I’ve been talking about the overemphasis on AI in marketing for a long time.
And back in October 2025, I came up with a parallel example:
“Despite its undeniable impact on all of us, artificial intelligence is just a feature. Like the Pentium, or Corinthian leather.
“And it’s a feature that everyone has. Not a differentiator at all.
“To say your software is AI-powered is like an automotive company saying their cars have tires.
“How many times do you see Ford or Toyota saying their cars have tires?
“They don’t waste their time talking about something that everyone has.
“And you shouldn’t waste your time talking about your AI feature.”
But people continuously talk about AI anyway. And in parallel, a bunch of free newsletters and not-so-free courses are offering to teach you everything about AI.
So of course I had to go after that market.
“But I took the initiative and educated myself about TI. I subscribed to a free weekly newsletter that covered all the aspects of TI in detail. Frank, I’ll Slack you the link and within a week you’ll know more about TI than Ethan!”
In case you missed it, “TI” stands for “tire intelligence.”
But a funny thing happened when I wrote that post.
I linked to a REAL free newsletter on tires.
Tire Review is a real website that offers a variety of free weekly e-newsletters that are all about tires. But for the record, Tire Review does NOT believe that tire intelligence is the nexus of the most significant advance of the last 100 years.
And I ended up subscribing to it, even though I am not in the tire business (although I am a user) and the chances of Bredemarket acquiring a tire client are very low…but not zero.
So without further ado, here’s Bredemarket’s take on tire sidewall stiffness, based upon this Tire Review article.
To understand this, you need to remember that a driver’s connection to the road is based upon the connection between the road and the four (or eighteen) tires (“contact patches”) on the vehicle. These contact patches are essential, a point that Amanda Sorensen makes in another Tire Review article.
“You’re feeling everything in your body, and the craziest part to think about is that at the end of the day, it comes down to the four contact patches that are on the ground and what you’re feeling as the tires are feeding information through the speed of the car.”
Back to the sidewall discussion.
“Most drivers focus on tread design, tread wear or overall tire appearance. However, sidewall stiffness also plays a major role in how a tire feels and performs on the road.”
So what do stiff sidewalls do?
“Tires with greater sidewall stiffness flex less during operation. As a result, the tire reacts more quickly when the driver turns the steering wheel.
“Drivers may notice sharper steering response during lane changes or cornering. Many drivers associate that quicker response with improved control and stability.”
But steering sharpness comes at the expense of comfort. If you want a smoother ride, you need softer sidewalls.
So in the same way that biometric vendors tune their systems to minimize either false positives or false negatives, “[t]ire manufacturers tune sidewall stiffness to match specific driving priorities such as comfort, handling, stability or load support.”
What is YOUR preference?
Bredemarket 