Originally Posted by
seejohnbike
also, from a physics standpoint, i'm a bit miffed. what i was always taught was that it's the mass of the object that causes the friction, and contact surface area is negligible. (either greater pressure on a small area, or small pressure over a larger area, the resulting frictional force should still be the same)
i can say that different tire compounds will have different frictional constants, so reports that different brands of tires have better/worse rolling resistance is certainly rooted in science, based on what kind of rubber they use.
(also, i like parenthesis.)
You're right, but I would think that since the tire and road are not sliding against each other, friction isn't the culprit. I suppose the rolling resistance could come from the actual deformation of the tire - it must cost energy to do that, which must come from somewhere.
by the way - hello to everyone. I've been lurking for a while but I finally found a topic that I have some expertise in!!