Hi
Do grooves in tyres increase cornering traction? I'm thinking if the edges of the groove catch on the ground surface and help prevent sideways sliding?
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Mike Farrow
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In the wet yes. Although the direction of the grooves makes a big difference.
In the dry the road isnt flat enough to give even contact, which your question implies.
What I find interesting is the materials argument that (where glues are concerned) its the width of contact rather than depth of contact that makes all the difference, which would imply that for sideways forces thin tyres should be as good as wide tyres. I guess that tyre flex etc makes a difference.
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Thinking about slick tyres used in racing it looks like it is to do with the amount of surface contact, which is why thick tyres are found on the driving wheels of race cars. The grooves on wets probably allows the water to move so that contact can be made with the (relatively), dry road. If this line of thinking is correct then standard road tyres are always a compromise to cope with all road conditions - i guess.
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The grooves on your tyres are there to channel water out from under the tyre. The grooves that run around the tyre are called "Grooves or channels" and the smaller grooves that run off to the eges of the tyre are called "Sypes". In normal running, a well designed tyre will 'pump' water out from under the tyre - but only up to a certain speed, at which point issues such as viscoplaning and hydroplaning start to kick in. In formula 1 racing the grooved dry tyres were introduced by the FSA (I think). This grooving, is designed to effectively limit the amount of surface area of tyre actually in contact with the road and to limit the cars eventual top speed in cornering. Wet weather tyres are grooved differently and are made from different materials compounds - even normal car tyres are made from different materials depending on which part of the world they are to be used. A good quality car tyre, is a masterpiece of engineering sometimes coprising several different kinds or rubber and structural reinforcement. The width of a car tyre is usually determined by a fairly complex relationship between the weight, braking power, engine horsepower, anticipated lateral forces during cornering and the steering and suspension setup. Sticking wider tyres on a car will improve handling but only up to a point (sticking 12 inch wide super sticky slicks on an F reg Montego for examle wont magically make it handle like a top of the line sports tourer). Also radically changing your tyres can sometimes effect front end setup adversely - the rule of thumb is - only add ten percent to the manufacturers original specs for a particular vehicle - if you stic to that formula and use good qality tyres from a reputable manufacturer, you'll be allright.
Best regards.
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No. Grooves decrease cornering ability hence F1 having increased the number of grooves over time to try and reduce cornering speeds. The groove allows the tread to move sidewise under cornering thereby reducing the overall grip of the tyre. In dry weather a true slick is the best performing tyre.
Fullchat
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