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Re: Tire Sizes

To: Rikrock@aol.com
Subject: Re: Tire Sizes
From: William Zehring <zehrinwa@umdnj.edu>
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:27:04 -0400
At 08:24 PM 7/11/00 -0400, you wrote:


>I am also puzzled by the "narrow tires are better" comment.  Seems to me that
>the wider the tire, the greater the cornering speed......
>
>Rich Rock

I'm NOT an expert on these matters by any means, but I'd suggest that while 
what you say is probably correct in and of itself, its not all there is to 
it.  Wider tires appear to me to be more sensitive to uneven pavement 
surfaces and if the car's suspension and chassis are not set up for it, its 
my guess that in generally straight line movement, albeit on uneven, 
potholed or grooved surfaces (which are NUMEROUS in the great state of New 
Jersey), or going over RR tracks, for instace, would make the car feel 
'squirrely' with a looser rear end and more kickback in the 
steering.  You'd be fighting this tendency often.  It comes back to an old 
theme; the chassis was tuned to a specific sort of tire, and while a change 
might make sense under one circumstance, it amounts to a loss of 
performance under another.  Give and take...  OTOH, if you're racing, and 
you move to a wider tire, you're probably ALSO making the chassis changes 
that'll acommodate the tires.

Any other thoughts out there?

cheers,
Will Zehring
'71 2500


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