michelin

Michelin Smart Jumper cables for easier jump-starts

We've already shown you how to jump-start your car with standard jumper cables, but if you don't trust yourself to remember all six steps in our guide, Michelin may be able to help with its new Smart Jumper cables. This set of jumpers features inline electronics that take most--but not all--of the guesswork and danger out of jump-starting a car.

There are two physical differences that seasoned automotive enthusiasts will notice between the Smart Jumper cables and, well, dumb jumpers. The first is that where standard jumpers have red and black clamps on each end, marking the positive and negative connections, all four of the Smart Jumper's connections are the same electric blue. So, how do you know what's positive and what's negative? As it turns out, it doesn't matter.… Read more

How to jump-start a car

We've all been there at least once: you've left your headlights on overnight or spent too much time listening to music in your car and when you go to start 'er up, you get nothing. What you need is a jump-start. So, call a friend or flag down a neighbor, because I'm going to show you how to do it.

What you'll need:

your disabled car with a drained battery a donor car with a charged battery jumper cables insulating gloves (optional) eye protection (optional)

Step 1: Note the orientation of the cars' batteries in the … Read more

Dispatch from the desert: Speed Scotland hopes to break land speed record

TOOELE COUNTY, UTAH--The Speed Scotland team this week will try to beat the 12-year record of 313 mph in the Salt Flats of Utah at the 62nd annual running of Bonneville Speed Week.

The team completed a "rookie run" on Saturday, reaching a top speed of 170 mph at the second mile marker of a five-mile run. Cars are clocked three times on the track. Each entry receives an average mph between the second and third mile, the third and fourth mile and the fourth and fifth mile. The team did not complete runs on Sunday or Monday.… Read more

The high-tech tools of Keller's kitchens

NEW YORK--I'm standing in the middle of America's foodie mecca, and I've found a smoking gun that helps explains its incredible success.

I mean that literally.

This is the kitchen of world-class chef Thomas Keller's Per Se, his Michelin three-star restaurant located on Columbus Circle, and the smoke is flowing freely, rapidly filling up a plastic container and helping to give the cream inside some additional flavor.

I mentioned this was the Smoking Gun, a culinary tool from PolyScience, right?

I've come here to Per Se because a friend told me he'd had a … Read more

Winter driving tips: Braking

In yesterday's video blog, we all got a brief glimpse into the impact good winter-specific tires can make when driving on snow and ice. Today's video from Michelin goes into deeper detail on how good winter tires and proper braking techniques can keep you safer when driving on winter weathered roads.

This demonstration video covers comparisons of braking distance between different tire types, emergency or threshold braking techniques, the difference in braking with ABS, cornering, and everything in between. Once again, even if you think you know everything about how to drive your car in the snow, there … Read more

Michelin simplifies the car

If new Michelin technology takes off, our cars could get very simple while wheels get more complex. Michelin showed two versions of its Active wheel at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show, one with an integrated electric motor and the other with motor and suspension equipment. Tire maker and restaurant critic Michelin has been developing lightweight automotive motors, achieving an efficiency of 4 kilowatts per kilogram. The motor in its Active wheel produces 30 kilowatts of continuous power, and up to 60 kilowatts of peak power. Two of those wheels on a car would add up to the equivalent of 80 … Read more

New Michelin tech puts power to the wheels

Issues with battery tech aside, electric motors allow for the creation of much simpler vehicles, without the need for exhausts, cooling systems, or complex lubrication schemes. The next logical step for electric vehicles is to move the electric motors into the wheel hubs themselves, replacing driveshafts, transmissions, and differentials with much lighter wires and switches. The primary problem with this configuration is the huge jump in unsprung weight that comes with mounting heavy electric motors inside of the wheels. Michelin Tires thinks it may be a step closer to solving this problem with its Active Wheel technology, unveiled at the … Read more

Michelin, Chinese company join forces on electric power trains

BEIJING--French tire maker Michelin Group and a Chinese company have agreed to jointly develop electric power trains. If successful, the effort could vastly expand Michelin's role as an automotive supplier.

With little fanfare, Michelin and battery material supplier CITIC Guoan Mengguli., known as MGL, signed an agreement this year to develop electric power train systems for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, Qi Lu, general manager of MGL, told Automotive News China.

The system will integrate Michelin's active wheel technology with MGL's lithium ion batteries. The controllers used in the system will be jointly developed, Qi says.

The … Read more

These tires repair themselves

Self-driving vehicles, self-parking cars, self-repairing paint ... and now self-healing tires? Michelin says it has accomplished this feat by using manufacturing techniques that mold the tread of its XDA5 in three dimensions. What that means to us commuting plebs is that the tire features a tread that somehow regenerates itself as it wears off. It sort of acts like an onion: As the tire wears, the tread reveals new grooves and tread blocks within. Once again, technology aping nature.

Unfortunately, this isn't multi-layered, so you won't be getting treads that last forever. Just a touted 30 percent extension in … Read more