The air-filled or pneumatic tire is composed of a core filled with airtight sealed pressurized air. Normally, a tread made with reinforced steel belting or other kind of materials, provides the contact area with the road and seals this inner core.
Since the air pressure inside the tire is greater than atmospheric air pressure, the tire remains inflated even with a vehicles' weight resting on it. The pressure of the air within the tire gives resistance against forces that try to deform the tire. This gives the tire a slight degree of a cushioning effect when the tire hits bumps in the road. If you have ever taken a ride in an old-fashioned carriage that had wooden wheels, you know precisely how big of a difference a set of pneumatic tires could make.
Pneumatic tires also come with drawbacks. High-performance situations or highly dangerous applications for example, these tires can suffer a puncture and this will lead to a complete failure. The consequence of a blowout at high speeds can result in a dangerous car accident. Military planners must take into consideration tires getting blown out by explosion shrapnel or gunfire. A vehicle crew's worst nightmare is becoming trapped in a fire zone due to all of their tires becoming flat. Airless tires evidently don't suffer from these kind of issues and thus, in certain applications, could be more suitable.
Pneumatic tires have another problem involving variations in tire performance and air pressure. Lower tire pressure can create increased comfort and improved traction. This is due to the fact that tires flatten slightly and more tread is placed in contact with the road. The air pressure inside of the tire works to maintain the "up and down" stiffness as well as maintain the lateral stiffness of the tire. Thus, reduced air pressure enables the tires' sidewalls to flex. This leads to poor handling unfortunately. In an airless tire, the stiffness in those two dimensions is independent.
There are other issues with air pressure. Consumers are notoriously unreliable when it comes to maintaining correct air pressure. Tires which have wrong air pressure can result in unsafe situations. It is essential to bear in mind that pneumatic tires are also susceptible to temperature changes, that can be responsible for changing the internal tire pressure. It is very essential to take into account the kind of environments you would be requiring your machinery to function in so that you could frequently inspect the tires and keep the machinery as safe as possible.