The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I hear you.  I was blessed that I didn't have to pay for my first two cars, although there is a bit of a caveat to that.  I only had the first one a year, it was a rolling death trap, and it was unwise to take it on the highway.  My dad got tired of me asking to borrow a parental vehicle when I wanted to go out of town, so he ditched the clunker and got me a new one.  A '97 Ford Escort, it had zero coolness or manliness to it, but I drove the hell out of it for 9 years.  It lasted me the rest of high school, through college and beyond, and didn't give up the ghost until it left me stranded on 183 in Austin one day. 

The hilarious thing was it was a stick, and I didn't know how to drive a stick at the time.  You need a lot of self-confidence when you live in a small redneck town where everyone has trucks, you have an Escort, and for several weeks you might stall out at any given stop sign.  

The tire patch, the area in contact with the ground, it basically a constant (at constant pressure).  If you add wider tires, the shape changes, but not the area.  You get better traction in show with narrower tires.

Slicks give the best traction on dry pavement of course, and they can deform enough to increase surface area.

And oddly enough, cars with the minispare handle about as well as cars with four regular tires.

The car mags did a neat study on wheel diameter impact on car performance.  As the wheel gets larger, acceleration drops, and handling does not improve.  They tested a BMW 330i with 17" to 21" wheels.  The 18" was about the best overall compromise.  Wheels weigh more than tires.

I suppose theoretically you could start doing a "wider with lower inflation pressure" type thing to create a larger contact patch for a given weight. Doing things like varying the sidewall and tread material could also increase flexion and the coefficient of static friction (somebody had to say it).

These seem like things people who know the tires will be replaced after 1/4 mile of usage might do. For the rest of us, minimizing wheel weight is probably the best option.

I should know by now not to disagree with Cincy.  After researching, the contact patch stays mostly the same but changes to shorter and wider as the tires get wider.  
What I do know is the stock 6.95x14 tires would burn through 1st and part of 2nd gear.  There wasn't a lot of wheel selection since the brake drums were drilled for a 4 bolt pattern.  Some guys redrilled the drums or swapped out for Mustang 5 bolt drums but there still wasn't much reward for all the work.

it matters a little

I liked Bullitt