Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
I'm fairly certain that if narrower tires are fitted, contact patch width is reduced.
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Yes and no.
More like no: the shape of the contact patch is changed but contact area should stay the same.
The weight of the car vs. the air pressure creates the contact patch. So if you reduce width the length of the patch would increase if pressure and all else stay the same.
The reason wider tires improves handling is... Well maybe the different shape contact patch will give better control. Lower profile tires on larger rims will have shorter sidewalls - so less flexing is possible. That makes sense.