Nope, if both tires are inflated to the same pressure their contact patches are about the same area. Long and narrow for the narrow tire, short and wide for the wide tire.
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That is true. However, itās the orientation of that patch that determines its influence on handling.
Why would I want a laterally oriented tire contact patch if my car does not travel sideways? Makes no sense, right?
You want a longitudinal (parallel to direction car rolls) patch. Cuts through rain and snow better, and stronger self-aligning torque (from turns).
OK, Iām upping the betting pool to at least 165 post now, anybody want in??.. 
(no I donāt bet lol)
I wish we could make a poll on this subject, if anyone changed their mindā¦ Yes or Noā¦ lol
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Thatās a stupid question.
Of course I do. And I donāt need a set of rolling pins to do so, because Iām not turning or changing lanes at sub-light light like the rest of you on here probably are.
And, youāre ānot running a raceā!
You may want to reconsider your accusation
Weāre not all speed racers, you know
The shorter and wider front tire act like a wedge holding back the car and force themselves up on top of the snow.
Buffalo to Watertown and Buffalo to Montreal both go through the same country that Mike in NH talks about. Winter nightime temps there frequently reach 25 to 35 below zero farenheit and I once saw a bank thermometer in Malone NY with a reading of -43F. You will never convince people that drive up there that wider tires are better in the snow. Mustangs, Camaros,Firebirds and 2 wheel drive Audi and Bmw coupes and sports cars are useless in a real winter.
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And I never would try. My GTIās winter tires in Anchorage were narrower than the 60 series summer tires.
Then please explain your preference for rolling pin proportion tires and wheels.
+1
In the days when i bought winter tires, I always got one size narrower than the OEM size.
Doing my part to reach 100!
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Capri:
I sincerely hope, being quite aware of your background, you arenāt a part of the rolling pin (super-wide low profile tires on giant rims) squad.
No they are NOT. Skinnier tires usually need more tire pressure to maintain the same load. This will equate to a smaller footprint. Taking a physics at Syracuse University, my college professor decided to give a real-world practical experiment to determine this. He brought his truck into a maintenance bay and we took careful measurements of the trucks footprint at all 4 corners. We then swapped out his tires with his skinnier snows (already on rims) sitting in the truck bed and carefully remeasured the tires. There were 4 different teams taking the same measurements and came up with the same results. The skinnier tires had a smaller footprint. He did this experiment with all 3 physics classes he taught that semester. All had similar results.
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Considering cars (not trucks and SUVās) both big and small are running 18",19" &20" OEM wheels and I am sure bigger, what are you calling giant rims (wheels)?? I call giant wheels being 24" and bigger, like 26" and bigger reallyā¦ lol
Now I like the look of a taller sidewall better on trucks and hot rods, and the biggest wheel in my fleet now is a 16", the 92 Civic with 17ās got totaled a few weeks agoā¦ But damn that little 92 Civic handled great with the 17ās vs the 13" joke of a wheel sizeā¦
I certainly can not/am not going to speak for Mr Capri, but I really think he will tend to agree more with a strut/shock and suspension engineer that holds multiple patents over someone that, well no offence, but only really knows how to check air pressure, sorry but I donāt ever remember you even working on your own vehiclesā¦
Not trying to be mean or hateful, but you just donāt have any real credentials other than you are really good at checking air pressuresā¦ But yet you are calling out engineers in the field(?)ā¦ 
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Funny you used that link, cause I was gonna say that in the deep snow, the 255/8?'s are way more popular then the 285ās etc in the snow country, even across the northern boarder on the Tacomaās anyway, now for non deep snow and non snow, the bigger/wider the better it seems likeā¦
Please donāt put words in my mouth
YOU used that terminology
not me
and btw . . . my car has 205/65R16
So, I repeat . . . you really want to lay off the accusations
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You had higher air pressure in the skinnier tire for your experiment, thatās why it had a smaller foot print.
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This is 99!
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This is 100!!
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