A myth dispeled, although my gut instinct already told me what the truth was regarding contact patch area on wider and narrower tires:
For those who wish to watch the video from the beginning:
3 Scientific Experiments to Settle This | Wide vs Narrow Off-Road Tires
That video has some good information if you engage in rock crawling. Now a followup video would be to do the same test with different load range tires. He was testing load range E tires, the KM3 he mentioned are Load range C.
The contact patch area demonstration, though, could also apply to street denizens.
In theory, I could take a 2010 Honda Accord LX, with 215-60R16 tires, and my 2010 Honda Accord EX, with 225-50R17s, do a paint test with them both, and the area of the contact patches would be nearly identical, maybe a 5 percent difference, between one or the other.
The biggest difference would be the orientation of the patches.
I was talking to a cousin of mine this over the weekend who lives in Central NY north of Syracuse. Theyâve already had 2 snowstorms of over 6â each this year. He lives on a farm, and his everyday vehicle is an F150 pickup. And he still switches to NARROWER tires during the winter (along with a large portion of the population in that area). Forecast is prediction more snow than average (200â+/yr)
Did you watch the whole video???
1st thing, he is discussing tires designed for off roading Mickey Thompson (M/T) 315/70r17 and 255/85r17
2nd thing, different tire designs have different characteristicsâŠ
As the BF Goodrich (BFG) in a 315/70r17 shown later in the video, out preformed the M/Tâs in both sizes mostly, so if you only compared the BFG 315âs against the M/T 255âs, then the BFGâs 315âs would show you more contact patch across the board except for the tire on tube partâŠ
And for you and me, none of this info will ever be relevantâŠ
That why I pointed out load ranges the two tires he was comparing were Load range E, the Goodriches were Load range C
I must of missed that, where did he specify the load range of the tiresâŠ
As far as I can see the KM3 only comes in load range E, the KOâs can be had in C & Dâs⊠in a 315/70r17âŠ
In the video he mentioned the load lang but briefly. I found at tirerack the KM3 are available in C,D,and E. I did not want to watch it again, but pretty sure the tires he was testing were E.
I could be wrong.
In general or in the specific 315/70r17 KM3 size??
Yeah, the chart shows different rating for different sizes.
The best examp;e of tht that I can think o is when Chrysler built the Crossfire on the 230Sl platform. They increased the tire width dramatically which slowed acceleration and increased fuel mileage and made it ride hard but did not improve handling much.
I donât need much help in dry road emergency conditions. I tend not to get into those situations in the first place. I drove regularly in conditions that would make the Ice Rod truckers park their rigs. Between Syracuse and Watertown NY , blizzard conditions were an almost nightly occurrence in the winter. When we continued on to Montreal, it was through Malone and Champlain , skirtin the northern edge of the Adirondacks. THere are no winter runs oft of Buffalo that don\t get bad winter conditions. I do know that the cars parked on top of a guardrail at the first snow were usually Mustangs or Camaros or Firebirds . The only reason that Corvettes were not included was because most people had more sense that trying to drive them in the winter.
When I retired, the NY State police had a fleet made up of LTD Fords and some Mustangs. They did not drive the Mustangs in the winter.
Watch out: Youâll catch Hang for saying as much in here! 
The Crossfire was based on a show car, the larger diameter wheels were for âshowâ.
Optional tire size for the SLK320; front 225/45R17, rear 245/40R17
Standard tire size for Crossfire; front 225/40R18, rear 255/35R19
The additional weight was in the 18" and 19" wheels.
Yikes!
At those ratios, might as well have not had any tires and just rode on the wheels.
A fun car to drive around, while my 2016 crash was in subrogation, was an insurance rental Nissan 2015 Note (Versa hatchback). I believe it was the SV trim, because it had the continuously-variable-transmission, and back-up camera.
Narrow-ish 65-series tires on 15âwheels, even with electric power asssist steering, it wa nicely weighted in the turns, and didnât mind being tossed around on winding back boulevards(!).
Tracked as straight as a laser beam on the Merritt Parkway, even over the buckboard segments which were pre-milled for repaving.
Perhaps they were ahead of their time. You said that you could âdoâ tires, get used to mounting/dismounting 35 and 40 series tires, they are common.
Lexus sports coupe:
I have owned a Firebird, a Starfire (like a Chevy Monza - rwd V6) and Corvette, a Honda S2000 and a Mustang. I have driven all of them in the snow.
I learned to drive in snow in a mid-size rwd car on retread tires. I got stuck a few times but I got myself out. You just learn how to drive in the snow.
The Starfire got my first set on 4 winter (snow) tires. Wow, what a revelation! That transformed a very poor winter driver into a good one. With a good set of winters, any of the cars I listed, except the too-low (snowplow) Corvette, would be useable in snow and ice conditions.
My (rental) Nissan Note back in 2016 feld just fine at 60mph on 65-series 15s. Certainly more sure-footed feelng then the 2013 Sonata I ultimately bought, on 55-series 17s.
We rented the versa,âs baby brother the Micra in 2013 in Ireland. Smaller and cheaper with a 1.2 3cyl but same interior and cvt. Budgetâs employees figured weâd say it was too small but really no change from the Mazda weâd had for 19yrs. Better passenger room with just enough cargo space. A better fit on those narrow roads than the Ford Mondeo they first gave us. Canada got this gen micra only in the big cities. Only used the motorway to get out of Dublin.
That Mondeo must have been a newer generation than the one I drove as a U.S. Contour back in 1997 or so. Loved that car, but hated the constant electrical plagues.
As I was saying earlier, in 2000, I decided to actually read the sticker on the door pillar, and set the tires according to the pressures listed on it, instead of blindly âthirty-fivingâ everything with tires on it that I ownedâŠ!
Cold 31psi fronts, 34 rear. Complete opposite of what youâd expect in a front engine, front tranny, 60/40% weight bias front wheel drive compact. But I finally got to explore the real potential of the 1990s Mondeo/Contour/Mystique platform. Mine rode on 205-60R15s, which I considered âlow profileâ compared to the 195-75R14s shoeing the â81 Buick Century I traded in for that Contour.
