| the thing with this is, a wider tire will have a larger foot print on the ground given tire pressure, compound and diameter are the same, the thing you're trying to point out is that with a larger foot print: the tire contact area has less weight bearing down on the tread per square inch. Why is that important?
because harder rubber will not conform to the pavement's shape, you must go softer if you go wider. You will experience diminishing returns on a wider tire (especially in the rain) here's a little visual for you less weight bearing down on hard rubber (think of a carny lying down on a bed of nails, the skin is soft and takes shape of the needles but the muscle and bone is so rigid, it does not allow the nails to penetrate skin to make full contact with the bed) wide tire
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pavement more weight bearing down on hard rubber forces it to bottom out into the pavement's shape, surface area is maximized allowing full contact between the rubber and the pavement narrow tire
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pavement there's extremes in either direction, the point at which the rubber conforms perfectly to the pavement would warrant a larger footprint since the contact area would be limited by the shape of the tire, the point at which the rubber sits only on the peaks of the pavement would benefit from either a softer rubber or more weight per square inch. Bottom line: because a larger footprint allows more capacity for the rubber to touch the pavement (a wider tire has more rubber by quantity available to make contact) it is the better choice.... that's why top fuel dragsters run super soft garbage cans tipped on their sides for tires. Wider economy tires on the other hand..... are a waste of rubber if not matched correctly with the vehicle's weight.
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"The dreaded 2nd windshiled wiper swipe when you turn it off its almost like tis showing you that it's boss, and it doesn't have to stop when you tell it to :("-College Boy (discussion on ptu relocation)
"No good reason to put it there anyway. -Bernie (NoVA)
False -vorpalZ
False. -Bernie (NoVA)
You're correct, there are 3 good reasons -vorpalZ
False. -Bernie (NoVA)
Wow, right again, just remembered another, make that 4 -vorpalZ"
XD 
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