Agreed - everyone has different experiences with tires. Every product out there you’ll see wildly varying reviews.
One bit of confusion on this board to clarify.
DOT code - alpha numeric code given to a specific tire (pattern, compound, materials, shape) to create traceability in the market. Each tire will have an 8 digit unique code, which includes plant identifier. If something major has updated, like compound, materials, shaping, etc...it will most likely be different in this 8 digit code.
UTQG rating is the traction, temperature and wear rating of a tire. These ratings are extremely loose on their application and consistency. They are a minimum value, which means a tire must meet at minimum this rating. Reason of inconsistency is that it can be expensive to certify each tire for full tread wear, so there’s a good chance that there are tires that are estimated for performance based on extrapolated data , while estimating the rating on the conservative side (or face penalties if the tire is audited and doesn’t meet the ratings.) Therefore, it’s common for different tires of similar product range to have the same rating, but each tire can have some decent variation in actual performance, but ultimately on the safe side.
If you get a poor performing tire for wear (with proper usage and setup), most likely it’s on the low end of variation, most likely right at the UTQG value. Others higher performing are probably conservative in their rating.
