Editing Contact patch (section)

{{Short description|Portion of a tire that is in contact with the road}}
[[Image:tirefootprint.jpg|thumb|Colorized tire footprint pressure distribution]]
The '''contact patch''' is the portion of a vehicle's [[tire]] that is in actual contact with the [[road surface]]. It is commonly used in the discussion of pneumatic (i.e. pressurized) tires, where the term is used strictly to describe the portion of the tire's tread that touches the road surface. The term “footprint” is used almost synonymously. Solid wheels also exhibit a contact patch which is generally smaller than the pneumatic “footprint”.