Tire width affecting ground contact

[Checkswrecks]

Came across this and thought to post it for two reasons. One is that a number of folks here also have 4WD vehicles. The second is that while motorcycle tires embody a lot of compromises, the premise of wider=better is not necessarily true. While we tend to need a wider shoulder for handling once in a turn, a narrower tire will wear faster but it will also give faster handling in a series of curves.

 

[Sierra1]

Yeah, I was told, so long ago I can't remember who told me, that the narrower tires work better on average. I also stayed with a 16" rim v. 17" for larger sidewalls. For trucks or off road, why would anybody want short sidewalls? They're protecting your rims. I even tried to fit a 15" rim on my Jeep. They wouldn't clear my rotor/caliper; 11.9R and 12.0F.

I totally agree the wider tires look so good. But between the weight and dollars savings, I stuck with the pizza cutters; 265 x 75 16.

 

[gapmtn1]

I probably should watch this again. But most of the application was "rock crawling". I'd been trying to reconcile this premise with deep sand or snow driving. If one wants to float on top of the terrain, wouldn't wider still be better? The increased contact patch described in the video is mostly linear / direction of travel and not wider.
I did think it was a good video and the creator tried to keep it scientific.

 

[Sierra1]

I probably should watch this again. But most of the application was "rock crawling". I'd been trying to reconcile this premise with deep sand or snow driving. If one wants to float on top of the terrain, wouldn't wider still be better? The increased contact patch described in the video is mostly linear / direction of travel and not wider.
I did think it was a good video and the creator tried to keep it scientific.

It showed that he pizza cutter got longer, not wider. That the contact area remained almost exactly equal in area between the two. The guy did his homework though. But I would be curious if the vehicle would make a difference. His Toyota is relatively light. I wonder if the results would be the same on a say 1-ton long bed dually diesel. (not that I would use one off road)

 

[thughes317]

In the frozen North East, skinny, deep-lug snow tires ruled the day when I was growing up. Also the same reason those old Model T's ripped through the knee-deep mud that passed for roads back in the day.

 

[cyclemike4]

Very interesting video. It is so interesting to me how different locations and different types of driving for different terrains need such different things to work. I never would have guessed that the skinny tire would have a similar contact patch as the wider tire. but here the 4 wheel drive clubs don't use that type of tire. I am more used to the old gumbo mudders and ground hawgs and super swampers. At 20 psi they really splay out wide and leave a big print. Of course the trucks with skinny tires go well as long as they can reach the bottom of the mud. the skinny tires aired down have a terrible time staying on the rim too. We have to use tubes in them. the right tire for the job i think is more important than how wide it is.

 

[Sierra1]

Oh, and another huge disadvantage to a wider tire: they follow the road imperfections a LOT more than a narrower tire. If your roads are smooth, or only drive the rig way off-road, it doesn't matter. But every pot hole or road groove, the wide tire will follow it.

 

[cyclemike4]

Oh, and another huge disadvantage to a wider tire: they follow the road imperfections a LOT more than a narrower tire. If your roads are smooth, or only drive the rig way off-road, it doesn't matter. But every pot hole or road groove, the wide tire will follow it.

Oh! absolutely! Yes those tires really sucked on the road. not only could you only get 15 or 20 thousand miles on them if you were really easy on them and lucky they would not stay balanced or even round for that matter. they were soft and would fold up well over rocks and roots though!