Wide vs Narrow Off-Road Tires -- a Scientific Comparison

[SRO]

I watched this the other day and read all the comments- he did a great job considering his circumstances and budget and with the purpose of choosing an all terrain (including street) tire. I believe even if you chose optimal width wheels for each tire size, within each brand with similar carcass construction you'd have similar results. So many people run 'e' tires on their light 4x's to help prevent sidewall damage, that I can't say using e's is a negative. The contact patch shape indicated these were slightly overinflated on the chalk test- but the area of the chalk being the same size at a given psi and load is what you should expect. Contact patch should be consistent with the direction of intended loading on a high traction surface. For example- a drag car should have a longer vs a wider patch whereas a circuit car should have a wider rather than longer patch. 4x4's don't have a consistent direction of loading so it's more important to have the highest number of edges and voids in contact which will generally favor a longer vs a wider patch. Except in very shallow snow or sand, you are unlikely to bite through the snow to the underlying surface. On low traction surfaces tires tend to lose direction in the shape of the contact patch- so a long-thin patch will tend to lose traction forward and a short-wide contact patch will tend to move sideways.

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[Oldguy19]

Broke a lot less parts going narrow! Made me think what not to do. Lol

 

[Max-t]

I think it’s something that has to be reiterated occasionally in the US. Growing up in the adirondacks where all off l-roading was for work it was well understood. Wide for slip sliding. Forget about it on snow.

form over function fads always come around and put big tall fat tires on everything.
Something we never did in real world off road utility in any country outside the US (see camel cup) Wide gets you? Wide. Doesn’t really add contact. Just adds clearance issues.

there’s a good video out there showing the difference in wide tires and wide track as it relates to rolling and wind resistance.
I get a lot of people coming up to me in parking lots asking about my Jeep and recently had that guy “it really deserves wider tires”. Wish I had this link for him.
I’ll grant rock crawling is a very niche activity in a, globally speaking,, small area that I’m not too experienced or interested in.; So I’ve been just considering the local love of wide offset wide tires something I didn’t understand the utility of. Nice to know I’m not missing anything.

Watched a group of spaced out fat tire Jo/jet guys get stuck in the squeeze (pinyon trail ca ) a couple weeks ago. I got through in all but stock form easily (steel rear bumper needed). They all had moderate or greater body damage. From having no line. They were rubber to rock on both sides. No room to save for tipping into the rocks.
after we got through I passed them, and left em behind. I couldn’t go as slow as their much more built wide track rigs were going.

 

[Max-t]

I don’t believe in the chalk test, unless you do it at full GVWR. Most tires today have a tighter tread pattern in the center because that’s where your best traction is especially when empty. Once you load the vehicle down you will contact the edges. It’s more noticeable on semi trucks (because I drove them for so many years) The contact patch is very narrow when empty

Yea you have to have different pressures for different loads if you’re being that picky as to chalk. I have my around town pressure and my outfitted pressure (as I don’t carry all that off road junk everywhere like the roof top tent crowd)

 

[Uparms]

I watched this yesterday AM. I though he did a good job educating and testing.

 

[Alpine Warthog]

WHOA.

Very impressed with the methodology and thorough coverage. I'd have liked to see real world practical testing in addition to this and I'd really love this same test with snow and ice practical experiments.

 

[BAT]

I like the Narrow tires and the look. My next set of tires will be mostly for function and performance as a mostly DD with some light trails.

 

[peterpilot379]

Skinny worked pretty good back then and still work pretty well today. The beautiful thing is those skinny-tired jeeps that helped win the big war ensured our freedoms to even have ALL the tire choices one could ever dream of to suit your wants & needs. Go skinny, go fat, go in between. ‘Merica!

 

[JTBurns]

I enjoyed the comparison. Sold me even more on the Baja Boss pizza cutters. Still too cheap to ditch my Falken M/T takeoffs though. With 40k miles they still have 8/32 tread depth and only really just started getting loud

 

[Firecop]

I'm a fan of stuff staying under the fender, which is why I went with the 35 x 11.5 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on the stock wheels. I use the JT for work and play, so I went with the less aggressive tire. I will say they make almost no road noise.

 

[Alpine Warthog]

I like mine to just peak outside the wheel wells. gives it the appearance of a wider/more stable base. my wheels have a +10 offset so I'm hoping I'll still have some rubber peaking out with the narrower tire

 

[Costadelmar]

Currently running 37x11.5x17 Nitto Recon Grapplers, love the look stance & ride & happy to see some validation. Don’t think I’ll ever go back to wide(r) tires again.

 

[smlobx]

Currently running 37x11.5x17 Nitto Recon Grapplers, love the look stance & ride & happy to see some validation. Don’t think I’ll ever go back to wide(r) tires again.

‘How do you like the Recon’s?
They’re on my short list but I don’t know anyone who has them.

 

[Costadelmar]

‘How do you like the Recon’s?
They’re on my short list but I don’t know anyone who has them.

So far so good, I have not taken them OffRoad yet but they hit all the marks for everything else, quiet & even aggressive looking plus they come with a 55,000 mile warranty!

 

[TheGrendel]

Currently running 37x11.5x17 Nitto Recon Grapplers, love the look stance & ride & happy to see some validation. Don’t think I’ll ever go back to wide(r) tires again.

I really like that. My JK is my hardcore offroader. My JT is more for work and overlanding stuff. I like to keep the tires tucked. This seems perfect. What lift are you on?

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