Treadwell, An Innovated Tire Buyer Guide by Discount Tire

Have You Looked at Your Tires Lately?

Generally speaking, nobody looks at their vehicle’s tires until it’s too late. I can remember being 15 years old sitting in a classroom for Driver’s Education watching an instructional video stating, “one should always walk around and visually inspect a car’s tires before venturing on a journey.”

Yet, it’s something I’m often guilty of overlooking. I’m more likely to check the oil, clean the windshield, and ensure I have the proper road trip snacks before checking the tire pressure. Unlike my father, whose engineer mindset always makes time to inspect and confirm the vehicle’s tires are rolling with the correct recommended amount of air.

Discount Tire’s Treadwell Tire Buyer’s Guide

Buying new tires can be as unpleasant as going to the dentist because they’re expensive and you’re often at the mercy of whatever the expert recommends. Unless one actively researches tire technology, most consumers’ knowledge about tires is limited to knowing that they round and require air. We all know at least one person who would be totally clueless if they needed to change a flat tire, let alone shop for the best set of tires for their vehicle.

That’s where Discount Tire’s Treadwell comes into play. This online tire buyer’s guide takes the stress out of deciding what kind of tread you need to buy. It goes beyond listing the price and warranty thanks to Discount Tire’s proactive investment in offering their customers, and the consumer at-large, a simple and effective guide to learn about the product they are buying without obligation. It’s a retail tool that puts the control in your hand when it’s time to buy a new set of tires.

How Discount Tire Treadwell Works

When you visit the site, you’re asked to fill in information about your vehicle:

Year

Make

Model

Trim

Driving Location

Driving Type

The Driving Location is filled out through zip codes so the system can provide vital information about how the tires it recommends perform in a specific region. Why? Because no two roads are the same. Highways and city streets in South Texas can be dramatically different from those in New Jersey, Wyoming, or Florida, which means tires wear differently.

The Driving type section goes into further detail, allowing the buyer to select from three driving environments:  

Suburb & City

Highway

Tracks & Traction

There is also the option to customize one’s driving style and prioritize what matters most to the customer. These factors help determine the best tire recommendations based on fuel efficiency, stopping distance in different weather conditions, steering precision, tread life, and ride quality. In addition, Treadwell includes an option for those shopping specifically for snow tires.

After the click, the results are shown like any other online retail page, with a photo of the product, its price, and product information. Clicking on each product takes you to its webpage, showing the tire’s Treadwell statistical results broken down into easy-to-understand bits of information.

You can read about a tire’s stopping distance on dry roads and wet roads, in new and worn conditions based on a 1 out of 5 rating scale. For perspective, a rating of 3 or better is considered good, with a perfect 5 out of 5 being virtually impossible.

It also provides an overall winter rating for snow performance.

Scroll down through the webpage to learn about the tire’s fuel efficiency, and ride quality. In addition to the tire’s tread life based on how many miles you drive in a year (which is adjustable) compared to the tire’s mileage warranty. There is also a tab explaining how many miles per dollar you can squeeze out of these years during the tire’s life span.

Ride quality is determined based on three factors: Noise level, Comfort, and Handling. Each plays a critical role in the driving experience that most people don’t notice until it’s brought to their attention. The rest of the webpage includes a detailed description of the product and any available reviews from other drivers who have purchased that same tire and the vehicle it was installed on.

The target audience for the Treadwell system are people who don’t have knowledge or interest in tires but need to know which ones are the best for their vehicle. In the same way that one doesn’t need to learn how to cook but should definitely know what they are eating.

The Treadwell Research Park

If you’ve scrolled this far, you’re probably wondering where and how Discount Tire gathers its data for Treadwell. A few years ago, Discount Tire acquired a nearly 900-acre facility owned by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which purchased Cooper in 2021.

This facility is located in Pearsall, Texas, less than an hour’s drive from San Antonio. Since acquiring the property, it has been renamed the Treadwell Research Park and now serves as a proving ground to test 95% of the tires sold by Discount Tire retail stores.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Treadwell Research Park to learn and experience how the rubber meets the road. The massive complex has everything one needs to put a tire through its paces, including 14 on- and off-road test surfaces for test drivers to conduct braking, speed, and handling trials and record the data.

Additionally, every Discount Tire retail store plays a crucial role in supporting the Treadwell database. Every new or regular customer who visits a location has their tires scanned to measure wear and tear, giving a survey on how a particular brand of tire is coping on a specific vehicle in an exact location.

A technician being able to scan your car’s tire with a handheld device and instantly know everything about its condition sounds incredible. It makes you think. Wouldn’t it be cool if an app on your phone could do that?

During our visit to Treadwell Research Park, we had a chance to meet and listen to Discount Tire CEO Dean Muglia, who articulately summarized the Treadwell program: “We’re empowering the customer with the right data and information so they can make the best choices. It’s tire buying made easy.”

As the system continues to evolve, I’ll be excited to see what new features will be added to provide more information to the consumer.

Check out the Discount Tire Treadwell tool for yourself and see what tires fit your ride.