What if i told ya that the stopping ability of your car never increases with wider tyres, nor with extra weight above?
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Function 2: f = u x n (f, being the friction force. I couldn't find the funky u symbol for the coefficient of friction, however thats what the u stands for.
Unfortunately your statement and the title of this thread is incorrect.
The friction function shown is an approximation and the fraction values used in it are empirical.
To calculate the friction more accurately takes into account a whole lot more variables that simply aren't in the simplified equation. These more complex variables include contact patch area and pressure. This is because you start having molecular adhesion and deformation of the tyre itself. The simple equation is the most correct for hard on hard sliding surfaces.
The tire companies keep the more complicated equations secret as they use them for racing where they compete against each other.
Widers tyres have more grip, and lower tyre pressures increase the tyre contact patch also giving more grip. But there is a limit to both of those too. If you inflate your tyres to 50psi you'll notice your contact patch will be very small and you won't get much grip. But this same tyre with the same rubber compound will have more grip at 30psi with the larger contact patch.
If you want to see how complicated the tyre friction can get have a look at this;
http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/05/14/75/PDF/vsd05.pdf
or just google "Pacejka's magic formula"
Wes -
www.offroadvw.net - 200HP Quad Cam V6 in a VW Baja - with climate control...
🙂
www.taylorcycles.com.au - My DH MTB racing brothers shop.