Power of a vehicle and contact patch

This photo perfectly reflects the essence and importance of quality tires. Regardless of how powerful your car is, it needs to be controlled and there are only 4 points of contact between the car and the road, which is achieved through the tires. How reliable this contact is will ultimately affect your safety.

To ensure reliable contact between the tires and the road, a balance must be struck between the ability to drain water from the contact patch and provide traction on dry pavement. No matter what, the depth of the tread has the greatest impact on this.

Technologies, the complexity of rubber compounds, tread pattern architecture, of course, are also important, but the laws of physics cannot be deceived. The tread must have the physical ability to drain water. In the winter period, this is especially important, because roads become covered with such a surface as snow. Wet snow is much more difficult to drain from the contact patch. That's why winter tires have significantly wider tread channels and a directional tread pattern in most cases.

We discussed at what depth of tread it is recommended to change tires in a separate article. The main thing is to understand the reasons for timely replacement. No tire, even the most premium and expensive one, can guarantee safety if it doesn't have enough tread for effective operation.

One should remember the contact patch of the four points of your car and the fact that, regardless of the car's power, it's the tires that determine your safety