The Resolution Layer · Case Study in BriefEKOM
Tire specifications.
A cold read of the specification tables of an online tire retailer — where a shopper chooses a tire by its load rating, tread depth and fit rather than by looks. One of a set of anonymized EKOM analyses — what surfaced, and where it leads.
Lead finding · a maximum load that contradicts the load index
A tire whose maximum-load figure disagrees with its own load index.
A tire's load index is a standard code for the weight it can carry, and the maximum-load figure on the same row should be that code's value. On three sizes across two tires it is not. On one, the maximum load is the capacity of a tire six index steps higher, well above what the tire is rated for; the other two read low. Every other size in the sample with a readable load index matches. A shopper could use that figure to choose a tire for a heavier vehicle, so the error is found by the driver, not by the table.
Also surfaced
A tread depth with a stray zero
Eight sizes of one performance tire list a tread depth an order of magnitude above the real one, beside an identical row that reads correctly. It looks like a copy of the size left in the table.
The same size, more than once
More than two dozen rows are exact duplicates across nine models, and on several models the number of product pages does not match the rows in the specification table. Either the table or the site counts the product differently, and from outside there is no way to tell which.
Values outside the pattern
A section width about eight tenths of an inch wider than the size implies, an inflation pressure about ten psi above its siblings, a rim range not in half-inch steps, and twenty sizes missing at least one core figure. Each may turn out to be legitimate, so each is rated Low.
How EKOM read it. The specification table for each model in a random sample was opened one page at a time in an ordinary browser and copied as shown. Every row was tested against the standards it should follow: the load index against the standard load table, overall diameter against the size, and revs per mile against diameter. On every size where both figures are given, the diameter agrees with the size, and the load index matches its maximum load wherever it can be read, except on the three rows above. This is a sample read cold, not a verified defect list.
From diagnosis to channel-ready. The eight findings group into three kinds of fix — repeated rows, values a standard can test, and a page set and table that fall out of step. Fixing the findings fixes the findings; building each check once covers the rows already filed and the ones that follow. Then the same intelligence holds the line at the source, so the next stray zero or mismatched load figure is caught as it lands rather than found by a shopper.