How Tires Work

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Just was thinking this while my car was getting serviced.. Why do regular vehicles have tread which gets less responsive as it loses it’s tread, while race cars use slick tires for maximum grip? Wouldn’t physics say more tire on road = more surface to grip? If so, why do our cars even have tread? Is it simply to save on MPG? If so, are tires with worn thread less responsive?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

On flat dry surfaces it is true that more rubber contact means more grip, which is why racing cars often use slick tyres. However if you are driving through a water puddle, on gravel, on snow, etc. you need some treads. You need somewhere for the water to flow to as you drive over it or it will just stay as a layer between the rubber and the road reducing grip to almost nothing. The treads is there so the water can flow into them as you drive over it so you get more rubber on the road. On gravel the top surface is very lose and bumpy so you need the rubber to wrap around all the pebbles gripping them. So the treads is there to allow the rubber to expand into so it can grip the pebbles. Snow and mud is a combination where the tread both allow the rubber to get deeper into it where the ground is firmer but also allow it to throw the snow or mud back to propell the car forwards.

If you look at the racing cars with slick tyres they will change to wet tyres with treads when it starts to rain as these have much more grip. And any sort of off road racing or even just gravel racing is done on tyres with deep treads.

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