Thread: Skinny Tyres Vs Fat Tyres

Originally Posted by JDNSW

For almost all offroad situations the only important factors are the overall diameter of the tyre and the tread pattern - for any realistic width, you mostly won't be able to tell the difference, and pressures will make a lot more difference.

I agree that diameter is most important, but IME (and many others) wider tyres have a greater contact patch offroad, which makes a huge difference. Wider tyres will often find grip where narrower tyres don't - especially on (loose) rocky terrain.

Just look at the US rockcrawling guys (many of whom work together with tyre developers). Low weight is everything for those guys. If skinny tyres did as well as wider tyres, they would be running them.

Serg - your old engine must have been a real dog. I know a guy with a 130DC who used to run 35" wheels with stock gearing AND tow a 30' caravan.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

I agree that diameter is most important, but IME (and many others) wider tyres have a greater contact patch offroad, which makes a huge difference. Wider tyres will often find grip where narrower tyres don't - especially on (loose) rocky terrain.

Just look at the US rockcrawling guys (many of whom work together with tyre developers). Low weight is everything for those guys. If skinny tyres did as well as wider tyres, they would be running them.

I agree. There are very very few narrow hard core tyres available. They are just about all wide.

i think the point was about the fact that tyres are now wideer to appeal to the asthetic demands of todays markets. in a situation where the grip available from a srface is very good (bitumen, hard dirt-roads and big stationary rocks) the more rubber you can get on it the better.

i think many of the surfaces the WRC race on are more relevant to many of our 4x4 adventures (mud, sand, snow, shale and loose rocky terrain) and overall the tyre widths the use arent that wide.

Originally Posted by simonr23

i think the point was about the fact that tyres are now wideer to appeal to the asthetic demands of todays markets. in a situation where the grip available from a srface is very good (bitumen, hard dirt-roads and big stationary rocks) the more rubber you can get on it the better.

i think many of the surfaces the WRC race on are more relevant to many of our 4x4 adventures (mud, sand, snow, shale and loose rocky terrain) and overall the tyre widths the use arent that wide.

Hard core bog tyres are about performance, not aesthetics. Very few of these are narrow which flaws the perspective that wide tyres are for looks. Even on OBC 4WD's which are closer to what we run, they tend to run on the wide side of things at 12.5-13.5" etc.


WRC tyres are controlled by the FIA.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

I agree that diameter is most important, but IME (and many others) wider tyres have a greater contact patch offroad, which makes a huge difference. Wider tyres will often find grip where narrower tyres don't - especially on (loose) rocky terrain.

Just look at the US rockcrawling guys (many of whom work together with tyre developers). Low weight is everything for those guys. If skinny tyres did as well as wider tyres, they would be running them.

........

No argument - but how many people drive in these circumstances? Wider tyres will certainly give an improvement compared to narrow tyres, but within legal limits the difference is small, and less than the differences in tyre treads - and certaily less than the difference a samll increase in diameter makes.

John

Originally Posted by simonr23

i think the point was about the fact that tyres are now wideer to appeal to the asthetic demands of todays markets. in a situation where the grip available from a srface is very good (bitumen, hard dirt-roads and big stationary rocks) the more rubber you can get on it the better.

i think many of the surfaces the WRC race on are more relevant to many of our 4x4 adventures (mud, sand, snow, shale and loose rocky terrain) and overall the tyre widths the use arent that wide.

Just a few quick questions:

Are you planning on rallying your Disco?
Would your regular use for the Disco include 180 km/h on a dirt road?
How many WRC cars weigh 2 tonnes?

I run 33x12.5 Claws on my ute when offroad. And to be quite frank I think they are too wide for the weight of my car. Particularly on clay tracks I tent to skate around EVERYWHERE! Where as all the other heavier cars (discos and rangies) on narrower tyres stay firmly planted onto the track.

Originally Posted by stirlsilver

I run 33x12.5 Claws on my ute when offroad. And to be quite frank I think they are too wide for the weight of my car. Particularly on clay tracks I tent to skate around EVERYWHERE! Where as all the other heavier cars (discos and rangies) on narrower tyres stay firmly planted onto the track.

That's just because radial claws are ****

Really Really Really ****