Curious about this. Just had new Cooper CS3s installed on my Saturn. They supposedly came with 9.5/32" tread; when I measured with a cheapo tread gauge it read closer to 9/32" even. And this tire comes with a 65K-mile treadlife warranty.
Kinda scratch my head over this. Then there is the Michelin Premier and the folks who won't buy it because it comes with 8.5/32" tread. I understand going for LRR and moving away from the almost-silly treadlife warranty trend of a few years ago, with the 85K-90K warranties.
But: Has technology advanced that far that we don't need deep tread for regular AS tires these days? A conspiracy to boost CAFE numbers a tiny bit, for OE tires? Or simply for cheaper cost of production, which might or might not be passed on to the consumer.
Curious....
Kinda scratch my head over this. Then there is the Michelin Premier and the folks who won't buy it because it comes with 8.5/32" tread. I understand going for LRR and moving away from the almost-silly treadlife warranty trend of a few years ago, with the 85K-90K warranties.
But: Has technology advanced that far that we don't need deep tread for regular AS tires these days? A conspiracy to boost CAFE numbers a tiny bit, for OE tires? Or simply for cheaper cost of production, which might or might not be passed on to the consumer.
Curious....