Tire Myths

[sailourboy]

Thought this might be of interest in regards to those thinking bigger is better...well for tires anyways :D

http://www.openroad.iinet.net.au/tyremyths.html

While there check out their piece on canvas tent care.

Cheers
Ted

[red90]

That is correct. Wider tires are not better. But.....lower pressures are better.....and.....wider tires of the size diameter on the same rim size for the same vehicle can be operated at a a safe lower pressure than narrower tires....

So if you operate the wider tires at the safe lower pressure than you can for the narrower tire, you will do better.

[Roverworks]

**sigh** :lol:

The best tires for a Series Land Rover are narrow. I always liked the Bias-Ply, 8 ply, “Jeep Service” tires which were $55.00 at the time. They were more than adequate for what the vehicle was capable of and tough as nails..

Much money is spent on tires which could be better spent else where…oh yeah…IMHO.

[D2000]

I don’t know if I agree with what was said about wide tires not being better in sand.
I thought a large contact patch reduced the ground pressure thus reducing the amount the tire goes into the sand. All the purpose build sand buggies I have seen have VERY wide tires.
Also on the Wet coast we have a little more mud than some other places, so MT’s do help.

[lastV8]

Wider tyres in sand are always better. The reason they run narrower tyres in the Dakar is because the regulations say you have to. It levels the playing field. 235.85R16 is the tallest and widest you can run in 4WD vehicles. I have entered the Dakar twice in my Land Rover and everyone runs this size with a closed tread pattern for sand. 2WD entrants are free of this regulation and run massive, balloon tyres on the driven axle. In mud stages you run narrow, open tread. You need to cut trough the soft stuff to reach the firmer ground underneath. These tyres are a liability in sand unless you like digging in 40 degree heat. Steven.

[red90]

I don’t know if I agree with what was said about wide tires not being better in sand.
I thought a large contact patch reduced the ground pressure thus reducing the amount the tire goes into the sand. .

The contact patch is based on the weight of the vehicle and the pressure in the tire period and has nothing to do with the tire size. Weight divided by pressure equals contact patch size. A wider tire at the same pressure has the same size contact patch area as a narrow tire, but the contact patch is shorter and wider. A long narrow contact patch is better because it uses less power.

As I stated above though, a wider tire on the same truck can be run at a lower safe pressure, thus giving you a larger contact patch. You must lower the pressure for this to happen. If you can run taller instead of wider to achieve the same patch size, you will use less power and that is better.

Sand is 95% about pressure, period. The other 5% is tread pattern. Aggressive tires do slightly better, but eat a lot of power.

There was this great dune in Australia near where we lived composed of very soft sand. It had a bowl with a choice of grades from easy to impossible. Impossible even for a descent. It was a perfect place to see the different capabilities of different vehicles, tire sizes and tread patterns as you could keep trying a steeper line until you could go no further. You learned quickly that air pressure does everything.