The earliest polyurethane wheels were solid wheels, which showed the advantages of excellent wear resistance and large carrying capacity when transporting goods under harsh conditions, and are still widely used today. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, some domestic and foreign wheel companies or R&D institutions have researched and manufactured pneumatic urethane wheel. The LIM company of the Schmidt brothers in Austria has developed LIM all-polyurethane wheels for passenger cars, trucks, tractors and off-road vehicles. The Goodyear Wheel and Rubber Company of the United States first focused on the development of polyurethane solid wheels, and also tried to use polyurethane elastomers to make inflatable wheels. 

For wheels, Goodyear is not only limited to all-polyurethane wheels, but also has carried out certain research work on rubber/polyurethane composite wheels; the United States Uniroy-Goodrich Wheel Company has also developed a urethane wheel, which Polyurethane is covered on a metal shaft, and it can travel for more than 100,000 hours at a speed of 185km•h-1. This wheel is suitable for various cars and light trucks. The French Michelin wheel company has developed polyurethane and other plastic materials. The manufactured wheel is called the Tweel concept wheel. This wheel uses polyurethane elastomer to make spokes, which are cross-connected to form a net, and then installed on the wheel hub with a layer of rubber on the outside, thereby replacing the carcass, sidewalls and wheels of ordinary wheels. The ring becomes the load-bearing element, and the Twell wheels do not need to be inflated, but they can still provide the handling performance, ride comfort and safety like pneumatic wheels when bearing the load. 

The American Amerityr Wheel Company (Amerityr Corp.) has developed a polyurethane explosion-proof wheel equivalent to rubber wheels, and its performance has passed the US Federal Automobile Safety Standard FMVSS”109. British compunding Ingredients is a professional polyurethane wheels manufacturer. It has developed a polyurethane retreaded wheel program for truck wheels and claims that the service life of the program's retreaded wheels is twice that of traditional rubber retreaded wheels. The new polyurethane/rubber composite structure wheels developed by Guangzhou Huagong Baichuan Technology Co., Ltd. have been used in forklifts, cars and trucks, and retread wheels have been tested and produced.

The structure and performance characteristics of polyurethane elastomer determine that the performance of wheels made of it is different from ordinary rubber wheels. polyurethane wheels are more commonly used in automatic loading vehicles. Mr. ReggieCollette of Thombort in the United States conducted a comparative analysis of the performance of rubber and urethane wheel used in automatic loading vehicles. At the same time, he evaluated the types of vehicles and environments that the wheels are suitable for. Generally speaking, rubber wheels are mainly used in propane-liquefied gas-powered and internal-combustion self-loading vehicles. Such vehicles usually operate both indoors and outdoor roads. In this environment, rubber wheels can provide better driving. Ride comfort and traction. 

In contrast, polyurethane wheels are limited to various types of electric automatic loading vehicles, which are mainly used indoors. The carrying capacity of urethane wheel far exceeds that of rubber wheels, and the service life is 4 times that of rubber wheels. The number of wheel replacements and the resulting labor loss; polyurethane wheels have low rolling resistance, which helps to extend the battery life cycle and reduce the number of battery recharges. It is precisely because of these characteristics that in the field of automatic loading vehicles, urethane wheel has an important position as rubber wheels. If used correctly, they will achieve their own special design effects for consumers.