Quote:
Originally Posted by Boots
I read somewhere that OEM tires do not have as much thread depth as replacement tires of the same brand in order to make the ride feel more stable on a new vehicle in order to increase new buyer satisfaction.
So, apparently replacement tires with greater tread depth can make the tire feel a bit more squirmy until the tread wears down a bit to a depth more like what is found on OEM tires.
It sounded reasonable at the time I read it that tread depth could indeed have an affect on how stable the tire would feel on the road and could cause a squirmy feel.
If tread depth on tires does indeed vary between OEM and replacement, I don't know, but I offer it here as part of the conversation to perhaps get some comments or opinions from those that might have insight on this.
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I had to look this up since I never heard that before. But I did find several websites that mention that some manufacturers may have less tread to meet all of their tire performance requirements based on characteristics wanted for a specific type of vehicle. Most manufacturers are looking for a tire that performs well in most handling and fuel mileage categories, and meet cost requirements, but may suffer on how long they last. It seems like OEM tires typically last 30-50k miles which sounds about right, I got ~36k on my OEM tires but they weren't down all the way, only to 4/32's.
I didn't measure my OEM tread depth when new, but I don't think the tires got any better with age or mileage, as far as towing goes.
I think it's important to clarify a couple of points here, and this goes back to my original post on "New Truck, Sway Issues". For this discussion, we will assume that all the truck weight distribution, tongue weight, and axle weights are all adjusted properly and good. I just brought up the Road Force Balancing Issue, because I wasn't familiar with it, and thought my situation with the Continental tires was odd, just sharing my experience. But the squirmy or tire waggle issues we are talking about can be one of 2 things. In my original thread there was discussions about side wall softness or weakness, that may cause a squirmy feeling. In this thread, it seems the treads themselves may cause a similar uneasy squirmy feeling.
My OEM Bridgestone's I thought had kind of a soft side wall for better ride comfort, the new Continentals are extra load range tires that are advertised to have stronger walls for towing, that's why I bought them. I measured my tread depth of the Continentals, they are 12/32", not sure if that's more or less than the OEM. So at this point, I don't have a good answer about real tread depth measurement comparisons, or if the sidewall or tread is the main culprit in the unstable feeling I was getting from the old tires. Hopefully I'll find out how well the truck trailering goes with the new tires in a month or so on their 1st trip.
I see this is your 1st post, welcome. Do you own a Sunline trailer, if so, you might want to introduce yourself and tell about your trailer and tow vehicle setup.
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