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Unread 08-05-2013, 08:07
MichaelBick MichaelBick is offline
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Re: Highest traction wheels

Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000 View Post
That is the key point in this question. Given that you're looking for traction on a smooth surface, rather than on carpet (which most teams are more used to dealing with) I can't give you a definitive answer, for that matter, there may be some debate on whether or not there is one, but that said I'll try my best.

There's really two things you want to be looking for to answer this question: Contact point surface area, and material types.


On a smooth surface, wheels with more surface area in contact with the surface (IE, a smooth wheel like a Colson wheel) should have better grip than one with less surface area in contact with the floor (like a Plaction wheel).

That said, material type is important too. As we saw in years past, if you put plastic wheels on a plastic floor, the result is very little traction. Taking that into consideration you may find that wheels with certain kinds of rubber (or other gripping material) grip better than others. I've not personally played around with Colson wheels on a smooth floor, but I do know that AM's HiGrip wheels have an extremely grippy rubber surface, meaning they may actually grip better even though they have less surface area in contact with the floor.

Of course if you REALLY want to grip the floor, there's simply no substitute for Tank Treads.



Disclaimer:
I don't claim to be an expert on traction, and I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will explain it better, these suggestions are based on my own personal observations over the past 8-ish years.
I believe some of your statements are incorrect. Usually, the only variables that affect traction are coefficient of friction and weight. Because wider wheels just mean that the same weight is spread over a larger area, you have the same amount of traction. This is different when roughtop tread and carpet interact, because the roughtop "locks" in witht he carpet and increses the amount of traction you have with wider wheels. This is also like drag racing, where they heat up the wheels so that they "stick" to the ground and wider wheels have more traction.

To answer the OP's question, I have heard that colsons have the most traction on flat surfaces.
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