Quote:
Originally Posted by sean3
Coefficient of friction is determined by the tire compound, not the width. In perfect theory, a narrow tire and a wide tire would be the same because the contact patch is the same size. But what if the tire is so narrow that there can not physically be enough rubber on the ground for the contact patch to fill? Now you're loading the sidewalls and a wider tire would help.
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Sean, you brought up an interesting thing here, but I believe you may have explained it wrong.
Coefficient of Friction is determined by the tire compound, so in theory all tires that are made of the same compound will have the same coefficient of friction. That's assuming that all other factors are a constant.
Now, in a perfect world, with two uniform surfaces, traction is independent of surface area (Contact Patch in our example). So, Traction, or Force of Friction, is equal to the Coefficient of Friction multiplied by the Normal Force acting on an object. In our case, the normal force is the weight of the car.
So, according to that logic, a wider tire and a narrow tire are equal.
But, in the real world, surfaces are not uniform, and there are many more factors that effect Traction or Force of Friction then in the above model. Which leads to differences in traction or force of friction between different tire sizes with the same Coefficient of Friction.