Quote:
Originally Posted by ksa8907
Sorry for being overly critical, I believe inflation pressure will influence what you are describing. Distance traveled is dependent on the distance between the axis of rotation and the ground where the tire is making contact.
If inflation pressure changes, then so does that distance. If the contact patch becomes shorter from front to back because of inflation pressure, then distance between the axis and the ground must have increased. Does the contact patch change in length as the tire is worn?
I might design an experiment to test this.
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No problem, glad you take it sportingly
IIRC someone already tested whether higher tire pressure influenced the circumference and rolling distance, and it did not noticeably.
The steel belts keep the tire at the same diameter.
From my own experience: When I discovered Ecomodder shortly after buying my Insight I raised the tire pressure by almost 10 PSI, and I was curious whether it had an effect on my reported commute distance. But it didn't; the speed bump from my example remained right there at 5.0 (at that time).
To graphically demonstrate the tread shrink effect (and my lack of drawing skills
) I made this conceptual picture of a treaded tire:
As you see, when the contact patch is flat the notches align and their height becomes irrelevant to the distance between them.
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