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Toyota RAV4 pre-2006

2123 messages,  Last post on Aug 20, 2009 at 7:57 PM

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#1689 of 2123 Re: 2004 RAV4 Fwd in the rain [suvshopper4] by kdshapiro Dec 07, 2004 (6:27 am)
Replying to: suvshopper4 (Dec 06, 2004 5:38 pm) On any FWD without TC you can spin the tires in rain/snow when cranking the wheel under hard acceleration. AWD will make a difference.   It has not been my experience that narrow tires are better in inclement weather, exactly the opposite. Wider tires are always better due to increased contact with the pavement. I do agree that cars with narrower tires have a softer ride.
#1690 of 2123 Kdshapiro by steve_ HOST Dec 07, 2004 (7:08 am)
There's a thread from 2001 that says that at a given tire pressure and vehicle weight, you have the same area contact patch regardless of tire width.   dudleyr "Tires, tires, tires" Nov 20, 2001 10:54am   And another post of interest:   hpulley4 "Tires, tires, tires" Jan 21, 2003 10:39am   Steve, Host Replies to this message: kdshapiro (Dec 07, 2004 11:08 am)
#1691 of 2123 Narrow tires by petl Dec 07, 2004 (8:31 am)
I does sound illogical, but narrow tires are better in inclement weather particularly in snow and ice conditions. Something I learned about 35 years ago. The less tire touching the ice and snow, the better the traction. I wish my memory was good enough to remember why.
#1692 of 2123 Re: Kdshapiro [steve_] by kdshapiro Dec 07, 2004 (11:08 am)
Replying to: steve_ (Dec 07, 2004 7:08 am) Steve - I wish I could find the photos I've run across of different width tires taken on a clear plate from underneath. A picture is worth 1K words.   Having grown up in the snow belt of NY with a couple of different cars my observations are as follows:   1. Handling narrow tires. 2. starting and stopping wider tires.
#1693 of 2123 by steve_ HOST Dec 07, 2004 (11:21 am)
My narrow Tercel tires seemed to do better in my 20 Anchorage winters than my bigger minivan tires did. Anchorage is nothing like Buffalo though (and a Tercel is nothing like a Caravan either <g>).   I couldn't find any photos either, but I think I've seen them before. And the contact patch isn't static either and will change in various conditions (hard cornering comes to mind).   There's probably some more info over in the Snow/Ice winter tires discussion.   Steve, Host
#1694 of 2123 by 719b Dec 07, 2004 (2:06 pm)
narrow tires have more weight per square inch to the contact point.
#1695 of 2123 Re: Tire Contact Pressure by capriracer Dec 07, 2004 (3:42 pm)
FYI:   Tire contact pressure DOES change with width.   To demonstrate: Let's assume you have several tires that have the same maximum load rating and are inflated to the same pressure. It turns out that these tires would have about the diameter overall diameter.   Now load them to the same load. Does it now make sense that the narrower tire would have a longer footprint? No! The overall diameter's are the same, and the deflection is the same, why would the footprint length be different?   Put another way, inflation pressure doesn't equal footprint pressure.   Hope this helps.
#1696 of 2123 contact point. by 719b by petl Dec 07, 2004 (6:22 pm)
In simple terms, I believe you have it. Thanks for jogging my memory.
#1697 of 2123 Wet traction by suvshopper4 Dec 10, 2004 (4:35 pm)
To repeat what I wrote back in 11/01 (just a couple posts before the dudleyr post that Steve_Host linked us to above), the way the magazine (R&T? C&D? Autoweek?) article described it was as follows:   A constant vehicle weight and a constant inflation pressure will lead to a contact patch that is the same area (total square inches), no matter what the tires' aspects are. The thing that varies is the shape or configuration of the contact patch (narrower/longer v. wider/shorter).   And narrower/longer is better in the wet stuff because it has to fight its way thru less of it, and disperses it out to the side of the tire better than a wider/shorter tire.   Net result: If you are more concerned about wet traction, the narrower tire is the better choice. Replies to this message: kdshapiro (Dec 17, 2004 6:13 am) suvshopper4 (Dec 17, 2004 4:21 pm) kdshapiro (Dec 17, 2004 6:22 pm) spleck (Dec 28, 2004 8:05 am)
#1698 of 2123 Re: unhappy fuel mialage [01rav4owner] by concept15 Dec 16, 2004 (3:50 pm)
Replying to: 01rav4owner (Dec 09, 2003 12:38 am) I agree. We love the car but get only 18-19city and 23 hwy. We have a 2004 Rav4 L type. I thought this is a little strange too.

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