On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:00:26 -0500, Bill Putney >
wrote:

>
>Heck - look at all the people paying 1-1/2 to 3 times more for certain
>tires because they're "high performance tires", when those so-called
>high performance tires get maybe 1/2 the tread life of the "cheaper"
>tire, and that's only if those "better" tires don't become so noisy
>after 1/3 of their tread is gone that the owner replaces them
>prematurely, further losing what little value he paid for.

Perhaps it is unintentional, but you seem to imply that
"high-performance tires" are marketing hype. I can assure you that
these tires do in fact provide significantly higher performance than
standard tires, especially when the latter are bought on the basis of
treadlife projections or warranties.

To be sure there are some trade-offs, treadlife being the greatest of
these. The need to switch to winter tires (which also have less
treadlife, higher cost and much better winter performance than "All
Season Radials") is another. However, consider that you have a $20K+
vehicle, a million dollars in liability and your life invested in a
speeding vehicle which is held on the road by four contact patches the
size of postcards. Of course, most buyers of High Performance Tires
want the enjoyment of driving they provide and they are willing to pay
in dollars, road noise and inconvenience for that joy.