Can I toss in my $.02 here?
Lets say you have a car that has 185/75/14 (just to pick a size) if you go to
a 195/65/15 the tyre will have the same diameter. This is called plus one
(One inch larger rim = shorter sidewall) If you then go to a 205/55/16 again
same diameter. This is called plus two. Go up one more size to a 215/45/17
plus three. Now I haven't been to the tire store today, but I will be
willing to bet that at 215/45/17 is wider, and has a larger contact patch
(square inches) than a 185/75/14, yet they will have the same outer diameter.
This whole discussion reminds me of when I sold tires and a customer would
come in and ask for a 15 inch tire. What size 15 tire I would ask, and they
would reply it doesn't matter. So I would roll out a 165/15 VW tire and an
L70/15 tire for a caddie. The look on their faces was worth it.
Rick
(Who lives in California where we have lots of snow, but we keep it in the
mountains where we can visit it when we want to, we don't live in the stuff)
(gonna be 75 today)
In a message dated 12/18/99 7:04:00 AM Pacific Standard Time,
macy@bblmail.psycha.upenn.edu writes:
> - I have no idea where you grew up and learned to drive but anyone that
> thinks that wider tires perform better in the snow is asking for trouble.
> Look at any snow tire anywhere and what do you find - A narrow tire with
> an aggressive tread pattern. I am not talking about a worthless
> "All-Weather" tire. I mean a real snow tire. A wider tire decreases the
> weight to surface area of the tire. So that for the same weight car a
> narrow tire has more of the weight on the tread than a wider tire. (PS I
> also disagree with the concept that a wide tire of the same diameter has
> the same contact patch than a narrow tire). This information is based on
> reading, and personal experience. Try taking a RWD car with the factory
> tires out in the snow. Take the same car with a wide "sport" tire in the
> same snow. Wanna see the ass end in front of you real fast??? BTDT Wide
> tires do not hold in the snow. Wanna go out in the boonies in the winter
> to go hunting?? You will never get there in one of those 4x4's with the
> fat tires. Unless you are talking balloon tires and that is a whole
> 'nutter concept of moving over the snow - not through it. Tread pattern
> has more to do with the ability to move in the snow than any other idea.
>
> Larry
>
>
> >>>>On 12/18/99 8:52 AM so and so (Allen Hefner) said. (And I quote:)
>
> >In a message dated 12/17/1999 5:41:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> >mvheim@studiolimage.com writes:
> >
> ><< Simple. It doesn't. They have the same contact area, just different
> > length & width dimensions. More width x less length = same area.
> >
> > Let me repeat: wider tires do not give you a bigger contact patch
(unless
> > you also lower the tire pressure). They just change its shape. It just
> > happens that the shape makes a difference. >>
> >
> >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> >
> >Keep in mind that what we are comparing is two tires that are EXACTLY the
> >same. The same rubber compound, the same sidewall height, the same
> sidewall
> >stiffness, the same tread, AND the same tire pressure, all on the same
car.
>
> >In that case, the contact patch will be the same area, even with
different
> >width tires.
> >
> >Back to the real world. Wider tires are of no advantage if they have the
> >same sidewall height and stiffness. They aren't much stickier (for
> >competition use, at least) if they don't have a softer rubber compound,
> >etc.
> >So in the real world, narrower, taller tires tend to have a smaller
contact
>
> >patch area than wider, lower tires (that you probably bought to make the
> car
> >corner better in the dry), and so they are better in snow.
> >
> >Ok...back to LBCs.
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