penetrates the tire, the pressure inside the tire presses the viscous mass against the foreign body.
This means that the air in the tire cannot escape and the tire pressure remains constant. In other words, the driver does not break down and can continue driving. That's a big safety gain. After all, you don't have to stop somewhere - maybe while it's still dark - and worry about changing a tire. Often the driver does not even notice that he has driven in a nail. The sealing works up to holes with a diameter of 6 millimeters. If the foreign body is pulled out of the tyre, the sealing compound pushes in and closes the opening. The tire remains operational. This will be an important aspect for autonomous shuttles, for example.
Goodbye punctures
Tires with self-seal technology are available for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, both for conventionally powered and electric vehicles. Drivers of e-cars also benefit from another property of Selfseal tires. For example, our e.Primacy tires with Selfseal roll more quietly than their counterparts without an inner coating. This results in reduced exterior and interior noise. After all, there is no loud engine in an e-car that overrides such noises.
