RE: Contact Patch

[C2slayman@domain.elided]

Mark,
       I beg to differ.  This is completely counter intuitive.

>Physics 101: Contact patch area is primarily a function of pressure and the
>load on the tyre - force = pressure x area. 

Force is the weight of the car on the road.  Ignoring the minor weight 
differences of wheel and tire combos (which Mike has so nicely documented), 
force is fixed.  Pressure is the force per unit area the tread exerts on the 
road.  IT IS NOT TIRE PRESSURE.  Tire pressure is the force per unit area the 
air in the tire is exerting in ALL directions - against the tread, against 
the sidewalls, against the inner wheel.  Also, some of the force of the cars 
mass is transfered directly to the tread via the tire sidewall and not air 
pressure.  So there has to be a component of force that is independent of 
tire pressure.

And yes, this is only a simple static situation.  Things get infinitely 
complicated under dynamic load!

Cheers,
Charlie
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