John, Your help is appreciated, whether I get better help later or
not. But I'll just comment on the narrow tire concept. I don't have
as much direct experience as you. I've just heard more than one old
timer say that for many types of conditions, especially ice, the
narrow tire is best. I never really took it to heart until I heard
Dr. Bill Wattenberg (out in CA) explain why. He said that it was due
to the increased PSI in the footprint of the tire. If you have the
same weight sitting on a smaller space, you get more force/traction
exerted there. I imagine there is a point of diminishing returns in
the formula somewhere (I wouldn't put bicycle tires on my rig, for
instance), but given the choice between a 10 to 12 inch tire and an
8 to 9 inch, I'll take the narrower profile. Enough experienced
drivers have told me so, and it just makes sense to me.
Thanks, -John A.
John,