8th Generation Honda Civic Forum - View Single Post - slow steering after upgrade to 215/45/17 tires
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Old 10-11-2008, 10:05 PM   #12 (permalink)
e60.deluxe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ray View Post
This is a pretty tired (no pun intended) and overused over-simplification. Yes, it will be the same area. But it will not be the same shape. It's the width of the contact patch I am referring to, not the total area bounded by it.
no, just saying that the contact patch gets bigger, its simplifing it, because most people talk about it in relation to handling, it helps with handling. saying that it stays the same area is less simple than that.

in anycase, i know all that, but the point is, i dont see how, when turning the wheel, a wider contact patch would resist more than a narrower one. when we say wider, its really still an elongated shape, but a wider tire makes it less elongated and more square shaped. a wider one would provide more lateral grip, but we are not talking about lateral grip. i dont see how it could HINDER pivoting. i would think that being more square shaped would, if anything, HELP pivoting, and the increase in lateral grip would HELP the car change direction quicker.

Last edited by e60.deluxe; 10-11-2008 at 10:13 PM.
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