hello all.

 

so i was thinking about wider tires today and thought about how i always hear people say put a wider tire on your car so you can get a larger contact patch for better grip....

 

but im thinking, assuming you use the same exact model tire for the purpose of maintaining identical tread patterns, the contact patch should be the same for the narrower tire as the wider tire. the only difference is the shape is now more rectangular. I say this because if the weight of the car has not changed (aside from added tire weight). the normal force is the same and thus the tire does not have to deform more to support the car.

 

so if that is all true, a wider tire is strictly for better heat dissipation to maintain an ideal temperature for the optimal friction coefficient...

 

so putting on a wider tire provide a larger contact patch...?

a spare tire doesn't deform to the same size contact patch - i would presume because it's at a higher psi?

 

i think what it comes down to is a narrower tire might need more psi so as not to deform more than normal. many of us run higher than stock psi as it performs/wears better. so if you run smaller tires maybe you should as well to maximize the wear, mpg's, and performance of the tire.

A wider, lower profile tire MAY not (but probably does) have more contact area when the car is just sitting on lever ground not moving. But if the car is just sitting there not moving, why have tires at all.

Wider tires DO have more contact area when cornering. The tires on the inside of the corner are getting much more weight, thus they will deform and have more contact area without rolling onto the sidewalls.

The tires on the outside will have less weight on them, but since they're wider they'll have a larger contact patch with the ground adding to traction.

 

It's really a moot point if they have more contact when the car isn't moving, because at that point the tires aren't doing anything anyway.