Originally Posted by
CliffordK
.... with today's "armored" tires, I'm not convinced that simply wearing the rubber thin increases risk of flatting. My theory is that most of the protection comes from the tire casing, and thin rubber has less likelihood of picking up debris.
That is, of course, dependent on the casing being mostly intact.
I think it depends on the nature of the penetrator, length and how pointy it is.
Distance IS protection. A 4 mm splinter will find it difficult to punch through 6 mm tire no matter what else.
And while the puncture-protected tires undoubtedly do work, they do need a bit of area to work with. Something like a steel fragment from the tire casing of a truck will punch through fairly easily while your average shard of grit or glass stand a greater chance of being stopped by a reinforced casing.