Call me stupid, OK, but to me the answer is simple physics.
Inertia - An object at rest tends to remain at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an
outside force.

Friction - Resistance to the motion of an object in relation to another object with which it is in contact.

Gravity - A force of one object pulling another object towards its center.

When you are driving in a strait line, your car has inertia. The opposing forces are rolling friction from your contact to the road, the aerodynamic drag from the atmosphere (and any wind), and gravity itself. They are all opposing forces on the inertia the car has. We try to overcome these forces by the power generated in our engines. When you turn the wheel you are changing the
direction of the car, which applies more force against the inertia. It's kind of like throwing a ball that is tied to a rope, right? When you spin the ball over your head, then let go, the ball wants to go straight. That's inertia, right? Obviously the opposing
forces are aerodynamic drag and gravitational force from the earth's rotation. Once the ball has come in contact with the earth,
that is an increase in friction, right?

Well we know we can't tie our cars to a string so we try and increase the force to work against the inertia. The biggest gain we
can have is to lower our center of gravity. So lower your car.

Then wouldn't it make sense that increasing the amount of force against inertia by increasing the contact area to the road by using wider tires would increase grip? It works when you use thinner piston rings(as well as fewer rings) on a cylinder wall which decreases the contact area . It decreases resistance which allows the engine to live longer and make more efficient energy. I understand that there are other opposing forces in the suspension of the car and some of them are necessary to compensate for irregularities in the road. So then it boils down to just the right combination to resist inertia. Wider tires along with increasing the width of the wheels make sense to me. That would inrease grip and it would also lower the center of gravity of the wheel inside the tire.

I believe the main purpose of decreasing the side wall height is to increase the amount of response we receive inside the vehicle
and response to the suspension so that the suspension components (and ourselves) can compensate accordingly. You know, more feedback. It's obvious that it also decreases shifting in the side walls which again maintains a better center of gravity of the wheel inside the tire. So bigger diameter wheels, shorter side wall tires, right?

A softer compound of rubber on tires is used to decrease the amount of initial force to the contact patch by increasing movement
in the tread. This increases the amount of time in takes to exert force against the inertia. It causes a more gradual change in
force, which spreads the load more evenly over the contact area. It's less sudden then, right? Drag racers use very soft tires
with wrinkle side walls. This wrinkle effect decreases the initial load on the contact patch of the tire. This will then even out the load by increasing the amount of time that the load has to spread over the contact area. They could just feather the throttle enough to only apply the proper amount of force to the contact patch, but if they were to increase the force too much, then the load will overcome the friction of the contact patch and tire spin would result. This in turn will decrease the friction, which will not allow the maximum amount of force from that cool ace engine they built, to be applied to the asphalt. We can't react fast enough to compensate for the loss in friction, so we rely on physics. So softer rubber, right? Which would also help in cornering because it would compensate more for any sudden changes in force that are applied to the contact patch.

We as human beings are so gosh darn smart. We can figure out how to use materials and objects to compensate for our own
weaknesses and strengths.

I love Chevys and Camaros!!!!!!

 

AJ_92RS, when can I get a copy of your book on inertia? ...just kidding man you did a great job on that and I got a better understanding about these various concepts that play a role in how our cars handle!

I got my Eibach Pro lowering springs kit and KYB GR-2s with Gas-a-just shocks. With all this talk, you guys have me wanting to wait til I get other suspension components, so I'm even better prepared when I lower my car. Now all I need is more money