I have found this disscussion at ls1tech and thought I would link and start our own cuss and discuss! I am just dying to beat my buddies ls1 just once.....w/o a power adder
this tread gets juicy at the 8th or 9th post... http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=705202
I am a vehicle design major getting ready to begin my Masters program at UW this fall. There are a few things that drive me nuts about that thread.
1) Contact patch does not change with a wider tire. P=F/A (Pressure of tire = Force of vehicle/Area of Contact Patch) This scientifically proves the only way to generate a larger contact patch is to lower the pressure in the tire or increase the mass of the car, thus causing more normal force to be applied to the ground.
2) Wider tires help, because they are more stable across the contact patch, they have less circumference of the tire entering the contact patch every revolution, so the tread is more stable. Also the tread leaves the contact patch sooner, so there is less tread squirm (on a circumferential basis)
3) The type of tire is the most important thing. Different tires have different coefficients of friction. Wider tires are generally higher performance tires and thus have a higher coefficient of friction.
I am running 275/40/17 Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's on the rear and the same in 245/45/17's on the front. They are absolutely phenomenal in the wet and the dry and i will never go back to standard sport style tires. I dont care how much they cost, these tires are incredible. They dont make ultra high performance tires in 225's, so there is yet another reason to run wide tires
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Cardinal Red '88 GT 5 speed, Cobra Upper/Lower, Dynomax complete Super-Turbo cat-back system, Turbo Coupe Rear 10" discs, 3:73 gears, SN95 Master Cylinder, Summit Racing adjustable proportioning valve, Spec Stage II kevlar clutch, steeda adjustable cable/quadrant, 73mm front calipers, P.A. Performance 130 amp alternator, 99 Contour Electric Dual Fans, Battery relocated, rebuilt 91 T-5, Mass Air conversion
wow you know your tires, whats a good tire size for burnouts?
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1990 red gt 306 with a holley 750, edelbrock air gap intake, f cam, aluminum driveshaft, ported e7's, 3.73's, headman shortys with an o/r h-pipe with flows dumped
I would like to say any tire with xxx as the treadwear rating, but as most people who read treadwear ratings have come to realize, they vary immensely. I had some Yokohama A550H's, which were a 340 treadwear rating, but were made of friggin iron!!! They didnt hook up on anything. If you want to do burnouts try a set of drifting tires. Falken 451's or 452's are pretty reputable. They will get decent traction too. Hard sidewalls will likely be the key to good burnouts, and drifting. This way the tire cannot flex too much on the sidewall and hook up. It will also mean that they will be extremely predictable, because if there is no flex, there will be less tread squirm, and less roll on the sidewall. This will make for consistent cornering. Good Luck man
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Cardinal Red '88 GT 5 speed, Cobra Upper/Lower, Dynomax complete Super-Turbo cat-back system, Turbo Coupe Rear 10" discs, 3:73 gears, SN95 Master Cylinder, Summit Racing adjustable proportioning valve, Spec Stage II kevlar clutch, steeda adjustable cable/quadrant, 73mm front calipers, P.A. Performance 130 amp alternator, 99 Contour Electric Dual Fans, Battery relocated, rebuilt 91 T-5, Mass Air conversion
Tire width and Traction theory 
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