Upgrading to narrower tires on TRD

Has anyone tried running 245/75/16s on their TRD? The truck comes with 265/70/16, however, traction sucks really in wet/icey/snowy conditions if you only have two wheel drive because there is very little weight on the rear axle. IMO a 265 tire is way too wide for a 3500lb truck. My 5700lb tundra came with 255s. I calcualte that a 245 would be about .8" narrower than a 265.

Has anyone tried running narrower profile tires? How do they look and did you notice any improvement in traction? FYI I am planning to keep my stock 16x7 wheels.

 

Skinnier tires are better for snow/ice and wide tires for dry conditions.

 

^^ What 98tacoma27 said. With less tire mass on the pavement, less friction. With skinnier tires comes less friction/traction.

 

x3

 

With less contact patch the weight of the rear end is distributed over a smaller area...INCREASING pressure. Add weight over the axle with a smaller tire and you are more likely to hold the truck down in snow and crap....Ice is a whole different story.
But with less width...there is less tire touching ground....so there is less friction.

Interested to see what other folks have to say about this....

 

Essentially by narrowing the tire there is more PSI reaching the road.
Wider thus makes less PSI.
That being said, I run 265's and couldn't be happier with traction. Type tire has more to do with it when comparing .8" IMO.

 

Ummm...


http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=126&

 

Narrow tires CUT through Snow/slush
Wider tires float/pack.

With less surface area touching the road, the weight of the truck is multiplied and vice versa.

 

Friction doesn't change with surface area.
Force horizontal = Coefficient of friction * Force down (weight on tire)

 

If the weight stays the same and the surface area decreases, the PSI increases.

 

Think of a bed of nails. If you lay down on a bed of them your weight is more evenly dispersed thereby causing a lower PSI.
If you step on the nail it will go through your foot due to more weight being focused to a smaller surface area.

 

Tell ya what... Go get a bike going 60mph and get your truck going 60mph and apply the same brake pressure to both and see which one stops the fastest. IMO, the truck would stop because there's more friction on the pavement from the truck tires is creating drag, reducing the speed.

 

No .. Matt's right

 

Exactly how a nail or a knife works, pressure concentrated in a small area.

 

No...You are wrong. ::Number are made up::
The truck pushes 2500 pounds down on each tire
If the tire has a 8in^2 contact patch...That is 312.5 PSI.
If the contact patch is reduced to 7in^2 that is 357.1 PSI.

Edit: Damn me and making math...Tooo sllloooowwwwwww