Originally Posted by
Coheed 
Actually I can prove the opposite. Going to a bigger overall diameter will increase the contact patch by elongating it. Take a big tire and a small tire and dip them in water and you will see that the actual patch size touching the ground is different. Width aside.I'm going to retract my previous statement, and admit I thought I knew what was going on with tire contact patch, but it's apparently much more complicated than I was making it. My statement holds true for an inflated balloon apparently, but not for something like a reinforced tire. I invite anyone curious to read this baby right here:
Fact or Fiction? Tire contact patch and air pressure.
Good luck! =P
Originally Posted by
Coheed I went to 205-55 over a 205-50 and I noticed a big diff in braking. The brakes are designed for a certain amount of leverage and changine the tire size extends the leverage of the arm making it harder to stop.Yes, but that just means the brakes have to work harder. No big deal. I was going under the assumption that the brakes had enough heat absorption left on the table to deal with the gain in leverage. I would think even the stock brakes could handle the move to 205-55-15 tires. Maybe I was wrong.
Originally Posted by
Coheed It does have its benefits but the bigger tire is a bigger lever. Tha'ts why all the guys with huge tires on their pickups and Jeeps can't stop as well as before.That's part of why the guys with giant wheels can't stop as well as before. They have gone so far out of the range of the braking system they have trouble with the leverage, yes. I just figure with the tire sizes we talk about here on this forum, there's no issue.
The trucks with the giant wheels/tires also have to deal with a lot more rotating mass, which overworks the brakes as well, so there's more at play than just the leverage.
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