Do wider tires of the same compound help with traction?

Why?

On clean dry surface..yes..becuase you have more surface area to contact the pavement with.

On snow..only to ride up on it..like snowshoes.

i would say yes, simply because there is more rubber in contact with the road at all times, i think its known as a "larger contact patch"..

i would think there would be more "power" available to turn the vehicle because of the fact more rubber is on the road.


ive heard people say that are surprised when the 33x12.5s they put on their truck made it handle horribly....

well for one thing you are still using the stock steering system which wasnt designed for the heavier wheels and tires, and due to the tread pattern, you probably have less rubber in contact with pavement than you did with stock tires...

I've got the counter-point to this, but I'll wait.

Well, from my knowledge, smaller and skinner tires help in the winters because it'* cutting through the snow/slush and get right to the road which helps you avoid getting stuck.

On dry roads, wider tires should help by turning because when you turn the sidewall gets folded over, if it'* wider, the sidewall is more resistant to folding over on itself thus helping turn faster and more crisply. Pontiac knows this because they put a inch wider tires on the front to help reduce understeer.

I may be wrong but this is what I inferred from reading.

Kyle (Allmatige) had wider tires on his SSEi....i think that his handleing imprioved but there was some disadvantage to the weight....

I'm talking about pure straight line, mash the gas traction.

technically, adter taking physics, the size of the contact patch really has no influence on the amont of friction between you an there road.

that being said, wider tires allow better cooling which allows companies to use softer rubber and not have it heat up beyond the optimal temp.

Think sidewall height man...

I know you are going to walk all over this some how, but yeah, larger contact patch, more rubber on the ground, better traction.

Alright:

Friction (what makes the car move) = mu (coefficient of friction) * mass * acceleration due to gravity
or
f = mu * m * g

So size of contact patch does not change mass or gravity. Is mu dependent on contact patch size?