Quote:
Originally Posted by lasitter
Very interesting. Then what is your theory as to why bicycle tires are as thin as possible / highest possible pressure? Other things being equal, why not have all tires as thick as mountain bike tires?
Is your theory all about thin tires being more aerodynamic?
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I don't think we'll have straightforward answers to these questions until disclosure is forced by the final implementation of these rules ... |
I don't believe a slightly thinner tire will be worth anything on a car that is normally operated below 200mph.
Bike tires can be tiny because they hold a tiny amout of weight and they put a tiny amout of power to the road. They have to deal with a tiny amout of heat. On a bike the tire is all exposed and makes up much more frontal area of the vehicle. The round things installed on bikes and cars we call tires are both called the same thing but they are about as different as the 2 vehicles them selves.
Look at a car from the front, how much does tire frontal area compair to the rest of the vehicle, you can hardly see the tires. So there is hardly any effect.
On one of our cars we put yoko avid ascends that were about 1 inch taller than the OEM recomended size. The price difference between the OEM recomended size and the larger tire was about $50 less, the cost of a full tank of gas.
So before I even put them on the car these tires had already saved me about as much money as you can hope to save by switching to LRR tires, over the life of the tire.
The car also rides better with the larger tire. With more inches of rubber on each tire they should last longer too.
I see no reason to down grade to a smaller tire. My mechanical engineer friend has ran all the numbers and also sees no reason to go to a smaller tire.