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Old 05-01-2009, 11:39 PM   #34 (permalink)
ConnClark
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Richland,WA
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Das Schlepper Frog - '85 Mercedes Benz 300SD
90 day: 23.23 mpg (US)

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ernie Rogers View Post
<SNIP>
Okay, now for the car tire. In this case, it's the distance (related to the contact patch) that is fixed, based on the air pressure in the tire. So, now you want to make the force to flex the rubber as small as possible, and that means to choose material that flexes very easily.

In both cases, materials with low internal friction are the best to use.
If there was any truth to this then why do steel belted radial tires have a lower rolling resistance than than an ordinary radial tire?

Also note that the soft or hardness of a rubber has nothing to do with its internal friction.
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