wide wheels with rather narrow tires

[Lawrence C Leung]

Another way to put it. A flat tire has much more contact area than an
inflated one. But comparitively little traction. 

LL - NY

On Tue, 16 Jan 2001 21:52:35 -0700 auditude at neta.com writes:
>On 16 Jan 2001, at 18:47, Stephen Bigelow wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Contact patch size is a function of wheel loading and tire 
>pressure.
>> Contact patch shape is a funtion of wheel width, tire width, tire 
>pressure
>> and wheel loading.
>
>To add my 2 cents, if you increase contact surface, then the 
>pounds per square inch of that surface is decreased.  There is a 
>point beyond which the weight of the car is so spread out over all 
>that tire surface that the tire isn't "pressed down" into the pavement 
>
>hard enough to get any traction.
>
>That's clumsy way to try to explain it, but that's what came out.
>
>Later,
>
>Ken