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Ok, time to show off my true dorkiness.
As we can observe, tires that are equal in compound but are not equal in size handle differently. Wider tired seem to be able to provide more friction than tires that are of a smaller width. One would assume that the wider tire has more friction.
According to the equation for friction the surface area of objects does not play a part in determining the absolute amount of friction that is created.
Friction = force * Coeffecient of friction. Friction Formula
Friction causes waste in the form of sound and heat. Friction and Heat. Heat dissipation is based on surface area as well as the thermal transfer coefficient. Based on this one would be able to show that a skinnier tire will heat up faster and be less able to dissipate heat. And with heat the structure of the rubber compound will, in general, weaken and with it the ability to better mold it self to the road surface, or if too much, the inability to keep its structure enough and then have rubber come off and cause it to handle worse (like doing a burnout too long).
So where are we at? Is the only reason for wider tires to handle better heat? Anyone out there know alot about tires and such?
As we can observe, tires that are equal in compound but are not equal in size handle differently. Wider tired seem to be able to provide more friction than tires that are of a smaller width. One would assume that the wider tire has more friction.
According to the equation for friction the surface area of objects does not play a part in determining the absolute amount of friction that is created.
Friction = force * Coeffecient of friction. Friction Formula
Friction causes waste in the form of sound and heat. Friction and Heat. Heat dissipation is based on surface area as well as the thermal transfer coefficient. Based on this one would be able to show that a skinnier tire will heat up faster and be less able to dissipate heat. And with heat the structure of the rubber compound will, in general, weaken and with it the ability to better mold it self to the road surface, or if too much, the inability to keep its structure enough and then have rubber come off and cause it to handle worse (like doing a burnout too long).
So where are we at? Is the only reason for wider tires to handle better heat? Anyone out there know alot about tires and such?