In rain / dirt / snow I'd rather have narrow tires in a light car. You have to realize that you could go a safe speed with any decent tire.

Handling dynamics are part of the issue. I used to have a subaru impreza wagon, thing went 100 mph in the rain and you never knew it was wet until you'd watch cars behind you going slower in the same lane spinning out.

i have 195x50x15's on my datto now, those might be slightly too wide, I think I'd like the front tires to be a little narrower. Biggest problem I see so far is that the center of rotation for the front wheels is a bit outside of the center of steering, so it wanders a little under severe breaking.

Wide tires are best on dry pavement where you have alot of cornering loads to make up for the wider contact area, so hopefully they're low profile or you'll hear alot of tire scrub.