Handling son, handling.

06elnr has 20 by 10s all the way around.
He claims no rubbing...

 

is a 10" tire that much better for handling than a 9" in the front though? (i'm not arguing or anything, purely a question)

 

Not really actually...
My comment was directed towards "more contact on the groung=more grip", which in turn, improve handling...
On street cars, you'll have other issues to address before 1" in tire width will become important.
10" on all corners will allow tire rotation though, that's a +.

 

here's kind of an anecdotal thing i heard somewhere (i don't believe it though), but apparently a wider tire has the same contact surface area as a narrower one... whoever wrote that must have been smoking some crazy stuff; i don't see how that's possible

 

To be true, the wider tire would have to be round, so only the middle would contact.
Like a motorcycle tire.

 

Or you could have a taller narrow tire compared with a shorter wide tire.