Years ago, I used to attend many consumer research studies, everything from cold drink vending machines, the look of Dennis Miller's talk show stage and clothing, and car tires.
At that session, we were peppered with many question about the words and visuals used to market tires, and the last bit was a display with six tread patterns of tires. The survey asked, "Which tire is best in wet weather?" and "Which tire is best for off-road use?" and while some were kinda obvious, others not so much. I was nonplussed, and pulled the presenter guy aside and asked, "How am I supposed to tell by the tread which one is best in the wet? Doesn't it depend on the car, wheel, etc?"
He smiled and said, "Well, think about how people buy tires. They go into the showroom, and the sales guy has them stand in front of a tire, and he suggests "this is the one you want for your car" and the customer drags their index finger through the tread pattern and nods, "Yeah, you are right. I'll take a set."
