Tire width

I'm showing up way too much in here but.... I would say it depends on the driving you plan on doing. The 185's (if your manual says you can have them,) will give you more traction in rain and snow but be a little more on fuel consumption and may last a little longer. The 175's will be a tad lesser in those areas. Maybe tell us the vehicle make and model and year and someone can tell you about handling differances. Some vehicles will have wheel-well rubbing on full turns of the steering wheel if the tires are too wide. I personally would take the 185's just for better tread-wear and traction in my particular area where it rains buckets and snows several inches at a time in the winter. Others may tell you the tires compliment the suspension and to choose that way but your book should tell you what to expect and what is suggested.

"John W. Bienko" wrote:

Not necessarily correct. A wider tire can give you less traction on the rain and snow. You can hydroplane and the increased surface area may cause you to slide in the snow. Increased surface area means less pressure per square inch at the contact patch. Wider tires will also reduce gas mileage. How much? I doubt much but the wider the tire, the more rolling resistance. This may be negligible.

Wider tires may not last longer and if they do, it's probably also negligible. I don't think it's a direct correlation with the width of the tire. I suppose a wider tire could give you better treadwear. Wider tires will give you better traction on dry pavement compared to thinner tires, all things equal.

-Bruce

Depends on the driving.

The wider tire will grab dry roads better and corner a bit better.

The narrower tire is way better in snow or on slick roads.

A narrow tire has more PSI on the ground footprint and isn't as likely to get on top of the snow and spin or get on top of water and hydroplane.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"John W. Bienko" wrote:

175/185 are only part of the tires size. What are the other numbers?

-------------- Alex

With a wider tire you get more tread therefore more traction. How on earth can a wider tire be worse in snow. I had typed out a long thing about weight dispursion over the contact area etc., but I can speak from doing it myself that my wider tires lasted me longer and gave me better traction due to more tread contact with the road in rain and snow and I noted the differance when trying to go back to thin tires. I just want to add that the weight of the vehicle is a factor also but I won't explain all that again. Me? I'd stick to a wider tire. Do what you want.

Alex Rodriguez wrote:

In article ed writes: $With a wider tire you get more tread

You get a contact patch which is wider but not as long. The area of the contact patch is equal to the weight borne by that tire divided by the tire's pressure, so if two tires each have to carry (say) 700 pounds of load and are inflated to (say) 35 psi, each one has a contact patch of 20 square inches. If they're different widths, fine, but the area is still the same.

$ How on earth $can a wider tire be worse in snow.

Someone else will have to explain that one; I'm not too clear on it.

***************** Thank you snipped-for-privacy@alpha.delta.edu

To reply to this email please remove the AT after the kcgillmo in the reply to address as shown above.

The psi on the road is lower on a wider tire of the same circumference as a narrow tire.

For an extreme example, I run 33x9.5" tires with a 7.5" wide contact patch.

I off road summer and winter in the snow, with guys that have 33x12.5 tires that have a 12" wide contact patch and used to run wide tires myself.

We are running the same tread pattern and brand of tire.

When it comes to sand or snow hill climbs, I just purr up them leaving a tread mark behind.

When the boys with the wide tires try and follow me, they leave rooster tail marks up as far as they can get then they try and try again to get up to where I am.

The weight is spread out too much on their fat tires so the fat tires just get up on top of the sand or snow and spin.

Even guys with full differential lockers and wide tires have to try a couple times usually to follow me in my open differentialed CJ7.

They have 4 tires grabbing, I only have 2 at a time grabbing.

This is the same if not worse on the highway in the snow. The 12.5 tire gets down right dangerous at speeds above 30 mph in 6" of snow. It floats on top. I don't know where the 9.5 starts to get dangerous, I can follow the transport trucks at 55- 60 mph and that is fine for me.

I bought a Volvo that came with wide 60 series tires. That sucker couldn't even get out of my driveway unless pavement was showing. I put on a spare set of 'winter' all season tires and rims from another Volvo I used to own in a 78 series (narrow) and the Volvo went like a dream.

Again same tread pattern and brand of tire.

If you are ever out in the country or in logging areas, look close at the type of tires that folks who work in the bush run. You will see tall skinny tires all the time.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

ed wrote:

If you look at the tread width of any snow tire, it will be very small for the size of tire. This is done for a reason, by people who's job it is to know how to make a tire. Having lived where it snows all but two winters of my life, narrower is better in snow. Tracked vehicles I was told, were/are terrible in the snow. (people I knew at Ft Hood, TX who had been in the 7th or 11 Cav in West Germany, back when there was a border there.) The narrower cross section puts a higher pressure on the contact patch which bites the snow better.

The tracks aren't bad in the snow if you take the rubber pads off. Kind of like studded snow tires that are all stud and no tire.

Watch the a WRC rally on the SpeedChannel (SpeedVision) when they have a rally in the snow or mud. They allways use narrower tires when they race in snow or mud, or rain for that matter. Wider tires cannot channel water out fast enough to prevent hydroplaning compared to a narrower tire. Other racing types (F1, CART, IRL, prototype, SCCA) also go with narrower tires in adverse weather.

Would you rather walk across an ice rink in a) basketball sneakers (wide tread) or b) golf or football spikes (narrow tread)?

:-)