Best P185/60R15 for traction. LRR a plus.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by ddongbap

FYI, wider tires doesn't mean that the Yaris will grip more, or better.

Here is an excellent Walter Lewin Lecture from MIT Open Courseware. It addresses these issues.

[ddongbap]

Originally Posted by sbergman27

Here is an excellent Walter Lewin Lecture from MIT Open Courseware. It addresses these issues.

Aww, thats too much reading.

And I can't understand the advanced terms hes spitting out.

And he doesn't talk about weight ratings, and tire heat cycles. If you're unable to get the tires to its normal operating temps, they won't grip. Wider tires take longer to heat up. Also, wider tires don't necessarily have more contact patch.

btw, after reading the title, I'm pretty sure that the entire lecture doesn't cover real world issues and variables.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by ddongbap

Aww, thats too much reading.

Don't read it! Watch it! :-)

Walter Lewin's lectures are works of art. Although this is, unfortunately, the one in this series where he's ill. Usually he ends up flying through the air between trapeze bars, electrified by a Vandergraff generator, or nearly decapitated by a Focault Pendulum, in order to underscore his trademark declaration: "Physics works!".

Each semester, he rehearses each lecture 3 times in front of an audience of at least one.

He does, BTW, address the temperature issue you bring up here. But slyly. He always leaves the students with at least one problem, with a non-obvious answer, to ponder. In this case, it's the width of race car tires.

I posted the link to OCW not so much to make an argument for wider or narrower, but because Walter is a very, very dedicated, cool, and inspirational professor, of a breed that this world could do with a lot more of. And, of course, it *is* pertinent to the topic at hand.

-Steve