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Looking back at past and current hot-rods...
The '76 Camaro Type LT, affectionately known as "The Rust Monster" came to me with 235/60R14 tires.
The Beast has 235/50R18 tires.
That tickles me that they both have the same treadwidth; but are very different tires.
The Camaro's tires were 25.1" in diameter and needed 804 revolutions per mile.
The Beast's tires are 27.3" in diameter and need 740 revolutions per mile.
Do you have enough mileage to tell if the Beast's tires last longer? I imagine the composition of the tire rubber could have changed, too.
ReplyDeleteModern tires do last longer.
DeleteBut my changing to all season tires over max performance is the bigger difference.
The larger diameter of modern tires is largely possible due to transmissions in cars havving more gears as well as more sophisticated suspension allowing shorter profile tire sidewalls without resulting in ridiculously bad ride.
ReplyDeleteOne advantage to larger diameter tires is even at the same width it makes the effective "patch" of tread on the ground slightly large due to the circumference of the circle being bigger. It also allows a larger diameter brake disc. Brakes on cars these days are way better than what we had back in the day and bigger discs and calipers are a big brute part of that in addition to better materials for pads and antilock technology, etc.
One downsize of larger tires and wheels is of course weight. Although reducing the sidewall maybe mitigates that a little. Tire and wheel weight is maybe one factor people don't always think about in why cars today, despite usingmore lighter alloys, plastics, etc., have gotten heavier overall.
-swj