Tire trivia

[1st Vette]

Tire contact patch info. And yes the wider the tire the larger the contact area bearing in mind pressure of course.

https://www.enginebasics.com/Chassis%20Tuning/Tire%20Contact%20Patch.html

Analysis of Tire Contact Parameters Using Visual Processing

This paper discusses the application of noncontact methods to analyze the tire-surface contact interaction. This approach uses the tire test bench with the set of contact patch monitoring based on image processing procedures. The first part of this paper presents the results of experimental...

www.hindawi.com

It’s fairly complicated.

 

[Murray20c8]

Link not found.
BTW, Like I said before the weight of a car never changes. When you widen the tire you lose pounds per square inch.
Here is a thought experiment.
You have snow shoes and they allow you to walk on snow. They are long and skinny. Does anything change if you could wear them sideways? With them being now wide and short! No, same contact patch size. The shape merely changes.
Same with a tire. If you make them wider the width of the contact patch changes, but it must also become shorter. Same weight is applied to the tire. More of it is now distributed to the sides and therefore less front and back.
This is not 100% accurate as there is now more rubber as well, but with all else being identical as in tire pressures and manufacturer etc. it is accurate for all intents and purposes.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Link not found.
BTW, Like I said before the weight of a car never changes. When you widen the tire you lose pounds per square inch.
Here is a thought experiment.
You have snow shoes and they allow you to walk on snow. They are long and skinny. Does anything change if you could wear them sideways? With them being now wide and short! No, same contact patch size. The shape merely changes.
Same with a tire. If you make them wider the width of the contact patch changes, but it must also become shorter. Same weight is applied to the tire. More of it is now distributed to the sides and therefore less front and back.
This is not 100% accurate as there is now more rubber as well, but with all else being identical as in tire pressures and manufacturer etc. it is accurate for all intents and purposes.

I have to disagree. there is a definite change if you wear snowshoes sideways. You will fall flat on your face.

 

[Afterimage]

Tire rack's explanation of tire contact patch:

https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/what-is-a-tire-contact-patch

I usually take manufacturers recommendation and bump it up 1 or 2 psi on the front and keep recommendation on the back or drop it a psi or two. On the Corvette I was running 31F 30R on the RF tires I had but now running the Xtreme Contact 02's I do 32F 30R.

On my daily on the stock wheel/tire setup 205/60/16 on 16x6.5" wheel I do 34F 30R but on my summer setup 245/45/17 17x9" wheel I do 32F 28R. Have never had any weird abnormal tire wear on both sets tire wear is normal or not even noticeable. My alignment is also dialed in properly but with some - camber (-1.1' front). Below video 1:27-2:10