Will-
Dangit I was successfully resisting the temptation to share my racer's
mindset but I can't any more:
You can never have too much horsepower, you can never have too much
tire.
I don't believe a ride is harsh until it affects vision. Comfort is
performance. I may unconsciously ignore some ride "comfort" to be
quicker. I don't recall excessive increase in steering kickback, nor
increase in oversteer, even when the car was on the street in N.J. It
seems to me that toe-in (or -out), spring rates, and tire sidewall flex
have more effect on those issues than tire diameter or width. There was
a bit of "wandering" after changing to radials, and people mentioned
chassis tuning, but the tires were virtually the same size.
Wider tires provide more rubber meeting pavement, so long as they don't
lean so far they use only the outer edge in cornering. It took me too
long to learn that lesson. My autocross times improved 15-20% when I
doubled spring rates and the car stayed flat in the turns.
Best,
Skip
William Zehring wrote:
>
> 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 instance, 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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