Originally Posted by
old's'cool
Hydrated, I'm in general agreement with most of the points in your post. However, I'm not convinced by your point #2.
I'm a mechanical engineer, and I can readily envisage tire architectures that depart from a round internal cross section; what is more, I see what appear to be examples every day on passenger cars that I see on the road. I'm sure you're familiar with tire aspect ratio. These days, a 60% aspect ratio is pretty common, and 40% is not uncommon for vehicles that use very large diameter rims relative to their ride height. I find it difficult visualize a 40% aspect ratio tire with a round internal cross section. What say you?
You are correct... but so am I...
That low profile tire is only square looking because of its construction. Those extremely low aspect ratio tires are squished down only because they are built with such a short sidewall. But they still try to be round inside... but the sidewall is tiny when compared to the tread width... so the internal cross section comes out looking something like a squished ellipse-ish shape. What I was trying to say in my original post is that a tire has a shape on the inside that is FAR different than what it looks like from the outside. And it's never square.