Originally Posted By: Westerly
........Tires have been perfectly cared for and their is no alignment problem, should SEARS cover these tires under the regualr tread wear warranty. It is astonishing to believe that this should wear down to a flat surface, due to water evacuation, correct?
a) There is still plenty of tread left, so the tires aren't worn out - which is where the tread wear warranty would kick in.
b) The issue is strictly about the way it looks - and after 8K miles, Sears probably isn't going to "see" this the same way you do. If there aren't any performance differences noted, then it's hard to imagine there could be a compelling argument that could be presented to Sears. Even if there were, it's been 8K miles, and unless the tires are falling apart, this isn't a "warranty" situation, and I think Sears would clearly understand that.
The groove that you mentioned that disappeared probably contributed so little to water evacuation, that even test equipment couldn't measure the difference. The tread wear probably contributed more to a loss of wet traction than that little groove. (I guess that means I disagree with eljefino - I don't think there is any performance issue!)
So if I were you, I'd just continue driving on them and just be aware that as the tire wear, the wet traction is going to decrease.
BTW, you should be aware that certain parts of the Carolinas use a lot of sand in their asphalt mix, and that makes tires more prone to wet traction problems - some more than others. In this situation, tread compound starts to play an increasingly larger role in wet traction - especially compared to hydroplaning resistance that is mostly a pattern issue. This is part of the problem in trying to compare tires - this type of situation will cause reversals in comparisons - and that's why folks should take Tire Rack's tests with a grain of salt.
Tire Rack doesn't use much water when they do wet traction testing, so it tends to emphasize tread compound. Add more water and the test results would change. Unfortunately, Tire Rack is taking an "Indiana" approach to this - "This is the way we've always done it, and we aren't going to change".