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although I agree with the most part, there's one aspect the writer conveniantly forgot to mention. Contact patch area is the same whether you use thin or wide tires, I agree with that, but***ONLY when the car's stopped or going in a straight line*** <===That's the omission! As soon as you're taking a sharp corner, weight distribution changes and one tire can be subjected to as much as twice the vertical load. This is where wider tires show a distinct advantage. On a thin tire, the pressure applied in a curve will easily surpass the maximum contact patch physically attainable by that tire and you will have skidding. On a wider tires, the extra load will be compensated by a bigger contact patch. In simpler terms, if you were to be driving on a glass surface and we could see how the tire's deforming with the road, you could see the thicker tire squeeze itself more against the road in a corner and the contact patch increasing to compensate for the added wight. That's the main advantage of dishing out the extra $$$ for wider tires. George
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