The pneumatic tire or air-filled 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.
The tire will remain inflated with all the vehicle's weight resting on it, since the pressure of the air inside the tire is more than atmospheric air pressure. The air pressure in the tire gives resistance against forces which attempt 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 experienced taking a ride in an old-fashioned carriage which had wooden wheels, you understand how big of a difference a set of pneumatic tires could make.
Of course, there are several disadvantages to pneumatic tires. For example in high-performance situations or highly dangerous applications, these tires can suffer a puncture and this will result in a complete failure. The consequence of a blowout at high speeds could result in a dangerous car accident. Military planners should take into consideration tires getting blown out by explosion shrapnel or shooting of guns. A vehicle crew's worst nightmare is becoming trapped in a fire zone because of all of their tires becoming flat. Airless tires obviously don't suffer from these problems and therefore, can be more suitable in certain applications.
The pneumatic tire may have issues as well with the variation in tire performance and air pressure. The lower pressure in a tire could increase the comfort level and the traction. This is due to the fact that tires flatten slightly and more tread is touching the road. The air pressure in the tire works to maintain the "up and down" stiffness as well as maintain the lateral stiffness of the tire. Therefore, reduced air pressure allows the sidewalls of the tires to flex. Unfortunately, this results in poor handling. Within an airless tire, the stiffness in those two dimensions is independent.
Air pressure factors into other issues also. With regards to to maintaining proper air pressure, customers are notoriously unreliable. Wrong air pressure within tires could result in really unsafe situations. It is important to note that pneumatic tires are also susceptible to temperature changes, that could be responsible for changing the internal pressure of the tire. It is important to take into account the kind of environments you will be needing your machinery to operate in so that you could check the tires regularly and keep the machine as safe as possible.