haha, thats funny. i asked the same question when i was a junior in high school. he should crack into some more detailed books. like he said, basic friction doesn't account for surface area however hot tires have such a high coefficient of friction that they stick to the road better than the tire sticks to itself. so when you're "loosing traction" the outermost rubber is sticking to the road but then is being sheared from the tire and the equation of shearing force accounts for area. so yes, wider, grippier tires have more traction. although this may not stand true on a really hard compound.

 

Break out the science books, we're heading back to school. Well, I'm not. I'm finishing up a semester, you guys have fun.


It's simple (maybe not quite this simple), find what works best and stick with it... no pun intended.