WIDE-BASE rims impose different conditions of strains in tires and emphasize certain inherent performance differences, some of which are advantages and others disadvantages.
After a year of exhaustive testing by the combined car and tire industries, the wide-base rim proposal seems to have settled on the use of existing tire sizes on rims 1 to 1½ in. wider than at present, giving a rim ratio of 75 to 82% of tire width as compared with a ratio of 62 to 68% of the inflated width on existing tires.
The principal benefits of the proposed rim resizing combination, using present tire load-carrying capacity and 2 psi lower inflation pressure are: (1) considerably more stability in the car; and (2) a 20 to 22% increase in tire tread life.
In addition, the wide-base tire and rim combination will perform somewhat better for: tire cord fatigue, tire rim bruise resistance, tire groove cracking resistance; would perform equally well for: tire heat dissipation up to 75 mph, tire power consumption, tire tread and fabric separation, tire sidewall breaks at the rim, tire squeal on turns, and tire noise or hum on straight roads; but would be inferior for: tire ride, tire harshness, pavement seam bump absorption, tire and car parking effort, rim curbing, and tire tread shoulder cracking.
