TB, I accept what you say that good tread means nothing.... The ones I removed had 5mm. But were awful in the wet...
The point I was making, is...
I have 4 Heinz 57 budgets. My expectations are not high, so I've been tootling around on them, rather than 'being late' everytime I get in the car.
Even with my low expectations, one of these tyres, not that old, is lethal. Nothing visible wrong with it, it just has absolutely zero grip. Zero. None. Zilch. Yet its perfectly legal.
Going to work the other day, was raining though, I could feel it wasn't good, so was pussy footing around. Lost it once at the roundabout near the LPG garage at Towcester. Hmmm, corner (was turning right), garage nearby, maybe spilt diesel, carry on. Had it twitch up the hill out of Towcester on A5 gently accelerating out of the town (in a queue of traffic). Went at Miss Daisy speed from then on. Nearly made it to work, lost it again at under 40mph on a sweeping bend in Bletchley. Got the car home, not entirely incident free, and it hasn't moved since. It clearly should not be allowed on the road.