In this Curbside review of a late model Chevy Spark, the author positively critques its handling:
Vindicating some of what I stated here and elsewhere regarding narrower tires.
Throwing it around corners, it clung to the road with its narrow tires but gave positive feedback for the efforts.
The person who wrote that article and comment, āAllanFā, isnāt listed on that siteās list of āEditors & Authorsā.
Do you know anything about his background or experience level?
Thank you.
What does it matter? He drove the thing, and gave his impressions.
Whatās with the skepticism of this generation?
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There is more difference between tires - meaning make/model - than there is for simple tire size change. Not many people know that.
So unless the comparison was between the same exact tire in different sizes, the idea that narrow tires are better isnāt validated. Besides this was just a review of a single drive - no comparison involved. Certainly no comparison can be made.
Shame on you, Chris.
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Not interested in the linked article - this is going to be a long COALS ( have no idea what that means ) - Chevrolet Spark and performance in the same sentence ( get serious )
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I seriously believe the opposite, even as your Padawan learner (to borrow from George Lucasās universe 
).
Take a car, such as a Civic, with respectable handling in its class. Now take another, identical year but trim level with different aspect ratio tires. Both correctly inflated.
I truly believe their handling will differ more because one has 50-series tires on it, and the other has 65-series on it.
Ditto pressure: You could have two of the same car make/model/year,
same amount of gas in each tank. Put a premium brand tire on one of the two cars, but inflate all four tires to different pressures, or, severely over or under-inflate all tires.
Put a ācheapoā brand tire on the other copy, but: go through the pains of setting all the tires exactly to recommended pressures.
Guess which one will handle better on, IE, the test course Motorweek or Road & Track uses.
I thought soā¦
Brand-name, shmand-name. Aspect ratio, inflation pressure, and category(winter, all-season, summer, touring, etc) all matter more.
Whatās with the āI thought soā smug attitude?
You havenāt actually proven anything, as I see it
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At one point in my automotive engineering career, I had a lot of professional experience with the Corvette C4. The 1984 car was released with 255/50/16 tires. Huge for the time. In 1988, after a minor re-design of the front suspension, the car was sold with either 255/50/16 tires OR the new 275/40/17 tires. Both from Goodyear.
I drove the cars in back to back tests, with the 16 inch tires and the optional 17 inch tires. I was amazed that the lower profile, wider 17 inch tire rode better, handled better, tracked better on the highway and was quieter than the 16 inch tire. At that time, part of my job was to evaluate such things.
The engineering wizards at Goodyear produced a tire that was superior in all respects even when āconventionalā wisdom was contrary.
You can create your own reality, Chris, and live within its boundaries but donāt expect much company.
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Lots of objective comments, total lack of subjective comments.
And NO, lower end tire may not perform as well as higher end, note I said may.
The lower end tires that were OEM on my car, fishtailed like crazy on wet roads, replaced with better tires, fishtailing is gone. But note, those are my objective comments. A better review would be G force obtained on both wet and dry surfaces.
Even within a brand&series tires can exhibit different handling, another objective comment, had tires with directional tread, when they needed replacing were not readily available, so I chose same brand, same line, but āall seasonā, all position tires. Handling suffered.
It is somewhat like, when one of the major car magazines commented the 1970-something Firebird seemed to handle really well, but then they realized it felt that way because it was low powered due to the primitive pollution control devices.
Complete and utter hogwash.
Per my previous post, evaluating such things was my job.
I had a project with a BMW 528 with electronic shocks. We were trying to sell the system to BMW.
As part of that development I tried each of the 3 BMW approved tires for the model. Dunlops, Continentals and Michelins. The same size tires, the same pressures, the same CAR, the same roads.
My impressions and data decided the Dunlop tires handled better (higher lateral Gs), had mediocre on-center feel (tramlining) and rode more harshly (not what we wanted!). The Continentals lost a bit of handling (slightly lower Gs), but had better on-center feel but they did ride a bit better. The Michelins produced a little lower yet Gs but the on-center feel was excellent and the ride was the best of the 3.
Different brands, same size, pressure, car and roads with different results.
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How dare you!
How could a highly-experienced chassis/suspension engineer with practical and relevant experience know more on this topic than an uncredentialed random person on the internet?
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Nothing in that article provides any support for your opinion. That a small low-horsepower lightweight car was fun to fling around means nothing with regards to what type of tire handles better.
p.s. - the factory tire are 55 series, pretty āwideā to me.
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Car and Driver did a true comparison focused on the effect of aspect ratio. This table refutes the OPās opinion:
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Are you a flat-earther? Seriously? You sound like one. You have a āBeliefā, but canāt back it up with any data. Yet when confronted with people who have actual knowledge on the subject - you donāt believe them and cling to your unproven and unverified beliefs.
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texases:
Iād take that Golf with either of the two sizes circled in green:
Straightline stability matters far more to me than 1/4 mile results, and hair-pin turns
For me a small light car with good tires on tight twisty roads is the most fun. I recall an article in one of the car magazines many years ago where they had a race between a Corvette and a Suzuki Swift, the Swift won. I had a 93 Swift with original size Michelin tires that was good fun. 4 wheel independent suspension on a car that weighed 1700 lbs. A tin can on a skateboard.
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How do you measure āstraightline stabilityā? Odd priority for āhandlingāā¦
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#1 Iām not in a race. I actually (dare to) drive at or below the speed limit.
#2. I pick a lane on multi-lane roads or highways and stick to it, and donāt weave from lane to lane.
So I never really get to test those characteristics of a car or its tires, to be honest.
So actual handling isnāt important, itās stability. Then your comments have nothing to do with sporty handling, more to do with freeway cruising.
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A couple of weeks ago, he made the blanket statement that ācars handled much betterā 15-20 years ago. When I proved him wrong, he stated that heās ānot in a raceā.
So, he claims to be interested in excellent handling characteristics, but when heās ācalledā on the inaccuracy of his statements, he falls back on the ānot in a raceā comment. I guess that reciting that refrain is easier than admitting oneās error.
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