FW: [NAC] wide wheels with rather narrow tires

[Peter Berrevoets]

Ah, therein lies the rub. That is not en-tire-ly accurate! (sorry for the
pun)

These numbers were taken from the Yokohama website for this very reason. The
profile, aspect ratio and shoulder design all affect the contact patch /
inflated width for tires of different design.

That's why wheel offset and tire profile fitments vary by manufacturer. the
variance in contact patch for a given size ie. 205/60-15 can and does vary
considerably from tire to tire. This is one of the reasons that particularly
on the quattros you don't want to mix different brand tires of the same size
on a car, or for any car on the same axle.

Picking the right tire/wheel combination can lay much more rubber on the
road in a 215 width than some do in a 225 width.

I wish it were so simple.

What you say below is *mostly* true for tires of the same manufacturer,
model and year! Ask anyone who bought Pirellis made in their Italian plant,
had a flat and replaced it with a Pirelli made in Brazil! Looked the same
but were very different on the road. (This was many moons ago btw)

Tires can vary greatly from model to model from the same manufacturer
depending on their intended use. Check out the sizes at
http://www.yokohamatire.com they have an excellent list of tire details that
show large variances in tread width for tires of the same 'size'.

Funny about that site as well, I had Yokohama A520s in 15" sizes, and know
that they are still available, yet no listing.

HTH

Peter Berrevoets
1990 200TQ
Toronto, Canada

> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Theron J. Bliss [mailto:tbliss at mestek.com]
> >Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 1:30 PM
> >To: Peter Berrevoets
> >Subject: Re: FW: [NAC] wide wheels with rather narrow tires
> >
> >
> >Tread with is in correlation to tire width.  A 195 tire is
> >195 mm.  A 205 tire
> >is 205 mm.  Thus, a 195 will have 10 mm less with and less
> >tread width then a
> >205 tire.  You may gain more contact patch by different
> >brands, but comparing
> >the same brand of tire, you will have less tire contact with
> >a 195 then a 205,
> >regardless of aspect ratio.
> >