TALL & skinny Tires - Is this the New Cool Kid Trend??

wayoflife

wayoflife

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LOL - So, I've been talking to a good friend of mine who's in the tire industry and apparently, they've been getting a significant uptick in searches for tall but narrow tires. This would include something like a 38" tire but only in a 11.50 width. Back in the 80s and 90s, we used to call them pizza cutters and for a time, they were a thing but totally fell out of fashion like a bad case of herpes.

Anyway, I didn't give it much thought until recently as I have been seeing more and more people making posts like this on our YouTube videos...

Screenshot 2025-02-25 180201.png

Needless to say, I thought I'd ask what you guys think. Is this what all the cool kids are doing these day and really, what is the actual reason behind it? What say you? 🤪
 
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My new Toyos are a 37x12.50. Visually they appeared narrower than my Coopers. I had to measure them and they are about an inch narrower at the widest tread block than my old Coopers are. I like the wider stance of my cooper's but love the way the Toyos ride. Not sure if the size has anything to do with that or not. Personally I wouldn't want anything narrower from a pure esthetic stance. Think it would look disproportionate.
 
Yeah, not a fan of 'pizza cutters' for a lot of reasons...Hell, I even switched my original BFG KO2 37x12.50/R17 'C's to KO2 37x12.50 KO2 'D's after just a couple days. Since I don't play in the mud much, a more flotation type tire works better in the sandy / rocky trials I play on...

Reasons For Changing From 37" KO2 C's to D's:
1, Even though the section width was/is stated as both being 12.50, the tread on the 37" C is right at 5/8" narrower than on the 37 D...They looked like 'pizza cutters' compared to the 315 KO2's I just took off.
2, The on-road handling was noticeably worse than the 35" (315) KO2 C's I was replacing, in cornering or even lane changes, there was more 'squirm' and the rig did not feel as 'planted'.
3, After Discount Tire switched me to KO2 37x12.50 D's, I was once again happy with both looks and handling. On my new JLR-X that came with 35" (315) KO2's I changed them out for another set of 37" KO2 D's and very happy with them, I was hoping to try the new KO3's but no 37's yet...
 
"Wide vs Narrow Tire" videos talking about the advantages of the narrow tire have been showing up on YouTube for two years or more. As the subject has gained more traction, more and more "influencers" have jumped aboard the bandwagon following the same talking points.

Narrow tires do offer real advantages. While the contact patch is longer and narrower, area is about the same. They have more flex over an obstacle. Narrow tires are lighter and rubbing is less of an issue. One downside is with greater flex, the more likely an obstacle will hit the rim. With more influencers talking up the advantages of narrow tires, it's no surprise they're growing in popularity.

What no one has done is real world testing. No one has compared the performance of narrow vs wide tires on actual trails.
 
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