December 1, 2025:

Tire Business, a publication that reports on tire related stories, reports that the Safe Tread Alliance (STA), a coalition of industry leaders and safety advocates, is advocating replacing the “Penny Test” with the “Quarter Test” for tire replacement – that is a change to 4/32nds as the standard removal level.

The Penny Test results in a 2/32nds tread depth remaining. 2/32nds has been the standard since NHTSA was formed in the late 1960’s. The Quarter Test gets 4/32nds.

STA cites a number of statistics supporting their position – shorter stopping distances in the rain, changes in European regulations, etc.

The current situation in the US is that it is the states that have the appropriate laws, not the Federal government. The Feds regulate the manufacturers, but not the consumer.

Some states have no relevant regulations. Some use 2/32nds. I don’t know of any that use 4/32nds, except for commercial vehicles.

Some will see this as simply a scheme to sell more tires, but there is relevant data.

In the current political climate, I don’t see either the room for such a discussion, nor the political will to make such a change. Nevertheless, I think they are right.

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Even though I was in the tire business for a long time, it is rare that I run across someone from the past that I know. It seems most of the people I used to know keep a low profile.

But the latest edition of Tire Business highlighted a guy I used to work with – Ron Lautzenheiser. I used to work with Ron when he was the manager for OTR Sales. I was working in manufacturing. It was a very long time ago and I was early in my career.

Ron and his son own a tire business and while his son tends to the day-to-day business, Ron takes care of the humanitarian side of things. It’s good to see someone doing that – and it’s good that the media reports on it.

If you are reading this, Ron – Hi!!

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Tire Technology International has issued its 2025 review and there is an article from Tyres Europe, which used to be The European Tire and Rubber Manufacturers Association, concerning the EU Tire Label and how the market has changed since the introduction of the label in 2012. While the market has changed, there wasn’t a lot of change because the “budget” category of tires tended to dominate sales and those don’t have very good ratings to begin with and no incentive to improve. I found that very interesting that even Europeans with their high cost of fuel weren’t influenced much to buy more fuel efficient tires (or is it tyres?)

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At the Qatar GP, Pirelli has imposed a 25 lap limit for its F1 tires. Here’s how I view this as a technical guy:

When I have seen images of worn race tires, I’ve noticed they do not have a rubber insert between the belts. I am aware that this rubber insert is absolutely critical for the endurance of the tire and if the tire doesn’t have it, the length of time before a failure is drastically reduced. My guess is that Pirelli doesn’t use that insert as racing tires don’t normally go very far before they are changed. But Qatar is kind of rough on tires, so Pirelli is taking the safe approach and telling the teams to change after 25 laps.

I wonder if Pirelli will make a change for next year’s race, to improve the endurance. I’m going to guess: NOT!