3 Scientific Experiments to Settle This | Wide vs Narrow Off-Road Tires

Awesome video Kai! Very informational! Glad to be working with you on this!

Great video. Now we just need someone to spill the deets on which tire manufacturer chickened out when they realized you were an objective scientific reviewer not just another brand influencer. Because I’d much rather support a company that stands behind their product.

I'm a pizza cutter guy myself. Your overall fuel mileage will improve and you'll notice a slight difference in the throttle response too. Less rubber=less weight=less rolling resistance. Plain and simple. Given the data you've come up with, the way the pizza cutter contacts the ground compared to the wider tire, it's no wonder why they perform so well in mud, snow and rocks. The contact patch is llonger rather than wider. Giving you that"caterpillar" affect. Lol. That's what gets you through and over obstacles. They sink through the slop and grab hold of the solid bottom. Narrow tires fold over obstacles more easily, giving you more positive traction. Like mud and snow. Wider tires tend to float a bit and slide around. How many wide tires do you see on military trucks? They had it figured out decades ago. Great video!

This is exactly the sort of thing I like to see in proper testing. Fair and unbiased date across the boards. I would be interested to see what the differences are on different kinds of terrain as well, such as mud, ice, snow, gravel, etc, given that (to my knowledge) the tires do act different on various terrains, and seeing pros and cons of each

Something else that I believe is important to mention is the sand wall or mud wall in front of the tire causing resistance. The thinner the tire the less resistance it needs to overcome. Ive noticed a big difference going skinny on the sand especially with underpowered engines such as my 3fe on my land cruiser. I dont think id ever go back

Something big to take in to consideration is terrain you'll be driving on. Soft sand acts much different than hard rock or even snow. My brother had large 35" and very wide KM3s and struggled to get through snow about 8 inches deep. His tires kept floating on top of the snow and causing spots he would just sit and spin tires on. My 33" ko2s were about 2/3 the width and would dig down though the snow and had no problem with getting stuck. In deep soft sand though it is the other way around.

I'm almost speechless at how excellent your videos are, the quality of information you are putting out there is peerless. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication. It is a privilege to be able to learn from this channel.

Best sponsor plug ever! I usually skip past but you made it informative and relevant. Excellent video

I wish that all reviews could be this comprehensive. Thx for your efforts.

This is one of the best tire videos I have ever seen. Tires are such a black box. Those of us who play in the mountains (and drive on roads) know that pizza cutters are the way to go but I couldn't tell you why with any specificity. This is the sort of testing that all off road tires should be subjected to otherwise its all just fluff. Great job.

The nerd in me is so happy with how he followed the scientific formula so well. The variables controlled so well and the diagrams to show the growth as the psi drops. I should have expected it based on his major, but many props.

Hands down, you have the best analysis on YouTube!! Love your work.

This video is wonderful. Thank you. Be proud of yourself, this was a huge amount of work for you, well done, very informative and no theatrical nonsense. Never have seen your videos before this and now I will subscribe and watch everything. Well done.

We really need more YouTubers like this to dig into the technical details of each product so we can push the manufactures to make more things that's really functional not just playing marketing tricks. I learned new things again today. Thank you Kai for presenting such a good video again!

One thing not mentioned is the time saved airing up and down for the trail. It's a very minor consideration and one I wouldn't even think about when picking a tire size but it's one more pro for a narrow tire. As a tire nerd myself, I absolutely loved the information in this video and I really appreciate how much time it takes to gather this data. Thank you, Kai!

Excellent video! The testing and data is very thorough. Much appreciated.

Great video! So refreshing to see true controlled experiments and useful - even surprising data! I've moved to 255/85R17 pizza cutters on my lifted 2017 Colorado ZR2 and I LOVE them! Not only are they great rock-crawlers down in Moab, but they are also very smooth and directional on the highway and excellent on the snowy roads we get here in the mountains of Idaho. The narrower tire is also much easier to fit on an IFS vehicle like mine - really the only practical way I could have the ground clearance advantages of a tall 35" tire and not rub while steering under full articulation.

I just bought new tires and also chose the narrower tires. I had an overall height limitation but had 3 options for how to get there. I went with the narrowest tire basically for rolling resistance and weight. I'm glad to see I also made the best choice for off-road performance as well. No, I'm not going through all the work you just did to prove it. I'll simply take your word for it! Great video!

Thank you for making this video, and making it so scientific. I run pizza cutters on my truck. I actually love the look. It's like a throwback to the old high boy trucks.

This is the video I always refer others to when the subject comes up. I chose 255/85/17 tires for my rig almost one year ago and have been completely happy with these MT Baja Boss tires. They now have 13,000 miles, with 2600 miles of recorded (aired-down) track. On my last trip, I had an issue with these tires, which I had yet to encounter. The 255s are mounted on Method's 8.5-inch bead grip wheels, and the axle weights are 2600 lbs front and 2880 lbs rear. Air pressure was 12 psi front and 15 psi rear, as I've done many times. The terrain was primarily bare Utah sandstone. On a long V-notch with only the shoulder of the tires in contact with the rock, my RF tire burped all the air out due to the side load. Shortly after that, on another V-notch, both rear tires were in single digits with the same issue. Others with the same wheel and tire pressure but on 12-inch wide tires did not have this problem. It's something to be aware of if you're using 255/85s on 8.5-inch wheels.